Capitol Insurrection / rebellion thread

[Fugus]

I think we both know, at this point, that their voters do not care.

Their personal devout voters do not care and are increasingly becoming the minority as time goes on. Those on the fence have been getting increasingly disgusted with their stuff over the years and something THAT blatant will not go unnoticed by them.

And all while encouraging people to come out and vote against them in the elections rather than staying home.

[cubby]

At which point Kavanaugh spends 5 years in prison for perjury while the GOP try to hem and haw about why it should be fine for him to legislate from prison for lying under oath along with anything else they get him on.

Even if the GOP refuses to remove and wants to keep him there, that still forces them on record.

That would be nice, to see Kavanagh brought up on perjury charges.

[Fugus]

That would be nice, to see Kavanagh brought up on perjury charges.

Yeah, we have LIVE on camera, how much more evidence can you really ask for? Then they can also look into the sexual assault accusations that Trump and McConnell blocked and keep asking why they turned a blind eye to all of it publicly and keep asking for an answer all while looking at the source of the 6 digits of debt someone paid off for him.

If they can't go after Kavanaugh, they have no right to go after anyone in the future honestly.

[Endus]

But no matter what "balls" show up, we'd need 67 votes in the Senate. The GQP is never going to let that happen.

Like, I get the point.

However, what you're really describing is that the collapse of the American system is already a past-tense occurrence. You're already in the midst of that process. It's like saying emancipation of the slaves is impossible because the Confederates won't support it. If you can't make it work, your country's already been cut off from life support, and it's a question of "when", not "if".

The best we can hope for is Thomas ages or infirms out and Biden gets another one. That would take the court to 5/4, with Roberts back in the driver's seat as a swing vote.

That shouldn't be seen as acceptable. Throwing your hands up at the impending collapse of your nation's systems of governance and saying "welp, nothing can be done" is just defeatism, to be frank.

[cubby]

Like, I get the point.

However, what you're really describing is that the collapse of the American system is already a past-tense occurrence. You're already in the midst of that process. It's like saying emancipation of the slaves is impossible because the Confederates won't support it. If you can't make it work, your country's already been cut off from life support, and it's a question of "when", not "if".



That shouldn't be seen as acceptable. Throwing your hands up at the impending collapse of your nation's systems of governance and saying "welp, nothing can be done" is just defeatism, to be frank.

I agree with everything you said here. I have no idea how to either fix it or turn it around. There was an article out a few years ago, maybe like four, describing how the GQP weaponized the United States' political process/system and turned it into the perfect vehicle in which a democracy is led by the minority. And it just keeps getting worse. I joked about us going Gilead awhile back with Trump, but we're still headed in that direction, even more steeply. Not with the same fictional issue, but with the same results.

I have actively looked into what it takes to immigrate to Canada - turns out to be a pretty easy process, if you're employable.

[Endus]

I agree with everything you said here. I have no idea how to either fix it or turn it around. There was an article out a few years ago, maybe like four, describing how the GQP weaponized the United States' political process/system and turned it into the perfect vehicle in which a democracy is led by the minority. And it just keeps getting worse. I joked about us going Gilead awhile back with Trump, but we're still headed in that direction, even more steeply. Not with the same fictional issue, but with the same results.

I have actively looked into what it takes to immigrate to Canada - turns out to be a pretty easy process, if you're employable.

When the "rules" suck, but are just guidelines, fuck the rules. There's no law restricting SCOTUS to a panel of 9. Just as a for-instance. There's likely procedural machinations you can get into with non-SCOTUS judges too, limiting which cases go to their courts, or what kind of court they sit on. You might not be able to legally remove a sitting judge who's demonstrating bias, but surely you can figure out a way to ensure they never sit on any court where said bias is meaningful.

The Democrats keep trying to "play nice", hoping the Republicans will follow suit, and I think it's clear as hell that's never gonna happen. So start finding loopholes and making heavy use of them.

Is it possible this will result in a lot of chaos at the federal level? Particularly if the Republicans win an election? Sure. Fights get messy and ugly. The alternative is submission, though, and that's kinda the note the Democrats keep singing, for the last few decades at least.

Canada's got our own problems, but systemically, shit like you've got going on down South just doesn't happen up here. Non-partisan civil service, so if a budget doesn't get passed, government services aren't affected at all. MPs are way easier to remove from office. The judiciary is apolitical. No elections for shit like sheriffs or judges. Etc. Still a lot of problems we're working on with issues like treatment of First Nations people, but that's at least been openly acknowledged and measures are being taken.

