A report card on the Biden administration

[Sandy Shanks]

One possible answer is, the right is stupid. Are there any other possible explanations?

Guess not.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Republicans who refuse to come to grips with reality -- as seen by this thread -- are in the grip of a myth.

It really is a joke -- the intelligent Republicans know that -- but they still embrace the "Big Lie," and they contribute millions to the cause.

One such cause is the Conservative Political Action Conference or CPAC, and it is attended by elected Republican officials.

Business Insider reports, "Attendees of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas have been presented with a strategy outlining a 7-point-plan to reinstate Donald Trump as president 'in days, not years.

I said it was a joke.

Business Insider continues, "The outlandish plan involves ousting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and eventually installing Donald Trump in her place.

"Donald Trump as Speaker would then call for a vote to impeach, charge, and remove "imposters" President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. As the Speaker of the House is third in the line of presidential succession, Trump would then take up the presidency again in this highly improbable scenario.

"The plan hinges upon Republicans regaining control of the House, which they plan to do by pulling back the curtain on "the horror show" of the Democrat Party, causing groups such as the Black Caucus to "flip" sides."

Alabama Republican Representative Mo Brooks asked audience members at CPAC) if they would be "willing" and ready "to fight" for America, echoing his controversial remarks ahead of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Brooks, who is running for the U.S. Senate with Trump's backing, said during his speech Friday, "Our choice is simple: We can surrender and submit, or we can fight back" against "dictatorial socialists" and Democratic control.

This is today's Republican Party.

You will get no argument to that statement from today's Republicans.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

This is today's Republican Party.

Former President Trump will speak on Sunday at 3:35 p.m., conference officials said.

I will be looking forward to this.

 

[HangLow]

Republicans who refuse to come to grips with reality -- as seen by this thread -- are in the grip of a myth.

It really is a joke -- the intelligent Republicans know that -- but they still embrace the "Big Lie," and they contribute millions to the cause.

One such cause is the Conservative Political Action Conference or CPAC, and it is attended by elected Republican officials.

Business Insider reports, "Attendees of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas have been presented with a strategy outlining a 7-point-plan to reinstate Donald Trump as president 'in days, not years.

I said it was a joke.

Business Insider continues, "The outlandish plan involves ousting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and eventually installing Donald Trump in her place.

"Donald Trump as Speaker would then call for a vote to impeach, charge, and remove "imposters" President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. As the Speaker of the House is third in the line of presidential succession, Trump would then take up the presidency again in this highly improbable scenario.

"The plan hinges upon Republicans regaining control of the House, which they plan to do by pulling back the curtain on "the horror show" of the Democrat Party, causing groups such as the Black Caucus to "flip" sides."

Alabama Republican Representative Mo Brooks asked audience members at CPAC) if they would be "willing" and ready "to fight" for America, echoing his controversial remarks ahead of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Brooks, who is running for the U.S. Senate with Trump's backing, said during his speech Friday, "Our choice is simple: We can surrender and submit, or we can fight back" against "dictatorial socialists" and Democratic control.

This is today's Republican Party.

You will get no argument to that statement from today's Republicans.

​

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Fox News reports, "Former President Donald Trump easily won the 2024 GOP presidential nomination poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) gathering this weekend in Texas.

"Trump, who’s repeatedly flirted with making another presidential run in 2024 to try and return to the White House, captured 70% of ballots cast in the anonymous straw poll, according to results announced by CPAC on Sunday afternoon."

Those familiar with Trump may be puzzled by this. At Helsinki, Trump rejected American intelligence and said he believed Putin instead. The Russian helped Trump win in 2016. Trump destroyed the nuclear agreement with Iran, and that enemy is closer to a nuke than ever. He once suggested the injection of disinfectant to kill the coronavirus. Trump led an insurrection against our government on Jan. 6. For this, and countless other reasons, Trump lost his reelection by over seven million votes. He claims without evidence that the election was stolen from him. This is know as the Big Lie.

So, how in the world did he win the straw vote by 70%? Republicans on this forum won't tell us because, although they strongly support Trump, they avoid him. True, that's beyond comprehension, but there it is. It has something to do with the intelligence level of Trump's followers.

The answer is, CPAC has become a fringe group of the GOP that favors Trump and the Big Lie. The leadership of the Republican Party stays away from CPAC.

CPAC Texas 2021 | Speakers shows a list of the speakers. There are only two Senators, one from Florida, the other from Tennessee. The rest stayed away. There are a large number of Republican House members on the speaker list, but that is to be expected.

On Jan. 6, as a part of the the Trump-led insurrection, 147 Republicans voted to void the results of the Constitutionally mandated Electoral College. 139 of them were from the House.

Senator Rick Scott, one of the speakers at CPAC, voted to scrap the election results.

CPAC is not the Republican Party. The problem is, how many will be able to make that distinction? Americans will only remember that the leader of the Republican Party, Donald Trump, was favored by 70% of Republicans attending CPAC.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Trump on the Jan. 6 insurrection.

“There was such love at that rally. You had over a million people there. They were there for one reason…. We had a corrupt election. We had a rigged election. We had a stolen election. It was a lovefest….They were peaceful people. These were great people.”

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Trump on the Jan. 6 insurrection.

“There was such love at that rally. You had over a million people there. They were there for one reason…. We had a corrupt election. We had a rigged election. We had a stolen election. It was a lovefest….They were peaceful people. These were great people.”

Capturing the Presidential preferential contest at CPAC by a whopping 70%, Donald Trump is the anointed leader of the Republican Party.

Strange how his followers on this forum are avoiding him. Maybe this is why.

The Independent writes, "The conference, once a high-profile stage to glimpse the state of the contemporary GOP, has become a clearinghouse for online-drive conspiracy theories, self-righteous delusions, and culture war grievances. CPAC attracted far-right militia, violent reactionaries and QAnon proponents."

Fox News on Sunday aired a disclaimer concerning comments made by Trump during CPAC.

To understand Trump, one has to understand that he considers lying a legitimate tactic in politics. It is particularly useful in the case of gullible followers.

He calls his lying Truthful Hyperbole and he defines it in the book, The Art of the Deal.

“The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to people’s fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration—and a very effective form of promotion.”

At CPAC this weekend, his loyal, gullible followers enjoyed and absorbed these whoppers from the leader of their party.

“No evidence? There’s so much evidence,” Trump insisted, although in eight months he has not provided evidence. Lying about evidence is not evidence.

Trump vowed that once Republicans take back Congress in the 2022 midterms, “We will take back that glorious White House that sits so majestically in our nation’s capital.”

“Look at all those fake news people back there,” he said, peering at the bank of TV cameras. To Trump, every responsible news source is "fake news" because they record Trump's comments for the record.

Following his speech that touched off the Jan. 6 insurrection -- or lovefest Trump prefers to call it -- he was banned from social media for instigating violence against our government. “We are taking Mark Zuckerbucks ... and the other Silicon Valley billionaires to court ... until we have restored the sacred right of freedom of speech for every American,” Trump told the crowd. “I was banned by sleazebags.”

There is so much more, but the reader gets the point.

Republicans, this is your leader. Little wonder as to why you avoid him.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

President Biden gave a great speech today on voting rights, but provided little in the way of achieving the goals he has set.

Maybe that is unfair, but Americans today are yearning for action on his goals, not flowery rhetoric.

That said, here is small review of what our President said.

He "decried Republican efforts to limit ballot access across the country as a "21st century Jim Crow assault," while warning Americans that the GOP push to restrict voting and "selfish" challenge of the 2020 election results were "the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War," according to ABC.

"There is an unfolding assault taking place in America today, an attempt to suppress and subvert the right to vote in fair and free elections, an assault on democracy, an assault on liberty, an assault on who we are as Americans," Biden said.

He wasted no time taking a shot at former President Donald Trump and his supporters, homing in on the 2020 election as the "most scrutinized election in American history."

"More than 80 judges, including those appointed by my predecessor heard the arguments. In every case, neither cause nor evidence was found to undermine the national achievement of administering the historic election," he said.

"The big lie is just that -- a big lie!" he declared.

