Oct 14, 2022·edited Oct 14, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
Today was the day the hairline cracks in the dam started crowing and spreading and putting the structure in danger of collapse. The Supreme Court delivered as strong a message to Trump today as the court did to Nixon in August 1974. They have washed their hands of him.
As for the news about the FBI, I hate to have to tell Frank figliuzzi that all his good work to have me almost convinced that Fools & Buffoons Inc. isn't still the collection of scum who harassed me and my wife 50 years ago with J. Edgar Fruitfly's Operation COINTELPRO is for naught. I felt sorry for him today, watching him have to comment on the contents of that email. The organization may not be so thoroughly fascistic as it was, given that people like Frank, Andrew Weissman, Harry Littman and Chuck Rosenberg rose to positions of authority in it, but it's still got people like the Special Agent In Charge of the San Antonio Field Office who in 1969 wrote my parents and the parents of the woman I would marry, to tell them that we were subverting the Army and "promoting the communist cause" in our work with "dissidents" to whom we were selling drugs and to whom I was offering my girlfriend for sex. (I found this out, since the Bureau didn't find it so awful that they didn't redact it when the DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility sent me my redacted COINTELPRO file due to court order in 1978; I can only wonder how awful were the stories in the 30 blacked-out pages, but given events that happened in that time I have an idea what they were doing. So they are still Fools & Buffoons Inc. here, and guilty till they prove themselves innocent to me. That a substantial minority - at least! - of field agents were supportive of what Trump did on January 6 is an indictment of the bureau and its leaders.
Nancy Pelosi, for her decisive action during the events of January 6, will go down in history as The Greatest Speaker. Ever I thought she might be tied with Thomas Reed, but he never had to take charge of the government and confront The Enemy Domestic, domiciled at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue in the White House.
What a horrific experience for you and your wife. I can't even imagine.
In a comment I made somewhere before in the Bulwark Substack universe, there have been times when I was ready for another Speaker, but then Nancy Pelosi makes an incredible move to save the day. And this time.....literally.
I'm sorry that you and your wife had to endure that kind of outrageous harassment.
I have been convinced the FBI needs to clean house since the first report, immediately after Jan 6, that a Norfolk office sent notification to District FBI offices that maps of the Capitol basement were being passed around along with obvious hostile planning... and the report was downgraded as unimportant so not passed on. To me, it seems unlikely one fallible person has that ability. If so, that's an indication the whole chain of communication needs to be reworked, and if not then it's time to clean house. It doesn't take more than one such example to know the house has, at least, dirty corners, and that likely plenty more is being swept under the rug. My feeling is that if the upper levels are actually honestly pro-democracy they would benefit from investigating their own personnel actions prior to and on Jan 6 and taking steps to ensure conspirators and insurrection supporters (even those who never actively conspired but "only" supported it by suppressing information or delaying responses) are removed, with a public assurance of renewal. Clearly we haven't seen that.
We have seen how badly the Secret Service is compromised. Pence knew it. Biden knows it and indicated from before he took office that he knew it when he insisted on choosing his own personal guards.
Capitol guards moving bike racks aside for the rioters, the delay in calling out National Guard help, participation by Homeland Security personnel all speak to the need for the directors and upper brass of these groups and the military to do their own investigations into who was complicit and what actions they took on January 6th.
We need reforms suggested by the Jan 6 committee to include making it more difficult for a future President to load government positions with personal loyalists, but we also need these departments to do some thorough self-policing or we're being set up for future take overs just as surely as if election laws aren't amended.
Question: I want to fully agree with you, but how does the FBI investigate what’s probably the 1/3 or more of their staff who are Trumpistas? Lie-detectors to the rescue?
I sure hope there’s a thorough house-cleaning (& prosecutions, where justified), but I don’t envy the team figuring out how to do it. Lots of potential for secretive back-stabbing in that group! Maybe some police depts and other nations have useful experience the FBI could use.
Lie detectors don't work well, even administered by trained personnel, and I wouldn't be surprised if many FBI agents have been trained in how to overcome them. I'm not suggesting thought police anyway - I'd be comfortable with someone with conservative leanings being in charge of, for example, making decisions on what information needs further consideration if that person had chosen to pass on credible information rather than sit on it. I am suggesting the actual documented or otherwise traceable actions (and any inaction) taken prior to, on the day of, and after Jan 6 with regard to the insurrection be carefully analyzed and those whose job was not conducted in ways, and confined to action, entirely compatible with preservation of our democracy be at the very least relieved of their position.
