Well...

None Dare Call It Treason & Murder

Americans “have got to know” if our last president conspired to commit treason and murder to end American democracy

Thom Hartmann

Did Donald Trump and some of the people around him conspire to have others murder the Vice President and Speaker of the House in order to hold power and conceal his crimes for another four years?

Time and evidence will eventually prove or disapprove that question, but the evidence before us right now is pretty grim.

About a week after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, he fired his Secretary of Defense and replaced him with a reliable toady, Christopher Miller. He also replaced several other senior civilian officials at the Pentagon around the same time, including one who was a “protege” of Mike Flynn.

We learned from yesterday‘s testimony by Major General William Walker, the Commander of the Washington DC National Guard, that not only had he been prepared and ready to protect the Capitol on January 6, but that he was specifically ordered not to by that same recently-installedActing Defense Secretary Miller.

The Capitol was under siege the afternoon of January 6th, and there was a very real possibility that Trump’s militia followers would succeed in assassinating Vice President Pence and Speaker Pelosi and hijacking the ballots for the Electoral College. They’d even erected a gallows outside the Capitol.

And in the process, five people died, including a police officer. Typically, when people die in the commission of a crime, everybody participating in the crime is also charged with murder. Even getaway drivers who were otherwise uninvolved in a crime are typically charged with felony murder when somebody dies during the commission of that crime.

As this massive and deadly crime was being committed, General Walker and others repeatedly reached up through the chain of command to the Secretary of the Army and to Secretary of Defense Miller to beg for the DC National Guard to come protect the Capitol.

While Donald Trump gleefully watched the chaos from the White House on television, Kevin McCarthy, who just a month earlier was Speaker of the House and on January 6th led the House’s Republicans, called Trump personally to beg him to stop the assault.

“Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,” Trump told him with a sneer as people were smashing in the windows to McCarthy‘s office to get at him.

Did Trump or his son organize or plan this? Did they intend for people to die? That possibility is so horrible, so unthinkable, that few in the media will go there.

But America must ask the question that the rest of the world is already saying out loud: Did the President of the United States, or people close to him operating under what they believed to be his orders, put together a plan to seize the ballots and murder the two most senior American officials in the Capitol, the Vice President and the Speaker of the House, so that the 12th Amendment could be invoked and Congress would decide who would be president?

Under that 12th Amendment scenario, each state gets one vote and that vote is determined by each states’ legislature. More state legislatures are controlled by Republicans than Democrats, so if the vote went to the House, like it did in 1876, the result would be a Trump presidency for another four years. And Trump not only knew that but had spoken of it at rallies on more than one occasion.

There are multiple, troubling data points here.
Just a week after Trump lost the November election, he replaced his Secretary of Defense with Christopher Miller (as well as others in the senior civilian ranks of the Pentagon).

On January 4th or 5th, Acting Secretary of Defense Miller issued what was essentially a “stand down” order to the DC National Guard, something the Guard’s commander testified before Congress yesterday was unprecedented. (Miller’s letter is attached at the bottom of this article.)

As noted by the New York Times: “Days before the riot, the Pentagon had removed General Walker’s authority to quickly deploy his troops...”

The evening meeting January 5 at the Trump Hotel that included Trump Junior and “stop the steal” leader Guilfoyle along with, allegedly, Senator Tommy Tuberville and others working to overturn the 2020 election result.

Disgraced, confessed criminal Lt. General Michael Flynn openly advocated a military coup to keep Trump in power; his brother was on the call mid-afternoon January 6 and is allegedly the person who argued that sending in the National Guard to save the lives of the assembled legislators and their staffs would be “bad optics.” That assertion apparently gave a few more hours to Trump’s murderous followers at the Capitol.

When it was revealed that Mike Flynn’s brother was on the call where General Walker was pleading for DC National Guard activation, the Army repeatedly lied about it.

Trump’s prediction, just three weeks before the election, that the House of Representatives, not the Electoral College, would decide who was going to be president after the election. “I guess, at a certain point it goes to Congress,” he said on September 16th. “At a certain point it goes to Congress — you know that.”

While the nation watched in horror as the Capitol was under assault, Donald Trump locked Mike Pence’s Chief of Staff out of the White House.

It wasn’t until it was quite clear to the public and to Donald Trump watching on television that Speaker Pelosi and Vice President Pence were safe and the ballots were sequestered that finally, at 5:20 pm, Secretary Miller allowed the National Guard to arrive and clean up the mess, although even then people were clearing out and there were no arrests of any consequence.

