This is the 2023 D.C. disaster no one is talking about but should be.
Tech and the Strongmen
I’ve been reading various commentary in recent weeks about the rightward turn by big elements of the Silicon Valley tech community. It’s a complex story with various roots. But at a macro level a significant part of it comes down to something like political physics. Tech became extremely wealthy and extremely powerful, and when government started looking at Big Tech with a more critical eye a lot of the tech people … well, they didn’t like it. That’s not terribly surprising. When you’re used to being a master of the universe and then suddenly a bureaucrat who makes less than $200,000 a year comes asking questions or says you can’t do something, that can seem a little weird and annoying. And your political outlook, if you had one, can start to change. This reminded me of a decade-old episode in the history of American political economy which I watched unfold at the time and is relevant to this discussion.
Do you remember SOPA and the activism against it?
Continue reading “Tech and the Strongmen”Leahy Admitted To Hospital After ‘Not Feeling Well,’ Office Says
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) was taken to the hospital for an overnight stay on Thursday after feeling unwell, the senator’s office announced on Thursday night.
Continue reading “Leahy Admitted To Hospital After ‘Not Feeling Well,’ Office Says”Jan 6 Panel’s Fact-Finding And Bipartisanship Will Have An Impact In Coming Decades, If Not Tomorrow
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation.
The committee formed to investigate the role of former President Donald Trump and key aides in last year’s Capitol insurrection faces high stakes after holding its 10th and possibly last public hearing on Thursday.
Since the committee debuted its evidence in prime time on June 9, 2022, Vice-Chair Liz Cheney of Wyoming, one of two Republicans on the committee, lost her House seat in a primary election. The other GOP committee member, Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, announced last year that he isn’t running for reelection.
Should Republicans regain the House majority in November’s midterm elections, presumptive Speaker Kevin McCarthy could disband, or reconstitute, the committee. Some GOP House members have indicated that they might use their newfound control over investigations to probe the committee members themselves over how they have conducted their work.
Continue reading “Jan 6 Panel’s Fact-Finding And Bipartisanship Will Have An Impact In Coming Decades, If Not Tomorrow”Pelosi Swore She’d Punch Trump If He Came To Capitol As Insurrectionists Approached
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
‘I’m Going To Punch Him Out’
CNN released new Jan. 6 footage last night showing a livid House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) reacting to her chief of staff’s report that Trump, who had urged his supporters to march to the Capitol at the end of his rally speech, wanted to come to the Hill with the mob.
- Pelosi’s response: “If he comes, I’m going to punch him out. I’ve been waiting for this. For trespassing on the Capitol grounds, I’m going to punch him out. And I’m going to go to jail, and I’m going to be happy.”
Leahy Taken To Hospital
Sen. Patrick Leahy’s (D-VT) office announced on Thursday night that the senator was “not feeling well” and was taken to the hospital for an overnight stay “as a precaution.”
- We don’t know exactly what caused Leahy to feel unwell.
- Leahy, one of the most senior members of the Senate, has been admitted to the hospital three times in the past two years. He went last year after experiencing muscle spasms, and he had to have two surgeries this past summer to fix a broken hip after suffering a fall.
Jan. 6 Panel Votes To Subpoena Trump
In a major escalation of its probe, the House Jan. 6 Committee voted unanimously to subpoena the ex-president for documents and testimony during what may have been the panel’s last public hearing yesterday.
- Missed the hearing? Catch up on the developments through our live blog.
- “Trump Worried That If He Didn’t Steal The Election, Then ‘People Would Know’ He Lost It” – Josh Kovensky
- The committee unveiled disturbing new footage of the Capitol attack and lawmakers’ response to the violence:
Migrants Might Actually Get Visas Thanks To DeSantis’ Stunt
The Texas sheriff who’s investigating Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) nakedly political scheme to fly duped Venezuelan migrants from the Lone Star State to Martha’s Vineyard has certified the migrants as victims of a possible crime, which makes them eligible to apply for special visas for crime victims and witnesses called “U-visas.”