Of course, we all know that, including Trump, but the big lie is great for fund raising from the poor souls who believe the lie.

Unfortunately, Biden stopped short of endorsing changes to the Senate filibuster rule that would allow Democrats to pass voting rights measures with a simple majority vote -- something advocates, and many Democrats have begged him to support.

Consequently, the voting rights bill is at a standstill.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Now this is interesting.

NBC reports, "A prolific, Russian-speaking ransomware gang has suddenly disappeared from the internet months after executing some of the most high-profile cyberattacks on U.S. targets.

"It is unclear why the group's online footprint, including its blog and payment-processing infrastructure, have gone offline, but its absence has prompted questions about whether the U.S. took action just days after President Joe Biden promised consequences for a string of cyberattacks. But ransomware gangs have also been known to voluntarily disband, only to return under a different name.

"The group, REvil, is one of the most prolific cybercriminal organizations in the world. It hacked more than 360 U.S. targets in 2021 alone, part of an extortion spree that locks up victims' computers, leading to demands of payment in exchange for a decryptor program and a promise to not leak sensitive files.

"The group disappeared from the dark web early Tuesday morning without leaving any known indication why, and the timing is noteworthy. Biden has repeatedly insisted he plans to take some action against ransomware hackers, many of whom are believed to reside in Russia. On Friday, Biden told reporters the U.S. may attack the "servers" used to carry out attacks, but he didn't give specifics."

Spokespeople for both Cyber Command and the White House National Security Council declined to comment on REvil's disappearance.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Why is the Republican Party sponsoring a program of discouraging vaccinations against a deadly virus?

We will never know because Republicans on this forum never discuss what their party is doing.

In any case, the program is successful. Republican-led states rank at the bottom of vaccination rates, and Republicans cheered when Biden didn't reach his goal of 70% which involved a plan to save American lives. 99.5 percent of all covid-19-related deaths in the United States occur among unvaccinated people -- the bulk of those deaths occurring in Republican-led states.

Michael Gerson writes, "The recent outbreak of applause at the Conservative Political Action Conference for the United States’ failure to meet its vaccination target was macabre."

The Tennessean reports, "The Tennessee Department of Health will halt all adolescent vaccine outreach – not just for coronavirus, but all diseases – amid pressure from Republican state lawmakers, according to an internal report and agency emails.

"The health department will also stop all COVID-19 vaccine events on school property. These changes to Tennessee’s vaccination strategy illustrate how the state government continues to dial back efforts to vaccinate minors against coronavirus."

The Tennessee Department of Health fired Dr. Michelle Fiscus, the top vaccine official in the Tennessee state government becuase of her efforts to vaccinate teenagers.

Why? Ignorance. Apparently, the Republican Party attracts the ignorant. If there is another explanation, I would love to hear it.

Gerson offers this. "Some people are just badly misinformed. They think the vaccines come with itsy-bitsy tracking chips, or make you magnetic, or render you infertile. Ignorance is a form of moral mitigation, but it is still, well, ignorance.

"Some oppose vaccination out of a tragically misapplied libertarianism. They somehow think the defense of freedom requires the rejection of sound medical advice from the government. They seek liberation from rational rules, prudent precautions, scientific reality and from moral responsibility for their neighbors’ well-being [and their children]. This is the degraded version of a proud tradition: Live free and let someone else die."

Gerson adds, "In the case of Fox News celebrities in particular, they must know that discouraging vaccination — by exaggerating risks, highlighting unproven alternative therapies and normalizing anti-vaccine voices — will result in additional, unnecessary deaths."

For rational Americans -- presumably this would exclude most Republicans -- all of this makes no sense. Will encouraging the spread of a deadly virus win votes in Republican states? Is that possible?

We will never know the answer. Republicans remain silent on the issue almost like they know they are acting stupid but do it anyway. They are so pathetic they can't even defend themselves.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Politico reports, "House Democrats are plowing ahead on investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection with or without Republican leadership participation, scheduling the first select committee hearing on July 27.

"At the hearing, the committee will "hear first-hand” from officers from Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department and the United States Capitol Police."