I don't think they have any clues on that. The only thing I've seen has been some very highly speculative suggestions MTG was wearing the same shoes... not enough to pursue.
I can't imagine the terror of that day for the legislators in the Capitol. Furthermore, the witnesses for the Jan6 committee have been harassed and threatened. It goes on and on. We are a nation of people who seem to have lost our humanity.
I really get how tempting it is to talk of the whole nation as losing our humanity. At the same time, I look at the courage of the committee and the witnesses, as well as the thousands and thousands of people who are working so hard to get out the vote for Democrats in Nov. Add to that stories like those of the residents of sanctuary cities who are caring for immigrans, and the number or ordinary folks like my neighbor family in my rent subsidized building whose dad is working two low paying jobs and whose mom is doing her best to care for three darling little girls. I've left out lots of examples, but even just these are enough to give me much hope about our nation. (To quote Jean Arthur's character in Mr. Smioth Goes to Washington: "The other folks just make more noise that's all." And more of us are getting better at making good noise!!
I watched the J6th hearings and walked away from the hearings with a combination of awe and disgust at the same time. The committee did an outstanding job in a non partisan way of presenting the story and facts about not only what happened on January 6th but everything that happened months before the election took place. The video of Nancy Pelosi taking charge in a “ profiles of courage moment” was inspiring and her famous quote.
“ On a video from January 6 released tonight, Pelosi is seen reacting to the news that Trump was intending to go to the Capitol, the seat of our elected government, where presidents traditionally must not go without an invitation. Told he might arrive, she responded to her chief of staff:
“I hope he comes, I’m gonna punch him out… I’ve been waiting for this. For trespassing on the Capitol grounds. I’m gonna punch him out, I’m gonna go to jail, and I’m gonna be happy.”
Pelosi showed us what real leadership looks like and we need to join her in the midterms to “punch out MAGA Republicans.
Yes, that made me laugh but I do tend to advise caution against using the language of physical violence because while I know it's a mere figure of speech (fos), and previous to this current national insanity everyone else would have known that also, right now the MAGA nuts are being driven to actual violent actions by statements that they know and we know are Not simply fos but which the MAGA whips claim are (or "just joking"), then turn around and point at genuineDEM fos examples and shout "see how violent Their speech is!" I'm loathe to give them more ammunition to strut about with and feel clever in the smarmy way that so appeals to their base.
That said, I give Pelosi a total pass because despite her absolute unshakeable calm and efficient actions under extreme duress, she was undoubtedly loaded with adrenaline by that point. It was likely a fos by exaggeration, but there are probably a long line of us who felt exactly the same way and would have gladly contributed to her bail had she actually done it! Plus maybe an award afterwards...
There were several moments in the "Business Meeting" of the Jan 6th Committee yesterday where I was overwhelmed with appreciation for their work. The construction of the presentation was brilliant and revealing.
1. We will be considering this as an historical document for the next generations to come - for as long as the Union lasts, this will be THE most discussed moment in our history. We almost lost the US to a fascist and his treasonous enablers.
2. TFG has established his ineligibility to serve in any capacity, in any elected office - forever. TFG convicted himself of violating the 14th Amendment - on tape. After watching the armed rebellion on TV and ignoring his Constitutional responsibility to preserve our government for hours, he told the rioters: "we love you..." TFG has self convicted.
3. The testimony given that established TFG's responsibility for the insurrection was provided by Republicans.
4. Leaders McCarthy and McConnell publicly and clearly put the responsibility for the insurrection on TFG in speeches to their fellow legislatures. All their current equivocations and flip flopping can't erase those tapes. And when you watch those speeches, you can see and feel their anger and fear. The fact that political expediency and cowardice caused them to become liars subsequently is irrelevant. They knew. They know.
Scalise was caught on tape lying. McCarthy knew the truth. Marjorie three names helped stoke the fire. And yet all of them and the others will get re-elected to the House, along with a crew of others. What the hell is wrong with voters????
