Friday Open Thread

8 thoughts on “Friday Open Thread”

1. AP Bothsiderism Headline of the Week:

   One attack, two interpretations: Biden and Trump both make the Jan. 6 riot a political rallying cry

   One attack, two interpretations: Bush and Bin Laden both make the Sept. 11 attacks a political rallying cry.

   Julia Child and Jeffrey Dahmer are two famous cooks with different approaches to ingredients.

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   1. Well, the headline is justly fodder for derision. 

      The story that goes along with it isn't bad.  It includes:

      Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s victory, and they forced lawmakers and then-Vice President Mike Pence to flee for their lives. Many Trump loyalists walked to the Capitol after a rally outside the White House in which the Republican president exhorted the crowd to “fight like hell” or “you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

      Nine deaths were linked to the attack and more than 700 people have gone to court for their roles in it, and more than 450 people have been sentenced to prison.

      Federal prosecutors in Washington have charged Trump in connection with the riot, citing his promotion of false and debunked theories of election fraud and efforts to overturn the results. Trump has pleaded not guilty and continued to lie about the 2020 election.

       

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2. Jennifer Rubin on true conservatism vs. MAGA Trumpers in control of today's GOP

   The media and political insiders have become so accustomed to calling radical, authoritarian Republicans “conservatives” or “hard-line conservatives” that it is easy to forget what real conservatives used to and still do sound like. Fortunately, a group of them submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in support of U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan’s ruling that four-times-indicted former president Donald Trump doesn’t enjoy immunity from any actions taken during his presidency. Therein, we can find the principles that used to guide the Republican Party.

   In spelling out these arguments in this fashion, the amicus brief not only dismantles Trump’s preposterous claims to immunity but also rebukes the entire GOP that has followed Trump into a thicket of lawlessness, authoritarianism, violence and chaos. Its authors thereby vividly illustrate how far Republicans have come in abandoning liberty, limited government, judicial restraint and fair play.

   Only if Trump loses and the MAGA movement’s lurch to authoritarianism is defeated can the GOP reemerge as a legitimate pro-democracy, center-right party based on the principles outlined in the amicus brief. If that ever occurs, the amicus brief authors might be just the people to advise and lead their former allies to return to the values they once held dear.

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3. Jennifer Rubin has been unsparing in her legal analysis of the 14th Amendment cases, too. Today's headline:  You can bet on the Supreme Court’s abject partisanship.  Her summary paragraph:

   Bottom line: The partisan majority on the court could duck the question, deeming it premature or a matter for the states, thereby enraging their right-wing patrons, though that is highly unlikely. Alternatively, it could fashion a definition of insurrection to suit its purposes or blatantly defy Section 3’s clear language (e.g., invent a requirement for a criminal conviction). Right-wing justices’ contortions will confirm the utter lack of credibility that now defines the court.

   I have a faint hope that the Court's majority will only "duck" the issue in some fashion.  An even thinner thread says they MAY agree that it is a state's rights issue, so Colorado and Maine can block Trump. 

   Or, if the Court does what I think it will, I can only hope it triggers similar disdain as overturning Roe, and leads to Supreme Court reforms.

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4. Wow, I just read a tweet that Lamebrain is not running in CD5! Not that I care a lot, but I guess the potential for a psycho-hose-beast replacement is reasonably strong. Party on! 

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   1. I just saw it on the Denver Post site and came to see if it was here yet. So 3, 4, and 5 will all be up for grabs? This is going to get good. I'll make the popcorn. 

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      1. And I'll bring the Xanax!

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5. Breaking- the Supreme Court will hear the Colorado case keeping Trump off the ballot, on February 8.

   Don't know if this is good news or bad news

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