This is no small matter.

Richard Nixon once said, “People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook.”

To update the sentiment, the American people “have got to know” if our last president conspired to commit treason and murder as part of a coup plot to end American democracy.

https://thomhartmann.medium.com/none-dare-call-it-treason-murder-98e369ced59f

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Trump appointee arrested in connection with Capitol riot

Federico Klein, a former State Department aide, was picked up Thursday on charges stemming from the Jan. 6 takeover of Congress.

politico.com/news/2021/03/04/trump-appointee-arrested-for-capitol-riot-473825?fbclid=IwAR0EaeorZneikaJ_6YbS_xuor0ACYRdOM8fBZssLTRTU4WRhWrJujzFnupM

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Robert Reich:

A report from the Capitol Police’s Inspector General finds that the agency did have advance warning about the potential for violence on January 6th and leadership actively prevented officers from using more aggressive tactics to prevent the mob from breaking into the building.

On January 3rd, a Capitol Police threat assessment explicitly detailed that “Congress itself is the target on the 6th” and that the rally's “propensity to attract white supremacists, militia members, and others who actively promote violence may lead to a significantly dangerous situation.” But on January 5th, Capitol Police wrote in a planning document that there were “no specific known threats related to the joint session of Congress” — despite its own threat assessment and multiple other intelligence reports saying the opposite.

On the day of the deadly attack, officers were instructed by leadership to not use “heavier, less-lethal weapons” like stun grenades that could have stopped the mob from reaching the building. Meanwhile, officers could not use their riot shields to protect themselves because the shields were locked on a bus.

This is an absolute disgrace. Capitol Police knew that there was a threat of violence on January 6th and refused to prepare — and five people died as a result. Time and again, we’ve watched as militarized police forces are deployed to counter peaceful protesters standing up for Black lives and racial justice, spraying them with tear gas and stun grenades and the like. But when literal white supremacists and far-right militia members prepare to attack the bedrock of our democracy, suddenly there’s no need to prepare for violence.
Unacceptable.

That’s my view. What do you think?

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Yes, There Is A Conspiracy

Joe Conason
June 27 | 2021

Conspiracy has replaced policy as the motivating force of the Republican Party and its media minions — but only the most flimsy and imaginary conspiracies qualify for partisan attention. Actual criminal conspiracies that threaten the nation merit no concern.

That's why congressional Republicans killed the independent commission to investigate the January 6 insurrection but now insinuate that the terrible events of that day were secretly instigated by the FBI. While there is no shred of evidence to support that fraudulent and insulting claim, the Party of Trump can say anything to its moronic cultists without fear of contradiction. They're faithful supporters of law enforcement, except when they're insulting law enforcement officers, accusing them of felonious schemes or perhaps trying to maim them.

Such fabrications ought to be familiar to anyone who has been paying attention over the past few years. Concocted to distract from real events and issues, they have become the standard Trumpist retort whenever a troubling question arises.

When the collusive relationship between Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and the Kremlin became too obvious to ignore, the response from the suspected perpetrators (and traitors) in the White House was to scream "conspiracy." Somebody was conspiring to mount a "witch hunt" against Trump, whether it was the Deep State, the Clinton campaign, Fusion GPS, the fake news media, or all of them combined. Investigators and subpoenas uncovered the facts, which included Trump Tower meetings with Russian agents, interference by Russian intelligence assets to support Trump, and even a handoff of sensitive campaign materials to a Russian spy. Then came the cover-up, with Trump promising (and eventually delivering) pardons to Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Steve Bannon, Mike Flynn, and other crooks who might incriminate him.

Dismissing all of that, Attorney General Bill Barr pretended to see a possible conspiracy against Trump — and even deputized a U.S. Attorney named John Durham to uncover it. By the time that probe came up empty, however, everyone had presumably moved on.

Now the Republicans want to avoid a thorough investigation of the January 6 insurrection — and the malign and traitorous actors behind it — at any cost. Any serious probe will not only incriminate Trump and certain figures around him but may well implicate members of the House Republican caucus who encouraged the violence. We already know at least a few of their names, including Reps. Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs of Arizona, Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. All of them are frantically trying to conceal the horror of that day. Their actions scream consciousness of guilt.

Equally troubling for the Republican leaders is the prospect of testifying under oath about their own knowledge of what went down. They don't want to discuss the very strange failure by Trump to respond to pleas for help while the rioters hunted for members with intent to kill — as recounted by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. It's just too sickening, and so is their cowardice.