My main consolation is this: Throughout American history, voters have made a jillion mistakes. Terrible people have sometimes been elected and re-elected to office for 2+ centuries.
It’s when that happens at critical moments (like 1860 or 1932) that the ramifications are huge. It’s only when the Know-Nothings, the Confederates, the Prohibitionists, etc. are PROVEN disastrous by the contentious events of their times that they lose their power.
I believe:
1) we have been living in such a critical time of change for 60 years,
2)we are watching America get its eyes opened to who has been leading the Trumpistas, and
3) the tide is slowly turning against them.
Next month will be the big test of those beliefs! 😳
Tyler, thanks for providing a context that makes sense and holds hope. I believe that Dems are stronger than some of the media are willing to allow. AND that they are just possibly encouraging more to vote blue to keep it blue. Most of the polls are simply too close to mean much. Almost all of them are within the range of error. I think we have a good chance to pull through. And then the real work begins: preparing for 2024.
I know, right? Educational reform and publicly and federally supported (not guided) news in information deserts is vitally necessary but take so very long to have any effect. In the meantime, we have to be unrelenting in letting news sources know when we spot bias, misleading headlines, false equivalencies, cherry picking and missed stories that should have been played up.
Thank you for a wonderful, upbeat, informative newsletter, Rob. The jan 6 committee meeting was riveting. Your description of Joe Biden portrays a man who, while imperfect, is in the right place at the right time. So glad you got to attend. Saturday will be so special and uniquely memorable. That’s where you’ll devote your attention in these several days in particular. We are all curious to know next week if the little ones actually wear the pretty little dresses Jill et all selected. Lol. Precious times.❤️
Blessings to Pelosi, the Jan 6 Committee, Biden, and the extent to which the government of the United States of America actually works. Looking forward to implementation of the requisite fixes: prosecution of insurrectionists up to the top, and legislation to fill in the cracks being exploited by power-grabbers.
Oct 14, 2022·edited Oct 14, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
As you note: "Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell, and Mike Pence worked together to clear the Capitol and resume the count of electoral ballots.". Good. Too bad those same four could not have found common ground on, say, November 10th. That whole boiling cauldron of Trump's discontent needed GOP cold water a lot earlier. Trump's GOP enablers are guilty of so many awful mis-deeds that I can't list all of them, but cowardice is at the top of the list.
Oct 14, 2022·edited Oct 14, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
My favorite sound bite of yesterday īs Bad Ass Nancy Pelosi saying she hopes Trump shows up at the Capitol so she can “punch him out.” And I believe she would have done it too. Wow, I would pay for a ticket to see that match.
Being an incurable optimist, one would like to think that some Republicans would now stand up and, based on the sworn evidence provided to the Committee and the various courts, repudiate their association with and support for the failed insurrectionist. One is not, however, Pollyanna, so I won't hold my breath.
Have a great weekend, enjoy your family and the wedding and congratulations to your daughter.
The meeting you attended with the President is profound and I am so glad to hear of it. This is truly a life event. He comes through in your writing. That love is a component of intelligence may be something many do not want to acknowledge. Mothers know that tough love is important too, it is being an adult.
Concerning the committee meeting which I watched most of, and found fascinating, particularly Ms. Pelosi's call for help, with someone in the room trying to talk over her, but her relentless work, and then reading in the Post that someone said she did nothing, is familiar. In family court there is term, 'high conflict' that some lawyers use to say that both sides are dominating when one side is dominating. It is a way of taking one lense from the glasses out -- to make it difficult for the other person to see, and for others to see, what is really going on. The gamesmanship is like a cataract - the person doing it knows they are.
The personal pain and danger to the victims, be they victims of criminal justice, wrongly accused or someone avoiding justice as the J6 committee showed. Voices of the victims are supported like President Biden.
From the Washington Post:
“It takes incredible courage in today’s Russia to stand against the power in place,” Tiny Kox, the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, said this week in awarding Washington Post contributing columnist Vladimir Kara-Murza the Václav Havel Prize for his defense of human rights in his home country of Russia.
The last Jan 6 Committee presentation was an excellent summary if there is someone you know who wants to catch up. I, like Jill, am in awe of Pelosi's amazing skill at reaching out for appropriate help as Congress bunkered. THAT was an amazing sight.
