Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) was one of the first Republicans to point the finger at the amorphous “antifa” as the true culprits behind the Jan. 6 insurrection.
His tone hasn’t changed much since.
DOJ Opens Door For House To Get Trump Tax Returns
The Treasury is free to obey a request from the House Ways and Means Committee for former president Trump’s tax returns after the Justice Department released an opinion on Friday saying that the demand was valid.
Continue reading “DOJ Opens Door For House To Get Trump Tax Returns”
In Single Tweet, Stefanik Celebrates Medicare And Medicaid, Rejects ‘Socialist’ Healthcare
Friday is the 56th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid, and the third-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), weighed in with a doozy of a take.
MyPillow Guy Lindell Is Pulling Ads From Fox After Network Rejects His ‘Cyber Symposium’
One of Fox News’ biggest advertisers says he is ditching the network because they won’t advertise an event that will rehash old nonsense about the 2020 election.
READ: Notes From Top DOJ Official On Trump’s Conspiracy To Overturn 2020 Election
The House Oversight Committee released handwritten notes on Friday authored by former Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, who recorded two late-December meetings in which former president Trump tried to use the DOJ to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Continue reading “READ: Notes From Top DOJ Official On Trump’s Conspiracy To Overturn 2020 Election”
Biden Wants To Crack Down On Bank Mergers. Here’s Why That Could Help Consumers And The Economy
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis.
President Joe Biden signed a sweeping executive order on July 9, 2021, that aims to increase competition throughout the U.S. economy. In one of the order’s most significant provisions, he directed federal regulators to strengthen oversight of bank mergers. Continue reading “Biden Wants To Crack Down On Bank Mergers. Here’s Why That Could Help Consumers And The Economy”
Yep, We Need More Blame
We’re now getting more information about what new data was behind the CDC’s revised guidance on COVID-era masking. An internal power-point presentation was shared with The Washington Post and the CDC will apparently be making a public presentation today. One key datapoint seems to be an apparent super-spreading event on July 4th in Provincetown, Massachusetts which suggests very efficient spread of COVID among vaccinated people. As you know, I have followed the emerging data very closely. There’s so much conflicting data on transmissibility and even what constitutes transmission and infection (more on that later) that it’s really, really hard to know what’s happening. I would say the more you dig into the data the more confusing it gets, not less. With all that said though it’s clear that Delta COVID is much more transmissible than earlier versions and that available vaccines, while still very effective, are not as effective as they appeared to be and likely were even a couple months ago.
That sucks. But here we are.
Wacky GOP Stunts Cement Its Status As The Pro-Pandemic And Pro-Insurrection Party
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.
Don’t Try This At Home
While you may have been tracking the latest developments in the infrastructure dance in the Senate or the evolving understanding of the Delta variant or the Tokyo Olympics or even the MLB trade deadline, House Republicans were busy Thursday undertaking not one but TWO different stunts to cement its status as the pro-pandemic/pro-insurrection party:
- Stunt One: House GOPers “visited” the Senate side of the Capitol to protest the differential mask-wearing requirements in the two chambers.
- The Senate is almost universally vaccinated. The House remains a COVID cesspool of unvaccinated and militantly anti-mask Republicans.
- Watching the unmasked House Republicans milling about outside the Senate, it was hard not to see this as a quiet attempted coup: All it takes is infecting one elderly Democratic senator from a red state to flip the Senate back to GOP control.
House Republicans are protesting the mask mandate by walking to the Senate, where masks are not mandated by Capitol physician pic.twitter.com/sFD6AVnbr3
— Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) July 29, 2021
- Stunt Two: House GOPers trooped over to the DC jail ostensibly to protest the conditions in which the Jan. 6 defendants are being held.
- It’s all part of the right-wing effort to recast the insurrectionists as political prisoners.
- One very important point: Notice the House GOP wearing masks at the jail!