[cubby]

When the "rules" suck, but are just guidelines, fuck the rules. There's no law restricting SCOTUS to a panel of 9. Just as a for-instance. There's likely procedural machinations you can get into with non-SCOTUS judges too, limiting which cases go to their courts, or what kind of court they sit on. You might not be able to legally remove a sitting judge who's demonstrating bias, but surely you can figure out a way to ensure they never sit on any court where said bias is meaningful.

The Democrats keep trying to "play nice", hoping the Republicans will follow suit, and I think it's clear as hell that's never gonna happen. So start finding loopholes and making heavy use of them.

Is it possible this will result in a lot of chaos at the federal level? Particularly if the Republicans win an election? Sure. Fights get messy and ugly. The alternative is submission, though, and that's kinda the note the Democrats keep singing, for the last few decades at least.

Canada's got our own problems, but systemically, shit like you've got going on down South just doesn't happen up here. Non-partisan civil service, so if a budget doesn't get passed, government services aren't affected at all. MPs are way easier to remove from office. The judiciary is apolitical. No elections for shit like sheriffs or judges. Etc. Still a lot of problems we're working on with issues like treatment of First Nations people, but that's at least been openly acknowledged and measures are being taken.

Those are some interesting/good ideas. But the problem isn't coming up with the ideas, it's how to implement them in the system. It's easy to know what to do, the how is always tricky. And the GQP has found ways to fully abuse the system, and the current stop gaps available don't work (impeachment, etc). And to change the system, we need a super majority.

[Fugus]

Those are some interesting/good ideas. But the problem isn't coming up with the ideas, it's how to implement them in the system. It's easy to know what to do, the how is always tricky. And the GQP has found ways to fully abuse the system, and the current stop gaps available don't work (impeachment, etc). And to change the system, we need a super majority.

Don't really need a super majority, just an ACTUAL majority who will move in lockstep like the GOP does on the important stuff.

The Democrats really don't have a majority. They have 48 and 2 fence sitters (Assuming that it is only 2 fence sitters and not others only voting along because they know it won't pass to begin with). If they had an actual majority, then they could have plowed through the GOP obstruction and gotten HR1 passed and so on.

You need a super majority to get around the filibuster, you only need an actual majority to return the filibuster to it's original intent.

The fact that the filibuster rules has been given the same treatment as our copyright laws in regards to their original intent versus what they have been exploited to do is the problem.

[Xyonai]

I think charges or impeachment against any sitting member of the court is just wishful thinking at this point.

Should it happen? Absolutely, if the evidence points to gross misconduct and/or abuse of power. But let's not anyone kid themselves into thinking it's a realistic possibility by any stretch. Best hope we got for a flip in the courts is for whatever Thomas is sick with to force him to tap out and Biden gets another pick, undoing the ratfuckery McConnel got away with for his 2/3 Trump admin picks.

[Fugus]

I think charges or impeachment against any sitting member of the court is just wishful thinking at this point.

Should it happen? Absolutely, if the evidence points to gross misconduct and/or abuse of power. But let's not anyone kid themselves into thinking it's a realistic possibility by any stretch. Best hope we got for a flip in the courts is for whatever Thomas is sick with to force him to tap out and Biden gets another pick, undoing the ratfuckery McConnel got away with for his 2/3 Trump admin picks.

Not sure even then, President Manchin wouldn't allow it. And besides, Kavanugh is still there and untouched after being on camera committing felony perjury and they still haven't looked into his 6 digits of debt that was paid off.

If they ain't got the balls to go after something THAT blatant.... Lets just say that Caitlyn Jenner has more balls than they do at this point.

[Flarelaine]

I think we both know, at this point, that their voters do not care.

Oh, but they do. They fucking do and cheer for all the partisanship as "winning".

[Edge-]

https://apnews.com/article/whitmer-k...9b052a77279962

A second insider in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told jurors Thursday that the group was prepared to use a grenade launcher and machine gun to fight security officers at her vacation home.

Kaleb Franks, who pleaded guilty in February, backed up many points offered a day earlier by Ty Garbin, another man who admitted a role in a wild scheme to abduct Whitmer and somehow take her by boat out to Lake Michigan.

Franks, 27, said an alleged leader, Adam Fox, believed Whitmer’s COVID-19 restrictions were “tyrannical” and that the U.S. Constitution gave the men a right to strike back. He said no one was forced to stick with the plan and many people had dropped away by late summer 2020.

“I was going to be an operator,” Franks replied when asked by a prosecutor to describe his role in a kidnapping. “I would be one of the people on the front line, so to speak, using my gun.”

Reminder that these wananbe domestic terrorists are wannabe domestic terrorists.

We need some better civics lessons, because ain't nobody understand the Constitution anymore.

