Seditionists

Gruesome Twosome:  It’s looking increasingly likely that President Biden’s efforts to get voting rights legislation done is going about as well as his efforts to get Build Back Better legislation passed.  As a budget bill, Build Back Better needs only 50 votes to pass; its roadblock remains West Virginia Manchin’s concern that passage would further feed inflation, or at least that’s the primary justification Manchin gives for his opposition, his concern that poor people will spend child care money on booze and the like as well as his worries about his state’s coal industry also feed his opposition. Voting rights legislation is actually more popular, all 50 members of the Senate Democratic caucus agree that passing some form of it is desirable.  Unfortunately two of those members, Senators Manchin and Arizona’s very vocal and out there Sinema, oppose making any changes to the filibuster to facilitate its passage, and since absent any filibuster modifications passing Voting Rights legislation would require 60 votes, without Republican support it too will remain in permanent limbo. That’s truly unfortunate maybe even dire because Republicans really are trying to make it more difficult for people to vote and by people think people who are likely to vote for Democrats.  That, combined with the usual gerrymandering efforts that take place during census triggered redistricting years, quite likely will lead to Republicans gaining control of the House and maybe even the Senate. To be clear, Democrats aren’t innocent on the gerrymandering front, they just don’t have as many opportunities to go there and tend not to be as brazen as their Republican counterparts.

Sedition, Sedition:  Yesterday we learned a bit more about that “brazenness.”  First, the Department of Justice announced sedition charges against Oath Keeper’s leader Stewart Rhodes and ten additional members of his extreme right wing militia group.  The Oath Keepers who participated in the January 6 insurrection weren’t your average pro-Trump “tourists,” they were the guys wearing camouflaged combat attire marching shoulder to shoulder in military style formation as they made their way up the Capitol steps.  The indictment against them alleges that under the direction of Rhodes they didn’t just attack the Capitol they had a far bigger insurrection plan that involved two armed “quick reaction forces” ready to support their plot to stop the lawful transfer of power from the FG to Joe Biden.  As to Rhodes, he’s hardly a run of the mill frustrated right wing white guy, he’s a former paratrooper and a Yale Law school graduate, albeit one who wears an eye patch having lost an eye by accidentally shooting himself in the face. The charges that Rhodes and his co-conspirators now face are for seditious conspiracy, as in when two or more people conspire to “overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force” the US government or to }levy war against it, or to oppose by force and try to prevent the execution of any law.”   The DOJ built its case against Rhodes by getting a few of his comrades to flip, the expectation is that they are now trying to get him and a few more of his compatriots to point fingers at people up the FG food chain. Worth noting, when not laying siege to the Capitol members of the Oath Keepers have been known to serve as Roger Stone’s bodyguards.  Second, though it’s been getting far less media attention, mostly via Rachel Maddow we keep learning more about the efforts of Republican legislators/delegates in at least five and maybe up to seven states to upend the 2020 presidential election results by sending ersatz Electoral College certifications to the National Archives. The point of those efforts were to make it possible for VP Pence had he been so inclined to include the ersatz certifications in the official Electoral College count in lieu of the real ones.  Last night, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel revealed that she has referred an investigation into the 16 Republicans who signed and then sent the faux Michigan certificate to the National Archives to the US Attorney for the Western District of Michigan.  With the language and the typeface of each of the ersatz certificates identical, the obvious question is who provided the “forms” to each of the groups that submitted one?  That’s just another thing that the January 6^th committee and maybe even DOJ might be and most certainly should be investigating.  And because of course, a number of those who signed those false certificates are now seeking higher office with one, Jim Lamon one of those Let’s Go Brandon guys, running to be the Republican nominee to oppose Arizona Democrat Mark Kelly.  

Human Resources:  Hydroxychloroquine pushing Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, one of the FG’s most loyal supporters is running for reelection even though he once promised to only serve two terms. As of now Panhandle Putz Matt Gaetz is running again too but he may encounter a few roadblocks between now and election day as one of his former girlfriends appears to be cooperating with the Feds who are investigating the allegations that he did some serious canoodling with an underage girl, transported her out of the country and then tried to obstruct the investigation into his actions.  Kanye West or Ye as he is now called has plans to go to Russia for a sit down with Putin because why not? Former FG Press Secretary/current Fox correspondent Kayleigh McEnany has met with the January 6^th committee, among other things they were particularly interested in the contents of her infamous binders.  GQP Leader Kevin McCarthy who like his good friend Gym Jordan has been invited to sit down with the January 6^th Committee has no plans to do so. The knowledge that the invitation was coming could explain why McCarthy lashed out at Democrats Adam Schiff, Ilhan Omar and Eric Swalwell over the weekend saying that when/if he becomes Speaker he plans on kicking them off their respective committees replacing them with the likes of Representatives Paul Gosar and Margie Q. And in case you are looking for something not to read, convicted/pardoned fraudster Paul Manafort has a book coming out in August about his time as a “political prisoner.”   

Viral Musings: The good news is that the Omicron wave may be on the decline in those parts of the country it hit first.  Some of that evidence comes from the analysis of Boston wastewater, icky but a good indicator of disease spread.  The not so good news is that yesterday the Supreme Court ruled that the Biden administration had engaged in overreach with its mandate requiring that companies with over 100 employees require employees to either get vaccinated or submit to frequent testing.  Apparently all the conservatives on the court including Neil Gorsuch who has been eschewing masks during in person oral arguments aren’t all that into disease prevention.  However, two of those conservatives, Justices Roberts and Kavanaugh did cross over to the other side with regards to health care workers, leaving those mandates in place. Justices Sotomayor and Breyer who actually got what he says was a false positive on one of his COVID tests are no longer attending in person sessions with the rest of their colleagues likely because of Gorsuch’s failure to follow masking protocols. By the way contrary to Politico’s truly embarrassing and later retracted story, Justice Sotomayor did not have dinner at a trendy Washington restaurant with Senator Schumer.  The woman in question was Schumer’s wife Iris Weinshall.  Unfortunately the accusatory Politico article went viral before it was retracted.