Again, if GOP lawmakers feel it is beyond the pale for Democrats to require masks to be worn in the House chamber, then why is it okay for Republicans to be wearing masks a few blocks away at the DC jail?pic.twitter.com/hpQaBH3cuy
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) July 29, 2021
The QAnon Dog Whistle
What is Kevin McCarthy doing here?
And here’s Kevin McCarthy using a Qanon catch phrase. This is madness. https://t.co/G5XMOdXeNv
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) July 29, 2021
Bumble Vigilantism
An amazing story from TPM alum Ryan Reilly on how one Capitol rioter was taken down by a clever 20-something on Bumble.
Are The Rioters Getting Off Too Easy?
A federal judge questions the Justice Department’s misdemeanor charges for some insurrectionists.
Credit Where Due
Two GOPers – a senator and a congressman – are calling out the right-wing veneration of Ashli Babbit for the nonsense that it is.
Delta Is For Real
Internal CDC communications about the Delta variant reflect sense of urgency that the COVID game has changed – and not for the better:
- The CDC slideshow was obtained by the Washington Post.
- Delta is highly contagious, on par with chicken pox but deadlier: It spreads faster than ebola, smallpox, Spanish flu, MERS, SARS, and the common cold.
- Delta produces more severe infections than the original COVID.
- Vaccines are still super effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths from Delta.
- Most troubling, vaccinated people may spread Delta as much as unvaccinated people. Hence, the new masking guidance from the CDC.
- Informed reaction from a medical professional here.
COVID Eviction Moratorium Expires Saturday
Democrats are scrambling to extend it.
Marco Rubio Befools Himself Again
The Florida senator is complaining about “embarrassing COVID theatre” after the secretary of defense complied with his host country’s request that his traveling party wear face masks and shields:
We were told prior to arrival in Manila that the Philippines required everyone getting off @SecDef ‘s plane to wear a mask and face shield. I am traveling with Austin as a member of the press and had to wear both as well. #COVID19 cases are surging here. https://t.co/CKVng6HLhI
— Carla Babb (@CarlaBabbVOA) July 29, 2021
Carl Levin, 1934-2021
The longest serving senator from Michigan (1979-2015) was an oversight maven. From the NYT obit:
With his longish silver hair, affable smile and glasses perched low on the nose, he looked more like a kindly Old-World shoemaker than the terror of the Senate. But he confronted the titans of JPMorgan Chase, Apple, American Express and other corporate giants like a barbarian at the gates, and extracted admissions about overseas banking havens and mind-boggling tax-avoidance maneuvers that rendered profits invisible and made tax burdens vanish into thin air.
Defrocked Cardinal Theodore McCarrick Charged
The former archbishop of Washington, D.C., becomes the highest ranking U.S. Catholic clergyman to face criminal charges for alleged sex abuse.
- McCarrick, 91, was charged in Massachusetts for allegedly assaulting a 16-year-old boy in the 1970s.
First Lady Recovering From Foot Injury
The Bidens went to Walter Reed Hospital Thursday evening so Jill Biden could have a puncture wound in her foot treated.
- She apparently suffered the injury while walking on the beach on an official trip to Hawaii last weekend.
- It’s not known what she stepped on.
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Subpoena Jim Jordan
As the Jan 6th investigation committee gets down to work we are learning each day how many members of the House GOP caucus are at best witnesses to key events tied to Jan 6th and perhaps in some cases perps. Rep. Jim Jordan got asked again about what conversations he had with President Trump on January 6th. The questions were from Taylor Popielarz who covers the Ohio delegation for Spectrum News. You have to watch the video to appreciate how caught off guard Jordan seemed to be by the question and how flustered and tense he got when pressed on details.
Here’s the video.
Senate High Fives Itself On Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. But What’s Next?
Hours after the bipartisan group of senators behind the “hard” infrastructure package announced that a deal had been reached following months of negotiations and handwringing, the Senate voted to open debate on the bill on Wednesday evening. Continue reading “Senate High Fives Itself On Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. But What’s Next?”