The Justice Department is prosecuting extremely violent conspiracies by members of the Trump-affiliated groups that attacked the Capitol, notably the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys, and the QAnon cult. When all of the connections between those scummy outfits and Trump's circle are finally revealed, McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell pray that America will no longer be paying attention.

If the fascist faction in the House — and their spokesman Tucker Carlson, the Fox News fabulist — believe their own slanders of the FBI, they should be clamoring for an independent investigation. But they're manufacturing a lie — and they know it.

Fortunately, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just announced the formation of a House select committee to mount a full investigation of the January 6 insurrection. That special committee will have subpoena authority and, hopefully, a Democratic chair who will pursue the facts without remorse or fear. Unlike the independent commission, which Republicans rejected despite concessions to all of their demands, this committee will face no deadlines, nor require bipartisan agreement on investigative decisions.

Yes, there was, and is, a conspiracy against democracy, whose ringleaders will be exposed — despite the Republican leadership's desperate attempts to shield them.

https://www.nationalmemo.com/trump-conspiracies-jan-6-commission-

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I hope everyone's watching the opening day of the January 6 Commission. It's heart wrenching.

Floridatexan wrote:
I hope everyone's watching the opening day of the January 6 Commission.  It's heart wrenching.

America can be proud of those cops. On the other hand the GOP, Trump led Insurrectionists are not worth pissing on, may they all roast in hell except for the the ones who are brave enough to call out their own Party of Traitors.

What did Jim Jordan know about the insurrection and when did he know it?

Sidney Blumenthal

I have some questions for the Republican congressman about events at the US Capitol on 6 January

"That fucking guy Jim Jordan. That son of a bitch,” Liz Cheney, a Republican congresswoman from Wyoming, told the chairman of the joint chiefs, Gen Mark Milley, about the Republican congressman from Ohio, according to I Alone Can Fix It, by Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker.

“While these maniacs are going through the place,” said Cheney, about the insurrection at the Capitol on 6 January, “I’m standing in the aisle and he said, ‘We need to get the ladies away from the aisle. Let me help you.’ I smacked his hand away and told him, ‘Get away from me. You fucking did this.’”

When the House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, a congressman from California, named Jordan and Jim Banks, of Indiana, both of whom challenged the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s victory, to join the 13-member select committee on the Capitol insurrection, Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected the two men.

“With respect for the integrity of the investigation, with an insistence on the truth and with concern about statements made and actions taken by these members, I must reject the recommendations of Representatives Banks and Jordan to the select committee,” Pelosi stated.

Jordan had said: “Americans instinctively know there was something wrong with this election.”

Banks had questioned “the legality of some votes cast in the 2020 election” and charged: “Make no mistake, Nancy Pelosi created this committee solely to malign conservatives and to justify the left’s authoritarian agenda.”

McCarthy responded by withdrawing all of his five Republicans from participation in the investigation.

Jim Jordan is a wiry, hyperactive bundle of nerves who tosses off his suit jacket, coiled to leap into the ring and twist the arms of his opponents. The former college wrestling champion in the 134lb class represents the locker-room jock culture in the House of Representatives, snapping his towel in committee hearings to show off his primacy as an alpha big man on campus. Jordan’s political moves are drawn from his wrestling repertoire: the leg shot, the half-nelson and the slam.

From 1987 to 1995, Jordan was an assistant wrestling coach at the Ohio State University, where many athletes claim he knew about and turned a blind eye to Dr Richard Strauss’s sexual abuse of at least 177 students. Jordan has denied that he engaged in a cover-up. One of the abused wrestlers, Mark Coleman, who was a close friend and roommate of Jordan and became an Ultimate Fighting Champion, told the Wall Street Journal (in comments he would later retract): “There’s no way unless he’s got dementia or something that he’s got no recollection of what was going on at Ohio State.” Another abused wrestler, Dunyasha Yetts, said: “If Jordan says he didn’t know about it then he’s lying.” Jordan refused to cooperate with the university’s investigation: goodbye, Columbus.