The Republican minority leader hasn't made up his mind yet.

"I haven’t made a decision yet, even to appoint. I’m discussing it with my members. I have a real concern, the scope of what we’re looking at," McCarthy told Fox after complaining about the partisan nature of the committee.

McCarthy has accused Pelosi of "playing politics" with the inquiry.

"Putting Adam Schiff and Raskin on it looks more like an impeachment committee than one that wants to get to the bottom of the questions that are still out there," he said in an interview with Fox News Tuesday.

He didn't tell the Fox audience that it was his party that voted down the bipartisan commission whose members would not be members of Congress.

Fox viewers miss a lot. They should tune into ABC, NBC, and/or CBS to get a more well-rounded view of what is happening around them.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Great news on the economic front.

ABC reports, "The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits has reached its lowest level since the pandemic struck last year, further evidence that the U.S. economy and job market are quickly rebounding from the pandemic recession.

"Thursday’s report from the Labor Department showed that jobless claims fell by 26,000 last week to 360,000. The weekly tally, a proxy for layoffs, has fallen more or less steadily since topping 900,000 in early January.

"The U.S. recovery from the recession is proceeding so quickly that many forecasters have predicted that the economy will expand this year by roughly 7%. That would be the most robust calendar-year growth since 1984.

"The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines has sharply reduced new viral cases — from a seven-day average of around 250,000 in early January to roughly 25,000 recently — despite a recent uptick. As the health crisis has receded, cooped-up Americans have increasingly emerged from their homes, eager to spend on things they had missed during pandemic lockdowns — dinners out, a round of drinks, sports and entertainment events, vacation getaways and shopping trips.

"In response, businesses have scrambled to meet the unexpected surge in customer demand: They are posting job openings — a record 9.2 million in May — faster than they can fill them. The worker shortage in many industries is causing employers to raise wages and in some cases to raise prices to offset their higher labor costs."

Americans deserve the good news. It's been a rough year and a half.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

By Melanie Zanona, CNN, writes, "The House GOP's plan to win back power is becoming increasingly centered on one man: Donald J. Trump.

"On Thursday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy became the latest in a parade of Republicans to make the pilgrimage to a Trump-owned property seeking the former President's support, while scores of GOP candidates have been invoking Trump's name and image to boost their campaign coffers, which are filling up at record rates."

This is a very strange phenomenon. Why? On Trump's watch, within a span of two years, his party lost control of the House, Senate, and the Presidency. Why in the world are Republican leaders gravitating to a loser?

The answer is two-fold.

First, uninformed, intelligence challenged grassroots Republicans still support Trump despite the enormous losses to the party. If they listen at all to what is happening around them, their use Fox News and other right wing sources exclusively. They avoid responsible news sources because Donald told them it is "fake news." Consequently, they believe Trump won the election, and they know nothing about the House and Senate except that they have been liberal as of late. They don't learn, and they don't want to learn.

Second, Trump is out to destroy the Republican Party because, of course, they are responsible for the election defeats -- certainly not him. Trump is using his obedient and gullible flock to accomplish that goal. Republican leaders are forced to pay homage to Trump or lose in the primary to someone who is. In terms of general elections where Trump is enormously unpopular, it is Catch-22 for Republicans.

Among all respondents in the latest poll, Trump was favorable for 32 per cent of American voters.

There is another factor to this that makes the matter all the more confusing.

The reader is reminded that the Russian dictator, Vladimir Putin, tried to help Trump become President in 2016 and the product of their cyber war became public on a daily basis courtesy of WikiLeaks. How much this helped Trump is unknown. The fact that the communist ruler of Russia wanted Trump to be President and helped him again in 2020 is known.

The reader is reminded Trump at Helsinki in July 2018 rejected American intelligence and accepted the word of the Russian instead.

Currently, Trump seems hell bent on destroying America's free elections, refusing to accept his huge defeat in the popular and Electoral College vote, declaring to this day that he was the winner of the election. There is zero substantiation of that view. 60 court decisions and the Supreme Court went against him, as did his own A.G. Still he persists in his fight to destroy America's faith in free elections.