[Paranoid Android]

I should post my hot take ( I stole this from others) is if this was a Dem or an income SCOTUS Judge incoming, cough Brown-Jackson, the Republicans would BURN this mother effer down. Their media would create such a bleep storm that day to day politics would likely not function.

This better be a hammer to the nail issue for the Dems. If all this is true, then Thomas has to get impeached.

Edit: Of course Thomas won't, cause the Republicans, but you get the picture.

Oh and to add. The sad part is in 2024 it won't look good and will bet Thomas announces retirement before or after the last session of that year in 2025.

[Shadowferal]

Hmf...story on Thomas seems to be gaining currency and media attention. Hears hoping for breaking news on an early retirement in a month or so.

[Draco-Onis]

Hmf...story on Thomas seems to be gaining currency and media attention. Hears hoping for breaking news on an early retirement in a month or so.

Nah he's a conservative judge the only way he goes is if a republican gets into office or death.

[Edge-]

Hmf...story on Thomas seems to be gaining currency and media attention. Hears hoping for breaking news on an early retirement in a month or so.

He doesn't care, he hasn't cared for decades and he'll continue not to care. And Republicans don't care either, because they like his rulings.

It's up to Roberts if he cares about the integrity of the court or not, and it very much seems that for as much as he claims to, he won't do anything about it. I shall enjoy Roberts legacy being, "That Chief Justice that presided over oral arguments delivered by a lawyer taking a shit and flushing the toilet."

[Shadowferal]

Roberts isn't fond of negative public scrutiny...
Women's March pushes for impeachment of Justice Thomas over wife's texts

"The revelations that Ginni Thomas advocated for the overthrow of our democracy are disqualifying - not just for her as a human being of any decency, but for her husband Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas," Women's March Executive Director Rachel O' Leary Carmona said in a statement.

"From the day he was nominated to the Court, Thomas has always acted less like a reasonable jurist and more like his wife - that is to say a professional conservative activist," Carmona added. "He is hopelessly compromised, conflicted, and corrupt, and he must be impeached IMMEDIATELY."

Justice Thomas discharged from hospital, faces mounting ethics scrutiny

Thomas faces growing ethics questions after recent reports of his wife's aggressive effort to overturn former President Trump's electoral defeat and participation in the Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" rally have renewed scrutiny of the justice's refusal to step aside from related disputes that have come before the Supreme Court.

Thomas was absent from oral arguments on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with Chief Justice John Roberts announcing prior to Wednesday's argument that "Justice Thomas is unable to be present today" but providing no further information.

[Edge-]

Roberts isn't fond of negative public scrutiny...
Women's March pushes for impeachment of Justice Thomas over wife's texts

"The revelations that Ginni Thomas advocated for the overthrow of our democracy are disqualifying - not just for her as a human being of any decency, but for her husband Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas," Women's March Executive Director Rachel O' Leary Carmona said in a statement.

"From the day he was nominated to the Court, Thomas has always acted less like a reasonable jurist and more like his wife - that is to say a professional conservative activist," Carmona added. "He is hopelessly compromised, conflicted, and corrupt, and he must be impeached IMMEDIATELY."

Justice Thomas discharged from hospital, faces mounting ethics scrutiny

Thomas faces growing ethics questions after recent reports of his wife's aggressive effort to overturn former President Trump's electoral defeat and participation in the Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" rally have renewed scrutiny of the justice's refusal to step aside from related disputes that have come before the Supreme Court.

Thomas was absent from oral arguments on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with Chief Justice John Roberts announcing prior to Wednesday's argument that "Justice Thomas is unable to be present today" but providing no further information.

Impeachment won't do shit, Republicans aren't going to vote to remove an ethically compromised justice that rules in their favor every single time.

[Fugus]

Impeachment won't do shit, Republicans aren't going to vote to remove an ethically compromised justice that rules in their favor every single time.

No, but we could have the legal system zero in on his wife and actually make an example of her for her actions with him stuck watching.

But, as I said before, they are too weak, they won’t even go after kavanaugh whom they have dead to rights and on camera.

[Edge-]

No, but we could have the legal system zero in on his wife and actually make an example of her for her actions with him stuck watching.

But, as I said before, they are too weak, they won’t even go after kavanaugh whom they have dead to rights and on camera.

She hasn't done anything illegal, though. Being an ethically compromised, piece of shit extremist isn't illegal, sadly. And going after Kavanaugh wouldn't matter either. They won't have 67 votes to remove him.

I believe Roberts has the authority as Chief Justice to update disclosure rules for the court though. SCOTUS isn't bound by any of the ethical rules that lower courts are bound by and goes on the "honor" system, but I believe it's within his authority to hold the SCOTUS to the same ethical standards. Which he should do given the current crop of justices.