Your summary of Biden's speech at your event makes it clear the media is missing the content of what he is saying and has done and is focused on any slip or possible contradiction.
On the suggestion of our Founders Discussion, I am writing the major news outlets (again) and asking for policy content not sports scores on who is ahead when helping the readers understand the candidates.
Hopefully indictments will be fast tracked for Eastman and the other "intellectual" architects of the coup, and that a purging of the S.S. and the F.B.I. will be thorough and timely as well.
After the J6 Committee presentation and closing yesterday I will remain stumped at the fact citizens follow this ugly excuse for a president. I love my country, I love Democracy and following the rule of law. Is Pres. Biden perfect? Nope but I admire his style, his common sense and appreciate his integrity. The members of the J6 Committee did themselves proud and history will do them a solid!
Laura; Agreed to all. What blows my mind is that people (and I just removed a whole buncha’ describing words for those people) call Joe Biden old and feeble. What madness? The knowledge and experience that is stored in the safe of Joe B’s mind is valuable and what is wrong with people labeling him as some grandpa who has chosen to sit on the porch and play cards? The day will come where each of us will missspeaks or skips a step, that doesn’t invalidate our intelligence and life’s experience.
I am appalled at the disrespect- of course it’s all right out of TFG’s play book: make fun of people in a way that casts doubt on their ability and intelligence.
((I am well aware that we as a country need fresh, new, young people in congress and this ‘good ol’ boy’ network of power mongering politicians needs to, and will, come to an end; that is very different from the negative labeling of politicians because of their age. I mean… shucks… I could just as easily throw that rock back across the river- “TFG is an obese, crusty, dirty old man who speaks word salad and tells lies. Don’t get near that one, he will put his hand up your skirt.”).
Since we are on the subject of TFG and his brain child: Jan 6, I’m gonna go on for another moment! Joe Biden has been through the kind of trauma most ordinary people do not experience. He’s a public figure so we are aware of the tragic loss of his wife and baby daughter. I am so moved by how demonstrative he is with young kids/people. I perceive him to know that now is the time to show love and now is the time to foster physical closeness, kindness and compassion. Public displays of affection do not scare him. Pathetic is how TFG’s supporters use this to call him a perv! All TFG’s transgressions are out there to see still and they stupidly use Biden’s what I can only refer as a gift to attempt to smear. Yucko; TFG needs to go!
With the Jan 6 hearings dominating the news, I could not immediately find anything about the Supreme Court’s thumbs-down on Trump’s appeal. I went to the New York Times site, which, surprise, surprise, featured a story headlined something like “Jan 6 Hearings Haven’t Moved the Needle”. It appears to be gone now, but what crap this is.
I think the hearings certainly moved the needle with a small but important sliver of voters, and I’d go further - the 3 month gap in the hearings probably has had something to do with the GOP’s recent rise in the polls - it let them talk about their issues rather than ours.
I called to tell the subscription department at the NYTimes I didn't appreciate the way their reporting includes too many false equivalencies. I've found the same reversion to false equivalency in the Washington Post and various other sources since the administration change. I consistently respond to articles and all available feed back avenues for any public information sources when they fail to present things in a way that gives fair credit when due. These papers and reporters need to know people see their tactics and don't appreciate them. They need to know the public values fair and factual reporting.
Today was the day the hairline cracks in the dam started crowing and spreading and putting the structure in danger of collapse. The Supreme Court delivered as strong a message to Trump today as the court did to Nixon in August 1974. They have washed their hands of him.
As for the news about the FBI, I hate to have to tell Frank figliuzzi that all his good work to have me almost convinced that Fools & Buffoons Inc. isn't still the collection of scum who harassed me and my wife 50 years ago with J. Edgar Fruitfly's Operation COINTELPRO is for naught. I felt sorry for him today, watching him have to comment on the contents of that email. The organization may not be so thoroughly fascistic as it was, given that people like Frank, Andrew Weissman, Harry Littman and Chuck Rosenberg rose to positions of authority in it, but it's still got people like the Special Agent In Charge of the San Antonio Field Office who in 1969 wrote my parents and the parents of the woman I would marry, to tell them that we were subverting the Army and "promoting the communist cause" in our work with "dissidents" to whom we were selling drugs and to whom I was offering my girlfriend for sex. (I found this out, since the Bureau didn't find it so awful that they didn't redact it when the DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility sent me my redacted COINTELPRO file due to court order in 1978; I can only wonder how awful were the stories in the 30 blacked-out pages, but given events that happened in that time I have an idea what they were doing. So they are still Fools & Buffoons Inc. here, and guilty till they prove themselves innocent to me. That a substantial minority - at least! - of field agents were supportive of what Trump did on January 6 is an indictment of the bureau and its leaders.
