@melmystery that sounds fair. How can anyone protest so much if you don’t have skin in the game. I also agree that they cherry pick what they want. It’s exhausting. Trying to stay positive but it’s very hard.
@melmystery What a fantastic idea! How do we get that ‘out there’ to the powers that be?
@maggieci I was wondering why NRA is so powerful until I saw how much money those senators received from NRA. Until Mitt Romney returns his pot of NRA contribution -- $13M, nothing will change. On his website, there is not single word about the recent gun violence incidence. His silence speaks loudly.
@drolma Yes, the silence speaks volumes of where these lawmakers' priorities are. I seems inhuman to value gobs of money over lives, peace, and democracy, but that's what they do. I will start a prayer for all Congresspersons (and the judiciary) to not only enact laws in the best interests of all lives, but to be welcomed back to the loving fold, since we are all one interconnected creation.
The Jan. 6th Commission last night made a compelling case against Trump and his hoodlums. I hope all implicated in the insurrection reap the consequences for their treasonous actions and that justice is served. Healing prayers for the Capital Police.
Anyone have a feeling how these hearings will turn out? What will happen to Trump?
@gerald-paciello Not a particularly psychic post here, but I'll give you my thoughts. :-)
The evidence from the hearings will likely be handed over to the DOJ, which has been operating its own criminal investigation(s) into Jan 6. That should give those investigations a good boost, but we probably won't know anything about what the DOJ itself has or what it will do with it for at least another several months. There may be some charges brought against sitting members of Congress, but even if that happens, I'm not expecting much to happen with regard to those for the rest of this year.
Unfortunately, most of those in the House who will be shown to have been involved have extremely strong support from and are very much entrenched in their districts. There will be a lot of "sound and fury", but most of those members will likely be re-elected - probable exceptions are Boebert and Taylor-Greene in addition to Cawthorne, who has already been primaried out. Gaetz has his own issues to deal with which may force him to resign, and we should be seeing more about that before the end of the year, if not before the elections.
If Ginny Thomas is brought up in the hearings, that may spur calls for Clarence to resign, but I'm not sanguine about that actually happening. Impeachment of a SCOTUS justice is an option, but not one that will likely happen right now given the current composition of the Senate. If they refused to convict TFG, they're not going to convict a SCOTUS justice either unless the D's can hold onto the House and pull at least 2-3 more Senate seats. The information that comes out in these hearings and the fallout therefrom may seal the deal on that for the D's, especially in the House. In addition, the multiple mass shootings in the last month have already highlighted the lack of action - and in fact, open opposition to any action - on the part of R's in the Senate. That could well hurt them, but only if the D's press those issues hard between now and the election. There's also the issue of the impending Roe v. Wade decision being released next month, and I can almost guarantee that will have a major impact on some Senate races because the R's in the Senate refused to even allow discussion on a bill codifying Roe v Wade into law.
As for The Orange One, don't expect anything to happen on that front for at least several months, well after the election and likely into spring and summer of next year, assuming he lives that long. The DOJ will not even try to indict him for anything unless they have what they believe to be an absolutely ironclad case. Since the DOJ is only just now beginning to "openly" investigate those closest to TFG - because they have now had people from the middle rungs of the ladder plead guilty and turn on the ones above them (this has been the DOJ strategy all along, and it's working) - it will still take some time to put everything together in a way that will 1) get a valid indictment, and 2) stand up in court. As Teri Kanefield has said in the last few days, we may all "know he did it", but that's not admissible as evidence in court.
Overall, yes, this is very important, and yes it will have significant impacts going forward, but as with everything else in government and politics, I must counsel patience. We may not see any immediate effects, but things are very definitely moving under the surface. Remember that the election is only 5 months away, and this will all still be relatively fresh in the minds of voters.
This is one of the things I was talking about when I said that there are things moving under the surface (things we don't usually see or that don't get a lot of media attention):
https://secondnexus.com/judge-carter-ruling-eastman-trump
The 1/6 Hearings....First I think the committee is doing a great job of laying out "the case" so far....but....
Will it matter if the most culpable actors have a pardon? Could that be why Garland "seems" so hesitant...because he's not sure IF TFG (and those closest to him) CAN be held accountable? Kusher said he was busy working on pardons and couldn't be bothered to hear the concerns of the legal team. Since it's never happened before it will most likely have to be decided by the Supreme Court.
If anyone else is watching the hearings I'd love to know your impressions.
@pegesus I mean no offense, but what in the world are you talking about? TFG didn't pardon those people when he was still in office; if he had, believe me, that would have been front page news two years ago. He is now no longer the President and therefore has no power to issue pardons to anyone for any reason.
Also, Garland is not "hesitant"; the DOJ is still investigating what is likely one of the most complex and far-reaching cases of collusion and conspiracy to stage a coup through attempting to commit election fraud, interfering in the official functions of government, inciting an attack on federal property, and threatening and endangering the lives of government officials among other things. This case involves dozens, if not hundreds, of people at all levels of the federal government, many of whom have already pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and/or are now actively assisting the DOJ investigators by turning on the higher echelons of the conspirators.
Even with the addition of the evidence the Jan 6 Committee will turn over to the DOJ at the conclusion of the hearings, it may well take at least several more months to compile, analyze, and process everything to distill it down to proper charges for an indictment. They're only going to get one shot at this, and they know it, so it has to be as perfect and ironclad as it can possibly be. Keep in mind the federal prosecutors have a 95%+ conviction rate, and you don't get that by acting prematurely or capriciously.
@tgraf66 Correct tgraf66… the DOJ never ever publicly admits investigations (with one devastating exception that I’m aware of) the DOJ is comprised of lawyers not politicians. Accountability is coming… but it takes time... Of course, TFG may play sick (or actually be sick) by the time Federal indictments and trials begin…