In an attempt to overrule the results of the election, Trump then planned and executed an insurrection against our government on Jan. 6.

No one is aware of any relationship between Trump and Putin. We are aware that Putin approves of nearly everything Trump has done and is doing, which may include the destruction of a major American political party. The results of that would be catastrophic.

Still Republicans follow their leader ... perhaps over an abyss into oblivion.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Climate change anyone?

The strangest thing happened last night while I was watching David Muir and the ABC News, a daily habit of mime.

There was a split screen. David was shown on the left and a video was being shown on the right. David was talking about the high temperatures we in the West have been experiencing for quite some time now.

On the left the video was showing massive flooding in Flagstaff, AZ.

BTW, it is not the heat that bothers one so much, it is the high humidity. That's what really sucks.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Climate change anyone?

The strangest thing happened last night while I was watching David Muir and the ABC News, a daily habit of mime.

There was a split screen. David was shown on the left and a video was being shown on the right. David was talking about the high temperatures we in the West have been experiencing for quite some time now.

On the left the video was showing massive flooding in Flagstaff, AZ.

BTW, it is not the heat that bothers one so much, it is the high humidity. That's what really sucks.

Over 55 million Americans are at risk for flash flooding this weekend as severe weather heads toward the Northeast.

Portions of the Northeast are nearly five times wetter than average for July so far. New York and Boston both could approach all-time wettest July before the month's end.

A slow moving frontal system is bringing very heavy rain from the central U.S. to the East Coast. The system is moving east this morning and will bring more heavy rain to parts of the Ohio Valley and ultimately into the Northeast. Severe storms, including the risk for possible tornadoes and damaging winds will be possible from Maryland to New York today, including Philadelphia and New York City.

Flash flood watches are in effect from Indiana to Massachusetts. The rainfall threat across parts of the Northeast is particularly concerning. The region is well above average for rainfall.

Flash flooding is a concern. As the ground is very saturated, the heavy rain will likely cause flash flooding very quickly.

Meanwhile, in the West, a heat wave is persisting across parts of the region, but it is not nearly as bad as the last few heat waves have been. In fact, there are only a couple of records being threatened over the next few days.

This information is courtesy of ABC News.

 

[uptower]

Great news on the economic front.

"In response, businesses have scrambled to meet the unexpected surge in customer demand: They are posting job openings — a record 9.2 million in May — faster than they can fill them. The worker shortage in many industries is causing employers to raise wages and in some cases to raise prices to offset their higher labor costs."

Americans deserve the good news. It's been a rough year and a half.

great news

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Climate change anyone?

The strangest thing happened last night while I was watching David Muir and the ABC News, a daily habit of mime.

There was a split screen. David was shown on the left and a video was being shown on the right. David was talking about the high temperatures we in the West have been experiencing for quite some time now.

On the left the video was showing massive flooding in Flagstaff, AZ.

Over 55 million Americans are at risk for flash flooding this weekend as severe weather heads toward the Northeast.

Portions of the Northeast are nearly five times wetter than average for July so far. New York and Boston both could approach all-time wettest July before the month's end.

CNN reports, "At least 189 people are dead and hundreds more remain missing after catastrophic flooding hit large swaths of western Europe, with tens of thousands unable to return to their homes and many still left without access to power and drinking water.

"The flooding, caused by unprecedented rainfall, has hit parts of western Germany before shifting to neighboring Belgium and the Netherlands.

"In Germany, the true scale of the destruction brought by the floods was being revealed as the water subsided over the weekend, leaving behind devastation, mud and chaos.

"Entire towns, train lines and roads were swept away and at least 158 people have died in what the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier described as the "worst natural disaster" in a century."

 

[Sandy Shanks]

CNN reports, "The surge in Covid-19 cases fueled by the Delta variant and vaccine hesitancy has now led to increasing rates of hospitalizations and deaths. More than 97% of people getting hospitalized with Covid-19 now are unvaccinated, and 99.5% of deaths are among the unvaccinated.

At last weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., told the crowd: "Don't come knocking on my door with your 'Fauci ouchie.' You leave us the hell alone."

NBC reports, "On vaccinations Boebert's message is not the exception. For a sizable chunk of the Republican Party and conservative media apparatus, pushing back on the Biden administration’s efforts to vaccinate the country has become the norm in recent weeks."

The Dow lost 726 points today, and Yahoo Finance concludes, "Rising concerns about inflation and the resurgence of COVID-19 infections among the unvaccinated walloped Wall Street on Monday, with major benchmarks suffering their worst declines since May."

Congratulations to Tucker Carlson, Fox News, and grassroots Republicans. You have all contributed to slowing down the rapidly expanding Biden economy while causing Americans to lose millions of dollars in their investment portfolios. You must be enormously proud of yourselves.

Politico reports, "A federal judge has handed down the first felony sentence in the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol, sending Paul Hodgkins, 38, to prison for eight months for obstructing Congress’ effort to tabulate and certify the electoral vote.

Hodgkins marched onto the Senate floor with a Trump flag during the chaotic Capitol takeover. That was all he did plus he pleaded guilty -- meaning no trial, thus the light sentence. He received three years of supervised probation and must pay $2000 in damages to the capitol.

A felon for the rest of his life, eight months in prison, three years of supervision, and a $2000 loss all because he believed in Donald Trump.

What the f**k are Republicans doing? Is this any way to win votes? We will never know. As can be seen, Republicans remain totally silent on the issues. They are pretty much an intelligent challenged bunch.

So much so, they can't even defend themselves.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

The surge in Covid-19 cases fueled by the Delta variant and vaccine hesitancy has now led to increasing rates of hospitalizations and deaths. More than 97% of people getting hospitalized with Covid-19 now are unvaccinated, and 99.5% of deaths are among the unvaccinated.

At last weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., told the crowd: "Don't come knocking on my door with your 'Fauci ouchie.' You leave us the hell alone."

Nearly 30 percent of Republicans say they are not planning to be vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a CBS News-YouGov poll.

Data from Johns Hopkins University shows:
-- The average number of new Covid-19 cases each day the past week was 32,278. That's a 66% jump from the average daily rate the previous week, and 145% higher than the rate from two weeks ago.
-- An average of 258 Americans died from Covid-19 each day this past week -- up 13% from the rate of daily deaths the previous week.
-- 24,923 people are hospitalized with Covid-19, according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services. That's a 26% increase from last week and a 50% increase from two weeks ago.

Because of the unvaccinated, hospitalizations have dramatically increased.

Because of the unvaccinated, deaths have dramatically increased.

And Republicans have nothing to say. Instead, they and their children are getting ill and killing themselves to make a political point.

I told you, today's Republicans are intelligence challenged.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Politico reports, "House Democrats are begrudgingly accepting Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s picks to join the select panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attacks — a list that includes a couple of their leading antagonists. The Democrat-led committee is set to hold its first hearing Tuesday."

Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large, opines, "House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy sent a very clear signal to Democrats -- and the country -- on Monday: He has zero interest in getting to the bottom of what really happened (and why) when the US Capitol was stormed by rioters convinced by former President Donald Trump that the 2020 election had been stolen from him.

"McCarthy made that crystal clear in the five Republican members of Congress he put forth for the House select committee formed to investigate the Capitol insurrection. The five: Republicans Jim Jordan of Ohio, Jim Banks of Indiana, Rodney Davis of Illinois, Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota and Troy Nehls of Texas.

"Of the five, three -- Banks, Jordan and Nehls -- voted to object to the to the 2020 Electoral College results despite the fact that there is zero evidence of any widespread voter fraud or major irregularities. Both Banks and Jordan also signed on to a Texas lawsuit aimed at invalidating votes in several key swing states, a suit that was summarily rejected by the Supreme Court."

The insurrection was caused by a fantasy -- Trump's belief that he had won the election. 60 court decisions, the Supreme Court, countless state audits, and the certification by all 50 states said otherwise.

And yet these three Republicans who will be on the committee to investigate the insurrection believed in that fantasy. The Republican Party is being led by fools.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi had veto power over McCarthy's selections. She made a wise decision not to veto any of the minority leader's picks.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

And Republicans have nothing to say. Instead, they and their children are getting ill and killing themselves to make a political point.

