Fiona Hill: "The president was trying to stage a coup"
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annabenedetti
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Chronicling Trump's 10 worst abuses of power
Subverting the 2020 election
Inciting an insurrection
Abusing the bully pulpit
Politicizing the Justice Department
Obstructing the Mueller investigation
Abusing the pardon power
The Ukraine affair and cover-up
Loyalty oaths and personalizing government
Firing whistleblowers and truth-tellers
Profiting off the presidency
annabenedetti
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expos4ever
Well-known member
Arrested at a Waffle House you say. Who'da thunk it?
annabenedetti
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Proud Boys Dealt Another Blow as Feds Crack Down
The far-right Proud Boys have been thrown into a tumult in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot, with the group’s leaders facing criminal charges, their chairman exposed as an informant, and law enforcement investigating what role Proud Boys had in the attack on the U.S. Capitol.Now, amid a brewing trademark dispute with their former lawyer, they might even lose the right to use their name.
On Monday, former Proud Boys lawyer Jason Lee Van Dyke, who holds the “Proud Boys” trademark, released a letter revoking Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio’s right to use the name. Van Dyke’s reasons for revoking the trademark rights included what he sees as the Proud Boys’ association with Nazi groups, as well as Proud Boys burning a church’s Black Lives Matter banner in a December march in Washington, D.C.
Van Dyke doesn’t fit the profile of a typical Proud Boys opponent. Van Dyke has an elaborately checkered legal history himself, including a temporary suspension from practicing law after threatening to kill one of his legal foes. Police claim Van Dyke once used Proud Boys to surveil his legal opponent, and was allegedly recorded by an informant laying out plans for a violent terror campaign against the man.
Van Dyke’s complaints that the Proud Boys are too close to white-supremacist groups is especially bizarre, given his own history. As recently as 2019, Van Dyke was reportedly caught on tape attempting to join The Base, a neo-Nazi terrorist group, before being rejected by its members as a “huge liability.” In the membership interview, a person identified by Vice News as Van Dyke can be heard praising neo-Nazi writers and discussing a crackdown on Jewish immigration.
“There’re plenty of people in the Proud Boys who don’t believe that Jews have a place in this country and they want to put a stop to it,” Van Dyke reportedly said in the recording.
Despite that, Van Dyke is now positioning himself as the defender of the Proud Boys name, accusing Tarrio of using the trademark to sell substandard Proud Boys merchandise and letting Proud Boys create fascist-style graphics using the trademark.
“Your license to utilize the ‘Proud Boys’ trademark for any purposes is terminated, effective immediately,” Van Dyke wrote in the letter to Tarrio.
ok doser
lifeguard at the cement pond
Who?
annabenedetti
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Interesting multiple interactive graphics at the link
Arrested in Capitol Riot: Organized Militants and a Horde of Radicals
annabenedetti
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ok doser
lifeguard at the cement pond
You misspelled "Retarded"
Riots? I thought they were supposed to be called "mostly peaceful protests."
ok doser
lifeguard at the cement pond
At least they're not using the retarded term "insurrection" anymore
annabenedetti
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Historic second impeachment trial begins.
Even with the all-but-certain vote to acquit, the facts provided by prosecutors during the course of the trial will be part of history too.
Even with the all-but-certain vote to acquit, the facts provided by prosecutors during the course of the trial will be part of history too.
annabenedetti
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Adam Kinzinger:
Winston Churchill famously said, “Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” All Americans, but especially my fellow Republicans, should remember this wisdom during the Senate’s trial of former president Donald Trump.
I say this as a lifelong Republican who voted to impeach Trump last month. Virtually all my colleagues on the right side of the aisle took the opposite path. Most felt it was a waste of time — political theater that distracted from bigger issues. The overwhelming majority of Senate Republicans appear to feel the same way about conviction.
But this isn’t a waste of time. It’s a matter of accountability. If the GOP doesn’t take a stand, the chaos of the past few months, and the past four years, could quickly return. The future of our party and our country depends on confronting what happened — so it doesn’t happen again.
The immediate cause for Trump’s impeachment was Jan. 6. But the president’s rally and resulting riot on Capitol Hill didn’t come out of nowhere.
They were the result of four-plus years of anger, outrage and outright lies. Perhaps the most dangerous lie — or at least the most recent — was that the election was stolen. Of course it wasn’t, but a huge number of Republican leaders encouraged the belief that it was. Every time that lie was repeated, the riots of Jan. 6 became more likely.
Even now, many Republicans refuse to admit what happened. They continue to feed anger and resentment among the people. On Jan. 6, that fury led to the murder of a Capitol Police officer and the deaths of four other Americans. If that rage is still building, where does it go from here?
Impeachment offers a chance to say enough is enough. It ought to force every American, regardless of party affiliation, to remember not only what happened on Jan. 6, but also the path that led there. After all, the situation could get much, much worse — with more violence and more division that cannot be overcome. The further down this road we go, the closer we come to the end of America as we know it.
The Republican Party I joined as a young man would never take that road. The GOP that inspired me to serve in uniform and then run for public office believed a brighter future was just around the bend. We stood for equal opportunity, firm in our conviction that a poor kid from the South Side of Chicago deserves the same shot as a privileged kid from Highland Park. We knew that if we brought everyone into America’s promise, we would unleash a new era of American progress and prosperity. Outrage and the fear of a darker future were nowhere to be found in that Republican Party.