Nancy Pelosi, for her decisive action during the events of January 6, will go down in history as The Greatest Speaker. Ever I thought she might be tied with Thomas Reed, but he never had to take charge of the government and confront The Enemy Domestic, domiciled at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue in the White House.
What a horrific experience for you and your wife. I can't even imagine.
In a comment I made somewhere before in the Bulwark Substack universe, there have been times when I was ready for another Speaker, but then Nancy Pelosi makes an incredible move to save the day. And this time.....literally.
I'm sorry that you and your wife had to endure that kind of outrageous harassment.
I have been convinced the FBI needs to clean house since the first report, immediately after Jan 6, that a Norfolk office sent notification to District FBI offices that maps of the Capitol basement were being passed around along with obvious hostile planning... and the report was downgraded as unimportant so not passed on. To me, it seems unlikely one fallible person has that ability. If so, that's an indication the whole chain of communication needs to be reworked, and if not then it's time to clean house. It doesn't take more than one such example to know the house has, at least, dirty corners, and that likely plenty more is being swept under the rug. My feeling is that if the upper levels are actually honestly pro-democracy they would benefit from investigating their own personnel actions prior to and on Jan 6 and taking steps to ensure conspirators and insurrection supporters (even those who never actively conspired but "only" supported it by suppressing information or delaying responses) are removed, with a public assurance of renewal. Clearly we haven't seen that.
We have seen how badly the Secret Service is compromised. Pence knew it. Biden knows it and indicated from before he took office that he knew it when he insisted on choosing his own personal guards.
Capitol guards moving bike racks aside for the rioters, the delay in calling out National Guard help, participation by Homeland Security personnel all speak to the need for the directors and upper brass of these groups and the military to do their own investigations into who was complicit and what actions they took on January 6th.
We need reforms suggested by the Jan 6 committee to include making it more difficult for a future President to load government positions with personal loyalists, but we also need these departments to do some thorough self-policing or we're being set up for future take overs just as surely as if election laws aren't amended.
Question: I want to fully agree with you, but how does the FBI investigate what’s probably the 1/3 or more of their staff who are Trumpistas? Lie-detectors to the rescue?
I sure hope there’s a thorough house-cleaning (& prosecutions, where justified), but I don’t envy the team figuring out how to do it. Lots of potential for secretive back-stabbing in that group! Maybe some police depts and other nations have useful experience the FBI could use.
Lie detectors don't work well, even administered by trained personnel, and I wouldn't be surprised if many FBI agents have been trained in how to overcome them. I'm not suggesting thought police anyway - I'd be comfortable with someone with conservative leanings being in charge of, for example, making decisions on what information needs further consideration if that person had chosen to pass on credible information rather than sit on it. I am suggesting the actual documented or otherwise traceable actions (and any inaction) taken prior to, on the day of, and after Jan 6 with regard to the insurrection be carefully analyzed and those whose job was not conducted in ways, and confined to action, entirely compatible with preservation of our democracy be at the very least relieved of their position.
And apparently, nothing is moving with regard to the pipe bomber who was videoed on J5.
I don't think they have any clues on that. The only thing I've seen has been some very highly speculative suggestions MTG was wearing the same shoes... not enough to pursue.
Oh, did we have a close call, and the barbarians are all lined up and waiting
Thank you for writing this. It was a jolt to me. I’m so sorry you were treated this way.
May J Ed have an eternity in hell. Lordy, glad you survived. Yep, Nancy grew by leaps and bounds yesterday
I have great admiration for all members of the Jan 6 committee. We are living through historic times that are getting to look hopeful thanks to them.
I can't imagine the terror of that day for the legislators in the Capitol. Furthermore, the witnesses for the Jan6 committee have been harassed and threatened. It goes on and on. We are a nation of people who seem to have lost our humanity.