The report on the abuse, issued in 2019 by the law firm hired by OSU to conduct the investigation, Perkins Coie, concluded that Strauss’s predatory sexual behavior was an “open secret”, according to students, and that “coaches, trainers and other team physicians were fully aware of Strauss’ activities, and yet few seemed inclined to do anything to stop it.” (Strauss killed himself in 2005.)..."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/27/jim-jordan-republican-capitol-attack-insurrection-house-select-committee

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Ohio Newspaper Blasts 'Legislative Terrorist' Rep. Jim Jordan as 'Second Most Contemptible Human' in Government

BY JENNIFER DOHERTY ON 11/23/19 AT 12:42 PM EST

"In a scathing op-ed published in Cleveland, Ohio's The Plain Dealer newspaper Thursday, the paper's former editorial director took a blow torch to the reputation of GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, a key opposition figure in the House Intelligence Committee's impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

"There was no good reason to punish Greater Cleveland by making the person who's now the second most contemptible human being in the entire U.S. government part of the region's delegation to Congress," Brent Larkin's rhetorical pummeling began. And from there, the gloves came off.

The long week of public testimony in the impeachment inquiry weighed heavily on the American public, who tuned in in droves to watch as political appointees, career diplomats and military advisers detailed Trump's back-channel dealings and efforts to strong-arm a foreign government into supporting his 2020 re-election bid.

At every turn, witnesses recounting Trump's colorful conversations and disregard for national security protocols were subjected to cross examination by Jordan, whom former Republican House Speaker John Boehner called a "legislative terrorist," according to Larkin.

As a pinch-hitter for the Republicans temporarily replacing Arkansas Rep. Rick Crawford on the committee, Jordan frequently used his question time as a platform for promulgating conspiracy theories and complaining about partisanship. The inquiry was, he said, part of a sustained effort by Democrats and "some anonymous whistleblower ... who's biased against the president" to oust Trump not because of his unlawful behavior, but because of his Republican affiliation..."

https://www.newsweek.com/jim-jordan-op-ed-cleveland-plain-dealer-1473718

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Threat of Subpoenas for Kevin McCarthy and Jim Jordan Mounts

“I would expect a significant number of subpoenas for a lot of people.”


"As Republicans move full steam ahead with their disinformation campaign to completely rewrite the events of January 6, over in the real world, the threat of subpoenas for some of the most high-profile Trump loyalists is mounting.

On Sunday, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of only two Republicans on the select committee to investigate the Capitol attack, backed issuing subpoenas for his fellow Republican members, including for Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader who reportedly had an “expletive-laced” phone call with Donald Trump during which the former president refused to call off the hundreds of pro-Trumpers that were storming the Capitol.

“Would you support subpoenas to the Republican leader in the House and to Jim Jordan?” ABC’s Jon Karl asked.

“I would support subpoenas to anybody who could shed light on that,” Kinzinger said. “If that’s the leader, that’s the leader.”

The Illinois congressman also suggested that the number of people wanted for questioning by the committee would be extensive..."

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/08/adam-kinzinger-kevin-mccarthy-subpoena-january-6/?utm_source=mj-newsletters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-newsletter-08-02-2021

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Here’s a Long List of Top Republicans the 1/6 Committee Should Question

There’s no telling yet how much of a fight there will be over these witnesses.
David Corn
Washington, DC, Bureau Chief

On Tuesday morning, the House select committee investigating the insurrectionist January 6 assault on the US Capitol launched its hearings. The panel—which the House Republican caucus boycotted—opened with law enforcement officers who were attacked by the pro-Trump crowd of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, Christian nationalists, QAnoners, and other extremists. The point: to counter Donald Trump and his cult’s whitewashing disinformation that the 1/6 gathering, as Trump had put it, was a “loving” assembly. This part of the committee’s mission is not that hard. It need only replay the thousands of videos from that horrific day—or the disturbing collection produced by the New York Times— to disprove the GOP BS that the rioters acted like tourists and did little wrong. And Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chair of the committee, at the beginning of the hearing cued up a compilation of harrowing footage from the attack. The police witnesses watched with haunted gazes.

The much tougher task for the committee will be investigating what Trump and his minions did in the months, weeks, days, and even hours leading up to the assault and what actions Trump and his aides took (or didn’t take) during the seditious riot. These are key elements of the inquiry, and this is the part of the story that Trump and his henchmen do not want to be probed and publicized. Moreover, most of the witnesses to these behind-the-scenes truths are Trump devotees. It was no surprise that the GOP has tried to thwart a 1/6 investigation. A thorough probe would place many prominent Republicans, including members of Trump’s inner circle and his family, in an inconvenient position by demanding from them testimony that would likely not cast Trump in a positive light.

