On January 6
Joe Biden speaks.
Gorgias in our time
“The orator need have no knowledge of the truth about things; it is enough for him to have discovered a knack of persuading the ignorant that he seems to know more than the experts.”
A gang of six
Andy Biggs, Mo Brooks, Louie Gohmert, Paul Gosar, Jim Jordan, and Scott Perry: fascists at work.
Four Seasons Total Documentary
The story of the Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference and its aftermath.
Genuine headline
From Newsweek: “Confused QAnon Followers Question Whether Keith Richards Is JFK After ‘Reappearance’ Flop.”
Mary Miller, pants on fire
The Chicago Sun-Times has addressed one of Miller’s recent tweets, which claims that a migrant group as large as the population of Minneapolis is making its way to the U.S.–Mexico border.
“The Attack”
A monumental effort of reporting by The Washington Post on the events of January 6, before, during, and after.
Big news
“Two of these people have spoken to Rolling Stone extensively in recent weeks and detailed explosive allegations that multiple members of Congress were intimately involved in planning both Trump’s efforts to overturn his election loss and the Jan. 6 events that turned violent.”
Chris Miller again
The man who purportedly represents me in the Illinois House of Representatives, Chris Miller (R-110), is in the news again for telling the Big Lie.
Rewriting
The New York Times reports on Republican efforts to rewrite the events of January 6: “The message is clear: Adherence to facts cannot overcome adherence to the party line.” Cf. George Orwell: “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
Saying and believing
It’s the same tactic Donald Trump used re: Ukraine. Just say there’s an investigation of Hunter Biden. Just say that the election was corrupt.
Truth
“You’re downplaying an event that happened to the country itself, to democracy, to the rule of law”: Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell, a few minutes ago, commenting on those who would minimize the events of January 6, 2021.
Effing-
Effing-crazy in Effingham.
Richard Signorelli’s Twitter
Richard Signorelli is an attorney in private practice, formerly an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. His Twitter account looks to me like required reading for anyone interested in the sea of troubles the Trump Organization finds itself in.
Sentenced
Two hundred and seventy months, or twenty-two and a half years. That’s Derek Chauvin’s sentence.
On all three counts
Our household, too, just rose for the jury as they left the courtroom.
“Too small”
Jerry Blackwell, Special Assistant Attorney General, in his final words for the prosecution in Derek Chauvin’s murder trial: “You were told, for example, that Mr. Floyd died, that Mr. Floyd died because his heart was too big. You heard that testimony. And now having seen all the evidence, having heard all the evidence, you know the truth. And the truth of the matter is that the reason George Floyd is dead is because Mr. Chauvin’s heart was too small.”
Right?
His purpose is to create the illusion that a witness is agreeing with the defense. But it’s a pretty transparent tactic, and the illusion is one an observer can see right through.
Here’s hoping
Harry Litman of the Los Angeles Times, on MSNBC just now: “Trump is going to be a criminal defendant, a civil defendant, or a prisoner for the rest of his life.”
0 for 2
A spine-shortage.
Stacey Plaskett again
Representative Stacey Plaskett (D, Virgin Islands), a House impeachment manager, this afternoon: “The defense counsels put a lot of videos out in their defense, playing clip after clip of Black women talking about fighting for a cause, or an issue, or a policy. It was not lost on me that so many of them were people of color and women, Black women, Black women like myself who are sick and tired of being sick and tired for our children, your children, our children. This summer things happened that were violent, but there were also things that gave some of Black women great comfort. Seeing Amish people from Pennsylvania standing up with us, members of Congress fighting up with us. And so I thought we were past that. I think maybe we’re not.”
Crooks and lawyers
It’s grimly hilarious to hear Donald Trump’s lawyer Michael van der Veen accuse the House managers of “total intellectual dishonesty.”
$519,328,369
From The Washington Post: “President Donald Trump’s onslaught of falsehoods about the November election misled millions of Americans, undermined faith in the electoral system, sparked a deadly riot — and has now left taxpayers with a large, and growing, bill.”
Deadpan reportage
From a New York Times article about Lenka Perron, a one-time believer who found her way out of conspiracy thinking.
Heroes and villains
“Heroes don’t lie to the FBI about contacts they had with hostile foreign powers.”
What next?
As the walls close in and clichés multiply, how long before Donald L. Trump* makes an explicit claim that COVID-19 was created to destroy his chances of re-election?
Items in a series
Mara Gay, speaking on The 11th Hour a few minutes ago, suggested that it’s necessary to now marginalize Donald Trump* and bring people back to “reality, science, kindness, and democracy.”
Tweetstorm
Donald Trump*, spreader of disinformation, sower of discord, speaker at the headquarters of a landscaping company.
I feel sorry for Daniel Dale
Daniel Dale’s fact-checking and Kamala Harris’s rope-a-dope.
Sean Conley, MD
MD = Medical Dissembler.