Well, we must support those who are proving that there is still honesty and integrity. Now more than ever. There is still hope.
I really get how tempting it is to talk of the whole nation as losing our humanity. At the same time, I look at the courage of the committee and the witnesses, as well as the thousands and thousands of people who are working so hard to get out the vote for Democrats in Nov. Add to that stories like those of the residents of sanctuary cities who are caring for immigrans, and the number or ordinary folks like my neighbor family in my rent subsidized building whose dad is working two low paying jobs and whose mom is doing her best to care for three darling little girls. I've left out lots of examples, but even just these are enough to give me much hope about our nation. (To quote Jean Arthur's character in Mr. Smioth Goes to Washington: "The other folks just make more noise that's all." And more of us are getting better at making good noise!!
I watched the J6th hearings and walked away from the hearings with a combination of awe and disgust at the same time. The committee did an outstanding job in a non partisan way of presenting the story and facts about not only what happened on January 6th but everything that happened months before the election took place. The video of Nancy Pelosi taking charge in a “ profiles of courage moment” was inspiring and her famous quote.
“ On a video from January 6 released tonight, Pelosi is seen reacting to the news that Trump was intending to go to the Capitol, the seat of our elected government, where presidents traditionally must not go without an invitation. Told he might arrive, she responded to her chief of staff:
“I hope he comes, I’m gonna punch him out… I’ve been waiting for this. For trespassing on the Capitol grounds. I’m gonna punch him out, I’m gonna go to jail, and I’m gonna be happy.”
Pelosi showed us what real leadership looks like and we need to join her in the midterms to “punch out MAGA Republicans.
Yes, that made me laugh but I do tend to advise caution against using the language of physical violence because while I know it's a mere figure of speech (fos), and previous to this current national insanity everyone else would have known that also, right now the MAGA nuts are being driven to actual violent actions by statements that they know and we know are Not simply fos but which the MAGA whips claim are (or "just joking"), then turn around and point at genuineDEM fos examples and shout "see how violent Their speech is!" I'm loathe to give them more ammunition to strut about with and feel clever in the smarmy way that so appeals to their base.
That said, I give Pelosi a total pass because despite her absolute unshakeable calm and efficient actions under extreme duress, she was undoubtedly loaded with adrenaline by that point. It was likely a fos by exaggeration, but there are probably a long line of us who felt exactly the same way and would have gladly contributed to her bail had she actually done it! Plus maybe an award afterwards...
She spoke raw truth and rational Americans would agree with her because Trump has definitely shown us who he is and most of us don’t want or like it.
Oh yeah, exactly
There were several moments in the "Business Meeting" of the Jan 6th Committee yesterday where I was overwhelmed with appreciation for their work. The construction of the presentation was brilliant and revealing.
1. We will be considering this as an historical document for the next generations to come - for as long as the Union lasts, this will be THE most discussed moment in our history. We almost lost the US to a fascist and his treasonous enablers.
2. TFG has established his ineligibility to serve in any capacity, in any elected office - forever. TFG convicted himself of violating the 14th Amendment - on tape. After watching the armed rebellion on TV and ignoring his Constitutional responsibility to preserve our government for hours, he told the rioters: "we love you..." TFG has self convicted.
3. The testimony given that established TFG's responsibility for the insurrection was provided by Republicans.
4. Leaders McCarthy and McConnell publicly and clearly put the responsibility for the insurrection on TFG in speeches to their fellow legislatures. All their current equivocations and flip flopping can't erase those tapes. And when you watch those speeches, you can see and feel their anger and fear. The fact that political expediency and cowardice caused them to become liars subsequently is irrelevant. They knew. They know.
Scalise was caught on tape lying. McCarthy knew the truth. Marjorie three names helped stoke the fire. And yet all of them and the others will get re-elected to the House, along with a crew of others. What the hell is wrong with voters????
My main consolation is this: Throughout American history, voters have made a jillion mistakes. Terrible people have sometimes been elected and re-elected to office for 2+ centuries.
It’s when that happens at critical moments (like 1860 or 1932) that the ramifications are huge. It’s only when the Know-Nothings, the Confederates, the Prohibitionists, etc. are PROVEN disastrous by the contentious events of their times that they lose their power.