It’s unclear at this point whether the committee will pursue such testimony and how top Trump loyalists will respond if called to appear before the committee. A battle royale could be in the making, testing congressional power. Here’s a partial list of GOPers who ought to be hauled in by the 1/6 select committee. No doubt, its investigators will find others who should be questioned. But as this roster shows, the committee is starting out with a clear and extensive roadmap.

Former Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.). He was Trump’s White House chief of staff at the time and can explain what was happening at 1600 Pennsylvania during the violent raid on Congress. That includes Trump’s own actions during the assault he incited. Was Trump really excited, as CNN reported, to watch the violent throng try to stop the certification of the 2020 election.

Reps. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), and Mo Brooks (R-Ala.). Ali Alexander, an organizer of the pro-Trump “Stop the Steal” movement, says that he worked with this trio of Trump devotees to create an event on January 6 that would put “maximum pressure” on Congress when it was voting to certify Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. All three members should be grilled under oath. (Biggs and Brooks have denied this.)

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). The House Republican leader reportedly had an angry, expletive-laced phone conversation with Trump during the attempted insurrection, and Trump indicated he would not call off the rioters. What truly occurred during this call?

Kimberly Guilfoyle. On the night of January 5, according to Alexander, he spoke with Guilfoyle, a former Trump campaign official and the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., and he suggested that she had encouraged him. What exactly did she say to him? Was she conveying a message from anyone else?

Caroline Wren, who was a deputy to Guilfoyle at Trump Victory, a joint presidential fundraising committee during the 2020 campaign, was reportedly involved in the planning of the rally near the White House that preceded the violent storming of the Capitol. So was Katrina Pierson, who was a national spokesperson for Trump’s 2016 campaign and a senior adviser to the Trump 2020 reelection bid. Pierson was a liaison between the White House and the conservative groups that organized that pre-attack gathering. How closely was the White House involved in that production and the subsequent march that led to the rampage? What did it and the organizers of these events know about the violent plans and inclinations of many of the attendees?

Roger Stone. Prior to the January 6 attack, Trump’s longtime adviser was repeatedly seen with people subsequently charged in the assault and accused of conspiring to mount the raid. In fact, several of them were providing security for him. Stone also worked to raise money for “private security” and equipment for events in Washington, on January 5 and 6, that preceded the raid on the Capitol. (Warning to the committee: Stone was convicted of lying to Congress. His three-year-plus sentence was commuted by his pal Trump.)

Rudy Giuliani. The onetime personal lawyer and dirt-digger for Trump—whose Manhattan home and Park Avenue office were raided by the FBI—gave one of the most fiery speeches at the pre-riot rally. “Let’s have trial by combat,” he urged the crowd shortly before large parts of the audience headed toward Capitol Hill.

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. During the riot, McCarthy appealed to Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and top aide, for help in stopping the assault, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) phoned Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, to ask for assistance. What do this royal couple of Trumpland know about what occurred in the White House while the Trump mob was ransacking Congress? Ivanka was in the Oval Office at the time. Graham, too, should be questioned about his call to her.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.). As the riot on Capitol Hill raged, Tuberville received a call from Trump. (Trump apparently phoned Sen. Mike Lee, the Utah Republican, by mistake while trying to reach Tuberville.) Presumably, Trump was reaching out to Tuberville about the ongoing GOP effort to challenge the certification of Biden’s victory. Tuberville has said he doesn’t remember all the details of the conversation. Really? He should give testimony.

Kellyanne Conway. The former Trump White House senior adviser called an aide who was standing at the president’s side while the attack was underway. What did she learn?

Kayleigh McEnany. Then the White House press secretary, McEnany was reportedly with Trump during the attack and implored him to speak out against the violence. How did Trump respond?

William Barr. Trump’s guard-dog attorney general refused to join Trump in barking false claims of election fraud. He told Trump in early December that the Justice Department had not uncovered any evidence to back up the president’s wild allegations of a stolen election, and this led to an end of their once-beautiful relationship. The House committee—and the public—should hear directly from Barr regarding what Trump was saying to him during the post-election stretch and what he wanted Barr to do.

Pat Cipollone. Trump’s White House counsel while Trump was attempting to overturn the election results, Cipollone ought to be questioned about all the schemes Trump was discussing or considering to defy the democratic process. Might Cipollone try to hide behind a legal privilege? Perhaps. But it’s worth a shot. Meanwhile, the committee should also haul in Jeffrey Rosen, the acting attorney general after Barr fled, and Jeffrey Clark, who was a senior Justice Department official in the final days of Trump’s presidency, and ask them about Trump’s efforts to get Clark to find a way to invalidate the election results in Georgia and keep Trump in office.