When leaders such as Donald Trump changed that dynamic, many of my fellow Republicans went along without question. Many are still there because they believe the rank-and-file Republican voter is there, too. But I think that’s an illusion. The anger and outrage are drowning out the much larger group of people who reject that approach. Worse, many have gone silent because they assume the party’s leaders no longer represent them. They’re waiting for leaders who will say what they know is true.
Since my vote to impeach Trump, I’ve heard from tens of thousands of my constituents. Their reaction has been overwhelmingly supportive. Republicans of all backgrounds and outlooks have told me they appreciate my efforts to return the GOP to a foundation of principle, not personality. I’ve even heard from many Democrats. They don’t agree with me on a lot of issues, but they want the Republican Party to be healthy and competitive.
I firmly believe the majority of Americans — Republican, Democrat, independent, you name it — reject the madness of the past four years. But we’ll never move forward by ignoring what happened or refusing to hold accountable those responsible. That will embolden the few who led us here and dishearten the many who know America is better than this. It will make it more likely that we see more anger, violence and chaos in the years ahead.
The better path is to learn the lessons of the recent past. Convicting Donald Trump is necessary to save America from going further down a sad, dangerous road.
Winston Churchill famously said, “Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” All Americans, but especially my fellow Republicans, should remember this wisdom during the Senate’s trial of former president Donald Trump.
I say this as a lifelong Republican who voted to impeach Trump last month. Virtually all my colleagues on the right side of the aisle took the opposite path. Most felt it was a waste of time — political theater that distracted from bigger issues. The overwhelming majority of Senate Republicans appear to feel the same way about conviction.
But this isn’t a waste of time. It’s a matter of accountability. If the GOP doesn’t take a stand, the chaos of the past few months, and the past four years, could quickly return. The future of our party and our country depends on confronting what happened — so it doesn’t happen again.
The immediate cause for Trump’s impeachment was Jan. 6. But the president’s rally and resulting riot on Capitol Hill didn’t come out of nowhere.
They were the result of four-plus years of anger, outrage and outright lies. Perhaps the most dangerous lie — or at least the most recent — was that the election was stolen. Of course it wasn’t, but a huge number of Republican leaders encouraged the belief that it was. Every time that lie was repeated, the riots of Jan. 6 became more likely.
Even now, many Republicans refuse to admit what happened. They continue to feed anger and resentment among the people. On Jan. 6, that fury led to the murder of a Capitol Police officer and the deaths of four other Americans. If that rage is still building, where does it go from here?
Impeachment offers a chance to say enough is enough. It ought to force every American, regardless of party affiliation, to remember not only what happened on Jan. 6, but also the path that led there. After all, the situation could get much, much worse — with more violence and more division that cannot be overcome. The further down this road we go, the closer we come to the end of America as we know it.
The Republican Party I joined as a young man would never take that road. The GOP that inspired me to serve in uniform and then run for public office believed a brighter future was just around the bend. We stood for equal opportunity, firm in our conviction that a poor kid from the South Side of Chicago deserves the same shot as a privileged kid from Highland Park. We knew that if we brought everyone into America’s promise, we would unleash a new era of American progress and prosperity. Outrage and the fear of a darker future were nowhere to be found in that Republican Party.
When leaders such as Donald Trump changed that dynamic, many of my fellow Republicans went along without question. Many are still there because they believe the rank-and-file Republican voter is there, too. But I think that’s an illusion. The anger and outrage are drowning out the much larger group of people who reject that approach. Worse, many have gone silent because they assume the party’s leaders no longer represent them. They’re waiting for leaders who will say what they know is true.
Since my vote to impeach Trump, I’ve heard from tens of thousands of my constituents. Their reaction has been overwhelmingly supportive. Republicans of all backgrounds and outlooks have told me they appreciate my efforts to return the GOP to a foundation of principle, not personality. I’ve even heard from many Democrats. They don’t agree with me on a lot of issues, but they want the Republican Party to be healthy and competitive.
I firmly believe the majority of Americans — Republican, Democrat, independent, you name it — reject the madness of the past four years. But we’ll never move forward by ignoring what happened or refusing to hold accountable those responsible. That will embolden the few who led us here and dishearten the many who know America is better than this. It will make it more likely that we see more anger, violence and chaos in the years ahead.
The better path is to learn the lessons of the recent past. Convicting Donald Trump is necessary to save America from going further down a sad, dangerous road.
annabenedetti
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I just watched the video timeline presented by the House managers during the impeachment trial.
It had footage I've not seen before, interspersed with Trump's incitement at the rally, like the MAGA saying they needed 30K guns and someone replying "next time." Footage of MAGAs bashing a window with an America flag. Going down the halls kicking in doors screaming "where are they?" Saying they were there for Trump. These animals were there for Trump, because Trump sent them there.
It had footage I've not seen before, interspersed with Trump's incitement at the rally, like the MAGA saying they needed 30K guns and someone replying "next time." Footage of MAGAs bashing a window with an America flag. Going down the halls kicking in doors screaming "where are they?" Saying they were there for Trump. These animals were there for Trump, because Trump sent them there.
annabenedetti
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Here's the impeachment manager Jamie Raskin's opening video of the January 6 timeline:
annabenedetti
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Such an eloquent speech by Raskin, one of his most haunting memories is seeing a Capitol police officer being being mercilessly beaten by a rioter with a flagpole still bearing the American flag. If I can get a transcript I'll post it here.
annabenedetti
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Senate votes 56-44 that impeachment is constitutional.