I believe:
1) we have been living in such a critical time of change for 60 years,
2)we are watching America get its eyes opened to who has been leading the Trumpistas, and
3) the tide is slowly turning against them.
Next month will be the big test of those beliefs! 😳
Tyler, thanks for providing a context that makes sense and holds hope. I believe that Dems are stronger than some of the media are willing to allow. AND that they are just possibly encouraging more to vote blue to keep it blue. Most of the polls are simply too close to mean much. Almost all of them are within the range of error. I think we have a good chance to pull through. And then the real work begins: preparing for 2024.
MSM needs to get real, been watching them blather crap for too long.
I know, right? Educational reform and publicly and federally supported (not guided) news in information deserts is vitally necessary but take so very long to have any effect. In the meantime, we have to be unrelenting in letting news sources know when we spot bias, misleading headlines, false equivalencies, cherry picking and missed stories that should have been played up.
Amen to that, Yehowes!
Vermin all
Exactly- what is wrong with voters.
Thank you for a wonderful, upbeat, informative newsletter, Rob. The jan 6 committee meeting was riveting. Your description of Joe Biden portrays a man who, while imperfect, is in the right place at the right time. So glad you got to attend. Saturday will be so special and uniquely memorable. That’s where you’ll devote your attention in these several days in particular. We are all curious to know next week if the little ones actually wear the pretty little dresses Jill et all selected. Lol. Precious times.❤️
Blessings to Pelosi, the Jan 6 Committee, Biden, and the extent to which the government of the United States of America actually works. Looking forward to implementation of the requisite fixes: prosecution of insurrectionists up to the top, and legislation to fill in the cracks being exploited by power-grabbers.
Blessings, Robert, to you and your family!
As you note: "Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell, and Mike Pence worked together to clear the Capitol and resume the count of electoral ballots.". Good. Too bad those same four could not have found common ground on, say, November 10th. That whole boiling cauldron of Trump's discontent needed GOP cold water a lot earlier. Trump's GOP enablers are guilty of so many awful mis-deeds that I can't list all of them, but cowardice is at the top of the list.
Congratulations on the marriage of your daughter, Robert!
Best wishes to the Bride, Groom and your entire family!
Once again I thank you for distilling the events of the day. I rely on your clarity and compassion.
Dr. Lisa Langer
My favorite sound bite of yesterday īs Bad Ass Nancy Pelosi saying she hopes Trump shows up at the Capitol so she can “punch him out.” And I believe she would have done it too. Wow, I would pay for a ticket to see that match.
I loved it when she was told that the rest of the congress was putting on gas masks- her answer was “can you believe this?”
Best part of the whole hearing! Badass indeed! 😎👠
Nancy Pelosi is the smartest and most capable politician in DC and a ninja in heels.
Being an incurable optimist, one would like to think that some Republicans would now stand up and, based on the sworn evidence provided to the Committee and the various courts, repudiate their association with and support for the failed insurrectionist. One is not, however, Pollyanna, so I won't hold my breath.
Have a great weekend, enjoy your family and the wedding and congratulations to your daughter.
Breathe, no Polyannas here
Breathing, hoping to keep at it for a while. It's nice keeping company with realists.
The meeting you attended with the President is profound and I am so glad to hear of it. This is truly a life event. He comes through in your writing. That love is a component of intelligence may be something many do not want to acknowledge. Mothers know that tough love is important too, it is being an adult.
Concerning the committee meeting which I watched most of, and found fascinating, particularly Ms. Pelosi's call for help, with someone in the room trying to talk over her, but her relentless work, and then reading in the Post that someone said she did nothing, is familiar. In family court there is term, 'high conflict' that some lawyers use to say that both sides are dominating when one side is dominating. It is a way of taking one lense from the glasses out -- to make it difficult for the other person to see, and for others to see, what is really going on. The gamesmanship is like a cataract - the person doing it knows they are.
The personal pain and danger to the victims, be they victims of criminal justice, wrongly accused or someone avoiding justice as the J6 committee showed. Voices of the victims are supported like President Biden.
From the Washington Post:
“It takes incredible courage in today’s Russia to stand against the power in place,” Tiny Kox, the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, said this week in awarding Washington Post contributing columnist Vladimir Kara-Murza the Václav Havel Prize for his defense of human rights in his home country of Russia.