Hm-m-m, I'm wondering, are Republicans reading my material.

Republican leaders and the conservative media are changing their tune on vaccinations. I will allow Salon to explain.

"Amid a rising media furor over the steady stream of vaccine disparagement from GOP politicians and Fox News talking heads, a number of prominent Republicans spoke up in favor of vaccines early this week.

"On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters, "shots need to get in everybody's arm as rapidly as possible" and asked that people "ignore all of these other voices that are giving demonstrably bad advice." House Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, got the vaccine after months of delay and then publicly said, "there shouldn't be any hesitancy over whether or not it's safe and effective." And Fox News host Sean Hannity, in a widely shared video, declared, it "absolutely makes sense for many Americans to get vaccinated." This was treated in the press as an unequivocal endorsement."

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Politico reports, "House Democrats are begrudgingly accepting Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s picks to join the select panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attacks.

That information is incorrect.

Politico now reports, "Speaker Nancy Pelosi stunned the GOP on Wednesday by vetoing two of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's choices for a select panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, a move all but guaranteed to spark a Republican boycott of the probe.

"Pelosi rejected Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), who was tapped to serve as ranking member, and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), both of whom voted to challenge certification of President Joe Biden’s electoral wins earlier this year."

In other words, both voted to overturn the 2020 election because Trump said the election was stolen from him. In other words, both were leaders of the insurrection the House committee will be investigating.

Still, Pelosi may have accepted the appointments. After all, she allowed the appointment of Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), who also voted not to certify Biden’s win.

In the case of Banks and Jordan there were overriding factors in their dismissal. “I must reject the recommendations of Representatives Banks and Jordan to the Select Committee,” Pelosi said in a statement. “The unprecedented nature of January 6th demands this unprecedented decision.”

Banks, after being appointed to the committee, made this statement. “If Democrats were serious about investigating political violence, this committee would be studying not only the January 6 riot at the Capitol, but also the hundreds of violent political riots last summer when many more innocent Americans and law-enforcement officers were attacked. Make no mistake, (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi created this committee solely to malign conservatives and to justify the Left’s authoritarian agenda.”

Because Jordan was one of the leaders of the insurrection, and because of his close relationship to Donald Trump, who inspired the insurrection, it is quite likely Jordan would be called as a witness in the investigation.

Kevin McCarthy withdrew the remaining three Republicans. Earlier he had withdrawn his support for a bipartisan commission whose members would not be in government and would have had an end date of Dec. 31, 2021. Republicans killed the bipartisan commission. Now he refuses to take part in an investigation of the Jan. 6 ransacking of our capitol.

Does McCarthy think this is all a bad dream, and it will suddenly go away?

Trump blames the Republican Party for his loss on November 3. His planning for the insurrection began in December. His inspirational speech on Jan. 6 that caused death and destruction has placed the Republican Party between a rock and a hard place.

The evidence in this investigation will include testimony from witnesses, documents, and videos, some of which have been seen by the country several times. The pathetic argument that this merely a partisan sideshow will go only so far.

The Republican Party's refusal to play a role in the investigation will go much farther and will be heard during the summer and fall of 2022, an election year.

It's possible Donald did a good job of destroying his party.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Speaker Nancy Pelosi stunned the GOP on Wednesday by vetoing two of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's choices for a select panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, a move all but guaranteed to spark a Republican boycott of the probe.

"Pelosi rejected Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), who was tapped to serve as ranking member, and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), both of whom voted to challenge certification of President Joe Biden’s electoral wins earlier this year."

There has been an interesting development.

CNN reports, "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is considering naming GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger to join the select committee investigating the deadly January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.
During a news conference on Capitol Hill on Thursday morning, Pelosi said, "We'll see," when asked about the potential appointment.

"I mean, there are some members that would like to be on it," Pelosi added. "But, we'll see."
Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat who's been appointed chairman of the new committee, said Thursday that adding Kinzinger to the panel has been discussed with the speaker. Thompson said if Pelosi signs off, Kinzinger will be a "welcome addition."