Mike Pence. The former vice president was the target of some of the rioters, who called for him to be hanged. While in hiding, Pence received calls from congressional leaders who were angry the National Guard had not been deployed. According to the Washington Post, he “spoke with legislative and military leaders, working to mobilize the soldiers and offering reassurance.” He never talked to Trump during the attack. But Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff, was in contact with the White House. The ex-veep should have a lot to say—and so should Short.

Donald Trump. Because it was his riot.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/07/heres-a-long-list-of-top-republicans-the-1-6-committee-should-question/

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Beau's saying "subpoena everyone."

And that sounds like a good idea, honestly.



Republicans are so tangled up in their political-televangelism scam to keep fleecing their idiot flock that they're never going to tell the truth unless and until lying will cost them more than it earns them. And putting them under oath might be the only way to do that.

They're basically throwing gasoline around on fascist fires and hoping the Dems will save them from the inferno they're trying to start, so they can make money off stirring it up in the meantime. Republicans, honestly, think it can't really happen here, while they're trying to make it happen here because that's how they keep power and money. They're hoping someone saves them from what they're doing... or that if it does happen, it won't backfire on them. But it always does.

Tucker Carlson is kissing up to fascists in Hungary (and I'm half-Hungarian, I've got cousins in Hungary, and if you think that's a "free country," ho-ho, motherfucker, think again -- my cousins are living in terror they haven't experienced since the Soviets were still running the place), thinking that if a dictatorship takes hold over here he'll get one of the safe, in-control-of-the-state-media slots. And that's all he cares about. White supremacy is his hook now, after a long string of failures, and he doesn't care what damage he does to anyone as long as he's making bank. And, like every criminal bastard, he thinks maybe it won't bite him in the ass.

It will. But the country'll pay a heavy price first.

Exclusive: FBI finds scant evidence U.S. Capitol attack was coordinated - sources

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-fbi-finds-scant-evidence-us-capitol-attack-was-coordinated-sources-2021-08-20/

WASHINGTON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - The FBI has found scant evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to overturn the presidential election result, according to four current and former law enforcement officials.

Though federal officials have arrested more than 570 alleged participants, the FBI at this point believes the violence was not centrally coordinated by far-right groups or prominent supporters of then-President Donald Trump, according to the sources, who have been either directly involved in or briefed regularly on the wide-ranging investigations.

"Ninety to ninety-five percent of these are one-off cases," said a former senior law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. "Then you have five percent, maybe, of these militia groups that were more closely organized. But there was no grand scheme with Roger Stone and Alex Jones and all of these people to storm the Capitol and take hostages."

11 House Republicans Back up Kevin McCarthy's Threat to Telecoms Over 1/6 Committee

BY AILA SLISCO ON 9/3/21 AT 6:51 PM EDT

https://www.newsweek.com/11-house-republicans-back-kevin-mccarthys-threat-telecoms-over-1-6-committee-1626092

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If only we were as enlightened as China. Eh comrade?

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/us-taliban-arsenal-military-equipment/

Your graphic is a blatant lie and I suggest you take it down.

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And the Reuters article is also full of hot air, because we know this:



FREEDOM CAUCUS CHAIR ANDY BIGGS HELPED PLAN JANUARY 6 EVENT, LEAD ORGANIZER SAYS

In December, Ali Alexander claimed he and three House Republicans were organizing the rally that led to a storming of the Capitol on January 6.

Ryan Grim Aída Chávez
January 11 2021, 5:34 p.m.

"THE HEAD OF the House Freedom Caucus, Republican Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, helped plan the January 6 event that culminated in a storming of the Capitol, according to Ali Alexander, a lead organizer of the gathering. Alexander, a pro-Trump personality, was an early founder of the “Stop the Steal” movement and helped bring together various right-wing factions around a mass event on January 6, aimed to coincide with objections to the counting of Electoral College votes.

Alexander made his claim in three separate livestreams in late December, adding that Reps. Paul Gosar of Arizona and Mo Brooks of Alabama were also involved. “We’re the four guys who came up with a January 6 event,” Alexander said. On December 8, the Arizona Republican Party boosted Alexander, asking supporters if they were willing to give their lives in the fight over the results of the presidential election.