Havel once said that “if the main pillar of the system is living a lie, then … the fundamental threat to it is living the truth — this is why it must be suppressed more severely than anything else.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/13/vladimir-karamurza-vaclav-havel-prize/
Heather Cox Richardson has this video of Nancy Pelosi's reaction to being told on January 6 that Donald Trump can't get to the Capitol as he wanted to. It's priceless! https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1580712690766712833?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Some people are making ringtones of that... not mentioning names.
That’s wonderful! I’m so proud of Pelosi. She took charge and really showed her leadership skills.
The last Jan 6 Committee presentation was an excellent summary if there is someone you know who wants to catch up. I, like Jill, am in awe of Pelosi's amazing skill at reaching out for appropriate help as Congress bunkered. THAT was an amazing sight.
Your summary of Biden's speech at your event makes it clear the media is missing the content of what he is saying and has done and is focused on any slip or possible contradiction.
On the suggestion of our Founders Discussion, I am writing the major news outlets (again) and asking for policy content not sports scores on who is ahead when helping the readers understand the candidates.
Yes, yes, yes!
Hopefully indictments will be fast tracked for Eastman and the other "intellectual" architects of the coup, and that a purging of the S.S. and the F.B.I. will be thorough and timely as well.
After the J6 Committee presentation and closing yesterday I will remain stumped at the fact citizens follow this ugly excuse for a president. I love my country, I love Democracy and following the rule of law. Is Pres. Biden perfect? Nope but I admire his style, his common sense and appreciate his integrity. The members of the J6 Committee did themselves proud and history will do them a solid!
Laura; Agreed to all. What blows my mind is that people (and I just removed a whole buncha’ describing words for those people) call Joe Biden old and feeble. What madness? The knowledge and experience that is stored in the safe of Joe B’s mind is valuable and what is wrong with people labeling him as some grandpa who has chosen to sit on the porch and play cards? The day will come where each of us will missspeaks or skips a step, that doesn’t invalidate our intelligence and life’s experience.
I am appalled at the disrespect- of course it’s all right out of TFG’s play book: make fun of people in a way that casts doubt on their ability and intelligence.
((I am well aware that we as a country need fresh, new, young people in congress and this ‘good ol’ boy’ network of power mongering politicians needs to, and will, come to an end; that is very different from the negative labeling of politicians because of their age. I mean… shucks… I could just as easily throw that rock back across the river- “TFG is an obese, crusty, dirty old man who speaks word salad and tells lies. Don’t get near that one, he will put his hand up your skirt.”).
Since we are on the subject of TFG and his brain child: Jan 6, I’m gonna go on for another moment! Joe Biden has been through the kind of trauma most ordinary people do not experience. He’s a public figure so we are aware of the tragic loss of his wife and baby daughter. I am so moved by how demonstrative he is with young kids/people. I perceive him to know that now is the time to show love and now is the time to foster physical closeness, kindness and compassion. Public displays of affection do not scare him. Pathetic is how TFG’s supporters use this to call him a perv! All TFG’s transgressions are out there to see still and they stupidly use Biden’s what I can only refer as a gift to attempt to smear. Yucko; TFG needs to go!
With the Jan 6 hearings dominating the news, I could not immediately find anything about the Supreme Court’s thumbs-down on Trump’s appeal. I went to the New York Times site, which, surprise, surprise, featured a story headlined something like “Jan 6 Hearings Haven’t Moved the Needle”. It appears to be gone now, but what crap this is.
I think the hearings certainly moved the needle with a small but important sliver of voters, and I’d go further - the 3 month gap in the hearings probably has had something to do with the GOP’s recent rise in the polls - it let them talk about their issues rather than ours.
And the hearing moved the needle with the DOJ--which may be the most important consequence of all!
The NYT and other outlets are too busy talking about the inflation rate.
I called to tell the subscription department at the NYTimes I didn't appreciate the way their reporting includes too many false equivalencies. I've found the same reversion to false equivalency in the Washington Post and various other sources since the administration change. I consistently respond to articles and all available feed back avenues for any public information sources when they fail to present things in a way that gives fair credit when due. These papers and reporters need to know people see their tactics and don't appreciate them. They need to know the public values fair and factual reporting.