All Right, All Right, All Wrong

Papers May Fly:  Late last night, US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected the FG’s attempt to keep his January 6 papers secret saying that “presidents are not kings and the plaintiff is not president.”  Her ruling means that the documents and visitors’ logs that the FG desperately wants kept hidden could be released by the National Archives by the end of the week.  But, and it’s a big but, the FG is appealing her decision so who knows if they’ll really be released soon or ever.  The Justice Department still hasn’t acted upon the Steve Bannon contempt referral that it received from Congress so it’s not clear that congressional subpoenas are worth much these days but that hasn’t stopped the House January 6^th committee from issuing more of them.  Monday the committee subpoenaed lawyer John Eastman who wrote the six point roadmap for how the FG could overturn the 2020 election, former NY police commissioner/one time convict Bernie Kerick, campaign manager/NJ Bridgegate guy Bill Stepien, campaign adviser/child support scofflaw Jason Miller, wacko one time national security advisor/Q Anon advocate Michael Flynn and the lesser known Angela McCallum, a campaign assistant who called around trying to get some states to send FG friendly alternative delegates to be included in the final Electoral College count.  Yesterday the committee added ten more names to that list, including one time press secretary/Fox commentator Kayleigh McEnany, Immigrant foe/speech writer Stephen Miller, VP Pence’s security advisor Keith Kellogg and FG body man/WH personnel chief John McEntee.  It’s fair to assume that absent any real indication that there are consequences for refusing some, if not all, of these characters, particularly the better known ones whose legal bills are being subsidized, will either refuse to cooperate a la Steve Bannon or will follow the Jeffrey Clark playbook meaning they will show up to testify but refuse to answer any questions. Clark is the Justice Department lawyer who told the FG that Pence could refuse to certify the Electoral College vote while trying to get everyone senior to him in the Justice Department fired so he could be appointed Attorney General.  Because it’s November another FG era tell all book is about to be released.  This one is from journalist/ABC correspondent Jonathan Karl.  Some of the tidbits that he’s added to the depressingly high pile of FG excrement include that the FG was “morose in defeat and eager for revenge,” that he threatened to leave the Republican Party, forming one of his own with his hugely valuable list of donors, and that McEntee, the one time body man who was fired by then Chief of Staff John Kelly because he couldn’t pass a security check only to be rehired and promoted to White House Personnel director after Kelly was escorted out the door became the Deputy President during the waning days of the administration.  McEntee who at least one other WH aide referred to as a “no-name idiot” rooted out anyone who wasn’t 100% loyal,  got someone punished for liking a Taylor Swift tweet, hired too young women for their looks rather than their competency and then worked real hard to overturn the election results. He appeared to be a follower of the East German Stasi model of management.

Politics Unusual:  As to the FG, he’s still furious that “sleepy” Joe Biden has gotten infrastructure legislation signed into law so naturally he’s attacking everyone associated with it.  Yesterday he released a statement whining “Why is it that Old Crow Mitch McConnell voted for a terrible Democrat Socialist Infrastructure Plan, and induced others in his Party to do likewise, when he was incapable of getting a great Infrastructure Plan wanting to be put forward by me and the Republican Party?” By the way, since “old crow” McConnell is only four years older than the FG what does that make him? Following the FG’s lead, the lunatic fringe of the Republican Party’s House caucus, which these days is most of them are now pushing GQP Leader Kevin McCarthy to strip committee appointments from the thirteen House Republicans who joined Democrats in voting for the infrastructure legislation and of course those members are now getting death threats.  That’s not normal, nor is it normal that at least so far McCarthy who quite likely will be speaker after the 2022 midterms has ignored Arizona Congressman/Dentist Paul Gosar’s violent twitter posting in which he depicts an Anime version of himself killing Congresswoman AOC while also attacking President Biden.  Notably no one in the Republican party is talking about stripping Gosar of his committee memberships though many Democrats and all of his siblings believe he should be kicked out of Congress altogether. Though just about every political pundit expects Republicans to take control of the House in 2022, the Senate situation is less predictable which is why Republicans had been counting on New Hampshire’s popular Republican Governor Chris Sununu running against incumbent Maggie Hassan, considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats up for reelection. Well, they’ll have to count Sununu out, yesterday without giving anyone in party leadership advance notice, he announced that he will be running for another term as governor rather than running to become a Senator. Apparently, running a state is a lot more fun than blocking legislation and voting for judges and also, assuming the FG fever ever breaks, gives him, a more normal run of the mill conservative, a better platform if, more likely when, he runs for president.   

Viral Musings:  COVID 19 is surging again in Europe and as we have learned by now, what happens in Europe doesn’t stay there so don’t toss those masks just yet.  Highly vaccinated parts of the US will probably be spared the worst of the next wave but still its notable that rates are creeping up again even in vaccinated states including New York and California.  To help blunt that rise yesterday Pfizer said that it’s seeking to expand its booster emergency use authorization to include everyone over 18 who received a shot at least 6 months ago. On the vaccine front, the CDC reports that so far 360,000 under the age of 12 are now partially vaccinated, a good start but only a start given that there are 28 million in the now eligible age category.  By the way, none of the vaccinated kids belong to possible Texas Gubernatorial candidate/actor Matthew McConaughey.  He opted to get vaccinated in part because he lives with an immune suppressed parent but is doing his own “research” on vaccines for kids and teens even those his children also live with that grandparent.  That other independent researcher QB Aaron Rodgers and his team have been fined by the NFL for their reckless vaccine shenanigans but the fines are a relative pittance given their wealth.  That’s okay with State Farm, the company is sticking with Rodgers, kind of. They’re keeping him on as a spokesperson but running fewer of his ads, having it both ways?