His claim is also buttressed by a fourth video from a December 19 rally at the Arizona State Capitol, at which Alexander played a video that Biggs had supplied. In the video, Biggs mentions Brooks as his ally in the fight. Gosar spoke in person at the event..."


https://theintercept.com/2021/01/11/capitol-plot-andy-biggs-paul-gosar/

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The Capitol Police Said Jan. 6 Unrest On Capitol Grounds Would Be “Highly Improbable”

BuzzFeed News has exclusively obtained the permits Capitol Police issued for protests on Capitol grounds for Jan. 6 — a rare window into a secretive organization and its most consequential day.


Jason Leopold
BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on September 9, 2021, at 11:18 a.m. ET

"The chief of the Capitol Police and its top intelligence officer personally approved permits for six demonstrations to be held on Jan. 6, 2021, despite signs that one of the applications was filed for an organization that didn't exist and that five of them were a proxy for a group staging large, violent protests across the country.

Capitol Police documented concerns that organizers had attempted to conceal their affiliation with Ali Alexander, the right-wing activist behind the group Stop the Steal, in a secret effort to coordinate their protests against the results of the 2020 presidential election. Despite those concerns, and COVID-19 policies that capped demonstrations at 50 people each, the Capitol Police force’s intelligence assessment said there were “no plans for participants to enter the buildings” and noted “no adverse intelligence related to the upcoming event.” It assessed “the Level of Probability of acts of civil disobedience/arrests to occur” during the demonstration “as Highly Improbable.”..."

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/the-capitol-police-said-jan-6-unrest-on-capitol-grounds

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the Eastman memo: previous guy had an actual plan to overthrow the election on 1/6




https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/9/20/2053458/--Peril-loss-Eastman-memo-where-Trump-s-auto-coup-would-have-stolen-the-election-but-for-Mike-Pence?pm_source=story_sidebar&pm_medium=web&pm_campaign=recommended

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It's what the Republicans do. They have a history of trying to overthrow the government elected by the People and for the People. This wasn't the first time and it won't be the last. Of course FDR needed the rich gold loving fat cats to help put our country back on its feet, so he buried the part where Butler named names. We all know who was behind the 1/6 attempted coup. Do they still hang traitors or are most traitors considered tourists these days?

Oh the humanity.

Sal wrote:

PkrBum wrote:Oh the humanity.

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1441008337882071048?s=20

Wow …

… a tweet from a real life white nationalist nazi …

… I’m convinced.

You suck.

Yawn... isn't everybody that you disagree with?

PkrBum wrote:Oh the humanity.

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1441008337882071048?s=20

Jack Posobiec’s Rise Tied to White Supremacist Movement

Jack Posobiec, a correspondent for One America News Network (OANN) whose work has been embraced by President Trump, collaborated for years with white supremacists, neo-fascists and antisemites, a Hatewatch investigation has determined.

Posobiec’s ties to far-right extremists travel beyond borders into Europe. His connections to white supremacy are too numerous to compile into one article, so Hatewatch is running a series of stories on the correspondent’s ties to the movement and promotion of it. This first story in the series lays out how Posobiec rose from being a pseudonymous Game of Thrones blogger to linking up with such white supremacists as Richard Spencer and a neo-Nazi who endorsed terrorism while using the online handle @PureWhiteEvil.

Posobiec, 34, described himself in his Twitter bio as being “fmr CBS News” during chapters of his life detailed in this story. CBS News told Hatewatch he never worked for them. At the time Posobiec introduced himself to the public on Twitter as “fmr CBS News,” he promoted now-infamous disinformation campaigns such as “Pizzagate.” He built up a larger audience during this time, gaining over 9,000 followers per month from September 2016 to March 2017.

Posobiec used Twitter to target Jewish journalists with antisemitic hate. His targets included CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer, whose Polish family survived the Holocaust during World War II. Posobiec also targeted a group of journalists reporting on a press conference hosted by Peter Thiel. Three Jewish rights groups – the Anti-Defamation League, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Bend the Arc: Jewish Action – described Posobiec’s behavior as antisemitic or condemned OANN’s relationship to him after Hatewatch reached out for comment on this investigation. The full statements of those groups as well as additional evidence of Posobiec’s antisemitic remarks can be found here..."

https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2020/07/08/jack-posobiecs-rise-tied-white-supremacist-movement

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Oh no, a notorious Nazi propagandist grifter who makes all his money by manipulating the nation's stupidliest stupid-stupid stupidfucks with cherry-picked footage has completely annihilated the whole myth of a violent insurrection by showing that a few of the people who wandered in afterward were just milling around like -- appropriately enough -- cattle.