"Kinzinger, a vocal Republican critic of former President Donald Trump and who was one of 10 GOP House members to vote for his second impeachment, would join Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming as the only Republicans on the new select committee. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy pulled his five GOP members from the panel, after Pelosi rejected two of McCarthy's five choices -- Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio."

The committee is scheduled to hold its first hearing next week.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

It comes as no shock as to why Republicans on this forum do not want to talk about their party or their party's leader. If they did so, they would be embarrassed and subsequently laughed off the forum. Their dignity lost forever.

This is what their leader said about the Jan. 6 insurrection. He described his supporters on January 6 as a "loving crowd" in newly released audio.

"I think it was the largest crowd I've ever spoken before. It went from that point—which is almost at the White House—to beyond the Washington monument. It was—and wide. And it was a loving crowd, too, by the way.

"There was a lot of love. I've heard that from everybody. Many, many people have told me that was a loving crowd. Personally what I wanted is what they wanted. They showed up just to show support because I happen to believe the election was rigged at a level like nothing has ever been rigged before."

Trump's comments can be interpreted in various ways. The first conclusion one might reach is that Trump has lost it. He has gone around the bend. He needs help. He is mentally ill and unwilling to accept reality.

Of course, most Republicans have a hard time with reality. As shown on this thread and others like it, they avoid reality. They will avoid this report.

Is Trump mentally ill? Perhaps not. Perhaps he is fully aware of the gullibility of his flock. Using the mantra that the election was stolen from him, millions of his wide-eyed followers believe it and have contributed millions of dollars to Trump's coffers. A recent Ipsos/Reuters Poll national poll found that 53% of Republicans believe Trump is the “true president.”

Another possibility is that Trump is having fun with the media. The incredulous comments are Trump's idea of humor, and he knows they will get top billing in the media. It worked. The incredibly outrageous remarks are all over the media. There were over 30,000 hits on my search engine.

We know Trump wants to be center stage, and, like many Republicans, for some strange reason he enjoys looking stupid. After all, McCarthy is looking like an idiot as he tries to explain why Republicans will not be a part of the investigation of the deadly and violent rampage in our capitol on Jan. 6.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

"There was a lot of love. I've heard that from everybody. Many, many people have told me that was a loving crowd. Personally what I wanted is what they wanted. They showed up just to show support because I happen to believe the election was rigged at a level like nothing has ever been rigged before."

Is Trump mentally ill? Perhaps not. Perhaps he is fully aware of the gullibility of his flock. Using the mantra that the election was stolen from him, millions of his wide-eyed followers believe it and have contributed millions of dollars to Trump's coffers. A recent Ipsos/Reuters Poll national poll found that 53% of Republicans believe Trump is the “true president.”

"Using the mantra that the election was stolen from him, millions of his wide-eyed followers believe it and have contributed millions of dollars to Trump's coffers."

Talk about suckers, Trump's uninformed, intelligence challenged followers are the epitome of the term. The circumstances of their gullibility is being monitored all over the internet, and social media participants are having a field day.

The Post reports, "Former President Donald Trump’s political PAC raised about $75 million in the first half of this year as he trumpeted the false notion that the 2020 election was stolen from him, but the group has not devoted funds to help finance the ongoing ballot review in Arizona or to push for similar endeavors in other states, according to people familiar with the finances.

"Instead, the Save America leadership PAC — which has few limits on how it can spend its money — has paid for some of the former president’s travel, legal costs and staff, along with other expenses, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the group’s inner workings. The PAC has held onto much of its cash.

"Even as he assiduously tracks attempts by his allies to cast doubt on the integrity of last year’s election, Trump has been uninterested in personally bankrolling the efforts, relying on other entities and supporters to fund the endeavors."

Forum Republicans do not speak of their party or its leader because both are an embarrassment nearly every day. Early this week, the leader of the Republican Party in the House declared that his party is not interested in taking part into the House's investigation of the deadly Jan. 6 rampage of our capitol.

The far right extremists who participated in the rampage got their inspiration from Trump who was President at the time.

Little wonder why Republicans run and hide.