[Martin Elster]

AN INSURRECTION OF LIES

In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris discusses two dangerous misconceptions about the siege of the Capitol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-pTYLhitds

[Max Goodman]

Originally Posted by Martin Elster

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-pTYLhitds

He makes great points. I love his point that mindfulness doesn't preclude caring about the world (and that if you think it does--he mindfully adds--"it's time to get your head out of your ass").

Many of us will likely feel frustrated when he says there was no racism involved in the policing of the January 6 riot, that the cops didn't use more force not because the rioters were white, but because they were so overwhelmed that more force would have been useless. This, of course, is a straw man. It's the decision makers who left the cops overwhelmed who are accused of racism.

Belatedly, he admits that there might be reasons for the cops being so overwhelmed, so I guess what he means is that we don't yet know whether racism was responsible. Fair enough. I'm open to learning how those decisions were made. The stark contrast between the police presence for the BLM protests and the riot certainly requires some explanation.

[Julie Steiner]

Update to post #58:

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf resigns, third Cabinet official to quit after pro-Trump riot at Capitol

Chad Wolf is the guy who tried to suspend DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) all by himself, just by issuing a memo, and was told by the courts that he lacked the authority to do that.

Maybe not the best time to have upheaval in the Department of Homeland Security, which is also in charge of the Secret Service. But it's somewhat inspiring to see how leaving the Trump Administration brings out the integrity of people who didn't seem to have much when they joined it--Jeff Sessions, John Bolton, William Barr, etc.

~~~

In other news--NBC's Senior Washington Correspondent Hallie Jackson reports:

Deutsche Bank will refrain from any future business with President Trump and his company, per a person familiar, and Signature Bank says it's closing the president's two personal accounts, where he had $5m+, as the bank calls for his resignation.

This is amazing, considering how much money Trump owes Deutsche Bank. But also spooky, considering what Trump might be willing to sell to increase his cash flow.

[Roger Slater]

I'm not sure it has much to do with integrity. More like self-preservation.

And the news about Deutsche Bank is great to hear, though not surprising at all. With hundreds of millions of dollars of personal debt coming due in the next year or so, if Trump can't refinance he's in big trouble. And his chances of refinancing are pretty low, especially when he is spending half his time trying to stay out of jail.

[Jim Moonan]

.
I interpret the resignations as being a weak waving of the white flag of surrender to what had been shunned by them as being superfluous in deference to greed, prejudice, favor and all their antecedents of hatred.

Still, they (the resignations) are a strong confirmation that what we've (me and the choir) been shouting since the day he descended the escalator is the real truth. I don't feel vindicated. I feel violated. Bring him to justice.
.

[Julie Steiner]

Trump is reportedly more upset about his club not hosting a golf tournament than he is about likely being impeached for a 2nd time

The loss of money and prestige (his banks showing him the door, the PGA golf tournament cancellation, Lehigh University rescinding Trump's 1988 honorary degree) definitely has the power to force Trump into things that political leverage does not. I'm just worried that it will force him into open treason--doing some last-minute mischief that a foreign power orders him to do, for example.

Then again, maybe open treason is the only thing that will persuade blind followers like Kevin Rainbow that Trump is a conman and a cult leader, not a business genius, and certainly not a poor, persecuted victim whose honor they must defend from persecution (or prosecution).

Another development, affecting Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani:

Citing his role in a “violent insurrectionist attack on the United States Capitol,” the chairman of the New York State Senate’s judiciary committee made a formal request on Monday to the state court system to begin the process of stripping President Trump’s lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, of his law license.

[...]

The call for Mr. Giuliani’s disbarment came only hours after the New York State Bar Association announced that it had launched a “historic” investigation into Mr. Giuliani, which could lead to his removal from the group.

[...]

In a prepared statement issued on Monday, Scott M. Karson, the association’s president, said that his decision to begin the inquiry was prompted by hundreds of complaints the group had received about Mr. Giuliani’s central role in Mr. Trump’s attempts to overthrow the results of the election.

[...]

The association’s bylaws forbid members from, among other things, advocating “the overthrow of the government,” and in his statement Mr. Karson said that Mr. Giuliani’s words in Washington last week were “clearly intended to encourage Trump supporters unhappy with the election’s outcome to take matters into their own hands.”

“The subsequent attack on the Capitol was nothing short of an attempted coup,” Mr. Karson wrote, “intended to prevent the peaceful transition of power.”

[Jim Moonan]

.
Finally! Dawn appears on the horizon! Don't pinch me yet.
.
.

[Julie Steiner]

And since Trump's enablers are a longer-term problem for the US than he is, I'm very happy to see this:

Companies Pull Back Political Giving Following Capitol Violence

Days after a pro-Trump mob attacked the United States Capitol, some of America’s biggest companies said they would pause political giving as they rethink their support of certain lawmakers and their own involvement in politics more broadly.

Marriott International, Dow, Airbnb and Morgan Stanley were among those that said they would halt donations from their political action committees, or PACs, to the 147 Republican members of Congress who objected to certifying the election results on Jan. 6. The plans to object to the results appear to have contributed to the deadly storming of the Capitol that day. AT&T, whose PAC donated the most of any single public company in the 2019-20 election cycle, also said it would suspend contributions to those lawmakers.

At the same time, Facebook, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Citigroup, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs said they were pausing PAC donations to both Republican and Democratic candidates for various lengths of time — a tactic that will also penalize those who voted to uphold the election.

Good. Let's reduce the influence of political donations across the board. Public servants should be more accountable to their constituents than to their donors, most of whom don't live in their districts. As Will Rogers said, "We have the best Congress money can buy."

[Andrew Szilvasy]

Something is better than nothing in this regard, but relying on the munificence of oligarchs just isn't a viable path long term.

Unless he is removed and barred from running a second time—AND there are consequences for the people in the House and Senate who fomented this (Narrator Voice: these things will not happen barring some major revelation)—this is essentially an end of something. We genuinely cannot come back from this if the GOP keeps pushing these same narratives. And they will.

[Andrew Szilvasy]

Looks like whatever was in the most recent briefing was bad, because my cynicism—while justified—may be wrong. Some GOPers are coming out in favor of impeachment. My guess is it's bad, which I've thought it was since the beginning. The the pictures of Viking guy dominated, but the danger posed to the legislature by the executive branch—and, at least one, but I suspect more—members of the legislature itself (and partially funded by money coming from someone in the judicial branch) may serious enough to get some semblance of unity. Potentially being hanged by a mob on the order of your party's leader might be a good spur.

Trump is the tumor of a deeper cancer. But that doesn't mean you don't cut out the tumor. It's one of many steps.