Wow, I really hope that doesn't get seen, because it would mean that all the footage of people smashing windows and beating cops never happened! Because if EVERYBODY in a crowd wasn't violent and trying to kill Congresspeople, then it must be the case that NONE of them were! That's just logic!






I thought footage such as the above would have made a pretty airtight case that this was a violent coup attempt, but... I dunno, dude, if some other folks wandered in afterward and looked at the aftermath, that kinda sinks it.

Darn, we've been bested again! The whole house of cards built on hours of violent footage and eyewitness testimony has been totally destroyed.

Usually I'd think that people who posted Nazi propaganda videos were bottom-of-the-barrel-scraping scumbag bigot-fellating pieces of absolute shit, but when it's a "gotcha!" of THIS magnitude, why, I can hardly blame them for compromising their integrity and going for it. Devastating, just devastating. Guess we just have to let Trump be president again, even if he didn't get votes or anything. Darn, I hate that.

The funny thing is the embedded video in the tweet clearly shows people climbing through broken windows.

Oops??

► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/

For more than eight months, Republican lawmakers have sought to rewrite the harrowing events of January 6.

They have repeatedly whitewashed the assault on the US Capitol despite copious footage showing mobs of Trump supporters ransacking Congress, assaulting journalists, threatening to kill Vice President Mike Pence, and viciously attacking scores of police officers with chemical spray, fire extinguishers, hockey sticks, and flagpoles.

“It was not an insurrection,” Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia declared at a House hearing in May, suggesting that most participants were engaged in “a normal tourist visit.”

“By and large it was peaceful protest,” said Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin after the May hearings.

This attempted political cover-up has hinged on another specific claim: that no one who stormed the Capitol had guns.

“This didn’t seem like an armed insurrection to me,” Johnson said five weeks after the attack, adding, “When you think of armed, don’t you think of firearms?” During the May hearings, Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona claimed “zero firearms” were found among suspects charged with breaching the Capitol. “There were no guns whatsoever,” former President Trump declared repeatedly during a Fox News interview in July.

Evidence of numerous firearms among January 6 perpetrators shows those claims to be false.

A Mother Jones investigation drawing on public video footage, congressional testimony, and documents from more than a dozen federal criminal cases reveals that various Trump supporters descended on DC that day armed for battle with guns and other potentially lethal weapons. At least four people arrested in connection with the insurrection are facing charges for carrying firearms on Capitol grounds. Additionally, at least 10 others carried knives or tasers, including two defendants who allegedly committed assaults with tasers, according to FBI and court documents.

Multiple others arrested downtown and in the vicinity of the Capitol had rifles, pistols, explosive materials, and large supplies of ammunition. And communications among numerous January 6 suspects detailed in court documents indicate that many of their fellow insurrectionists were armed with guns.

Head to motherjones.com for our full investigation.

#January6 #CapitolInsurrection #CapitolRiots #Investigation

Trump Extremists Brought Numerous Guns on January 6, Evidence Shows

Rioters at the Capitol carried concealed pistols, allegedly stockpiled weapons nearby, and called for overthrowing the US government.

MARK FOLLMAN, DAN FRIEDMAN, RYAN LITTLE, AND SAM VAN PYKEREN
SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

[...]

Excerpt:

“Shoot that motherfucker! Shoot him!” the man shouted. “Either you let us in or you die!”

The identities of other individuals who carried guns on Capitol grounds remain unclear. One person who wore a star-spangled cowboy hat and is wanted by the FBI, in connection with an assault on a journalist, appeared in footage recorded by Vice News in which he revealed a pistol in his front waistband.

As the scene grew more tense and chaotic that day, escalating calls for violence could be heard around the Capitol. “If you have a weapon, you need to get your weapon,” announced one unidentified man repeatedly through a bullhorn. Elsewhere among the mob, another unidentified man urged opening fire on a police officer guarding a building entrance: “Shoot that motherfucker! Shoot him!” the man shouted. “Either you let us in or you die.



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https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2021/09/trump-extremists-guns-january-6-insurrection-congress-domestic-terrorism/

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For reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_charges_brought_in_the_2021_United_States_Capitol_attack

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https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/capitol-breach-cases

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