- The sheriff has said he’s investigating the case as “possible unlawful restraint” due to the migrants’ allegations that they were tricked into boarding the planes with fake promises of housing and assistance at their destination and that they weren’t told they were going to Martha’s Vineyard.
- The Texas probe isn’t the only investigation DeSantis is facing over his MAGA theater: The Treasury Department is looking into whether the GOP governor used federal COVID-19 aid to pay for the flights.
Clinics Now Offering Free Vasectomies
Vasectomies have been on the rise ever since the Supreme Court’s conservative majority struck down Roe v. Wade, so several Planned Parenthood clinics have started offering to do the procedures for free.
Make sure to be smarter about it than Michael Scott, folks.
SCOTUS Nixes Trump’s Bid For Help In MAL Case
The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the ex-president’s request to reinstate Judge Aileen Cannon’s order allowing the special master in the Justice Department’s Mar-a-Lago case to review the classified documents Trump stashed at his Florida resort. The high court’s decision came as a one-sentence order without noted dissents.
Parkland High School Shooter Avoids Death Penalty
A jury on Thursday rejected the death penalty for Nikolas Cruz, the man who opened fire at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and killed 17 people in 2018. Instead, Cruz will be sentenced to life without parole.
Must Read
“He Marched At The Nazi Rally In Charlottesville. Then He Went Back To Being A Cop.” HuffPost
“The mystery behind L.A. racist tape scandal: Who leaked it — and why?” – The Los Angeles Times
“Disability Advocates Say The Response To John Fetterman Using Closed Captioning In An Interview As He Recovers From A Stroke Was ‘Deeply Upsetting” And Stigmatizing’ – Buzzfeed News
Congressional Ethics Staff Chief Slapped With DUI
Omar Ashmawy, the chief counsel and staff director for the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), was arrested and charged with drunk driving last month after crashing into the front porch of a house in Pennsylvania, Yahoo News found. The official was put on leave on Wednesday after Yahoo News reached out to him and the OCE, which…what?
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Get Ready: Republicans Are Flirting With Detonating The Global Economy…Again
A Democrat sits in the White House. Republicans seem well-positioned to take back the House in a midterm election that historically disempowers the President’s party.
So, like clockwork, Republicans have begun fleshing out their plans for a tried and true tactic: threaten global economic catastrophe in order to extort political concessions from the President.
Continue reading “Get Ready: Republicans Are Flirting With Detonating The Global Economy…Again”What We’ve Known and Feared
Our document for the day is this email released under the Freedom of Information Act. It is an email dated January 13th, 2021 in which the writer informs the then associate deputy director of the FBI, Paul Abbate, how a substantial portion of FBI personnel were in sympathy with the January 6th insurrectionists.
Continue reading “What We’ve Known and Feared”Where Things Stand: Let’s Break It Down
Just before the Jan. 6 committee unanimously voted to subpoena Donald Trump for testimony, we also learned that the Supreme Court had refused to hear the Trump team’s appeal in the Mar-a-Lago records case. The court unanimously sided with the Justice Department, which asked the High Court to not interfere in a lower court’s decision to keep certain documents out of the special master’s review.
Not a great day for Trump.
My colleagues Josh Kovensky and David Kurtz hosted a live Twitter discussion just after the hearing ended this afternoon, breaking down both big bits of news. We recorded it, in case you were busy. Listen here:
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Let’s Break It Down”Trump Worried That If He Didn’t Steal The Election, Then ‘People Would Know’ He Lost It
After President Trump ran out of options to overturn the 2020 election via the courts, he was furious.
Continue reading “Trump Worried That If He Didn’t Steal The Election, Then ‘People Would Know’ He Lost It”Join Us Live On Twitter Now
Our Josh Kovensky and David Kurtz are discussing today’s hearing news live as we speak. Join now if you’re free. We’ll have a recording up later in case you missed it.
Link here: