Trump Defense Secretary To Testify About Insurrection In Blow To GOP
Ossoff & Warnock Move To Overrule Voter Suppression Law
Two Articles Today!
Trump Defense Secretary To Testify About Insurrection In Blow To GOP
Ossoff & Warnock Move To Overrule Voter Suppression Law
Trump Defense Secretary To Testify About Insurrection In Blow To GOP
Uh, oh. It looks as if Donald Trump is about to step into the deep end of his swamp. He still claims he won the election, convinced untold numbers of his followers of that, and maybe even believes the Big Lie himself by now. But Congress keeps drilling down, and Trump may find that deep end too shallow for a loud belly flop.
There is still one nagging question about the day our ex sicced his enraged followers upon the Capitol Building, January 6. It was an insurrection, a failed coup. Hundreds of them have been arrested. Vice President Mike Pence, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and others called begging their president to send help. He ignored their pleas for hours.
Trump’s acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller will testify on Wednesday to answer Congress’s House Oversight Committee’s questions, according to The Axios. They want to know more about the January 6 attack.
Our ex-president appointed Miller right after he fired Secretary Mark Esper. Trump did not like how the election went and blamed Esper. So, Secretary Miller stepped in for a brief period of time. He admitted that he thought the former POTUS “incited the mob” before letting them loose.
Miller is on the committee’s schedule along with “Trump’s former Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen.” In addition, the committee hearing will deal with setting up a “9/11-style” commission. Its purpose would be to objectively investigate the January 6 event and surrounding issues.
Trump’s speech revved thousands of his followers to a fevered pitch, and a mob seethed toward the symbol of American democracy. Co-chair of Facebook’s Independent Oversight Board Michael McConnell told Fox News on Sunday that the then-president was responsible for ginning up the rioters’ bloodlust. Although Trump told the crowd he would be at the Capitol, he rushed back to the White House to watch it on television. Afterward, the former president did not understand why his staffers did not enjoy the action. They were horrified.
McConnell said that Trump’s social media posts were a primary reason for the board continuing the suspension of his Facebook account. At one point hours into the insurrection, 45 finally told the mob to go home, even though he held tight to the Big Lie, that he really did win the election:
‘ON JAN. 6, PRESIDENT TRUMP ISSUED THOSE STATEMENTS AS A MOB WAS RAMPAGING THROUGH THE CAPITOL, AS MEMBERS OF CONGRESS WERE COWERING IN FEAR, AS THE RIOTERS WERE THREATENING VICE PRESIDENT PENCE’S LIFE, AND AT THAT TIME, HE ISSUED THESE STATEMENTS WHICH WERE JUST EGGING [THEM] ON — WITH PERFUNCTORY ASKING FOR PEACE, BUT MOSTLY HE WAS JUST EGGING THEM ON — TO CONTINUE.’
‘THIS IS A PLAIN VIOLATION OF FACEBOOK’S RULES AGAINST PRAISING DANGEROUS INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS AT A TIME OF VIOLENCE. MR. TRUMP IS SUBJECT TO THE SAME RULES ON FACEBOOK AS EVERYONE ELSE.’
Co-chair McConnell indicated that the board found Facebook’s suspension was justifiable, just not indefinitely:
‘THEY DID NOT PROVIDE ANY REASONS FOR THAT, THAT IS NOT A PROVISION IN THEIR RULES, THAT WAS WRONG. AND WE GAVE THEM A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF TIME TO GET THEIR HOUSE IN ORDER.’
‘THEY NEEDED SOME TIME BECAUSE THEIR RULES ARE IN SHAMBLES. THEY ARE NOT TRANSPARENT, THEY ARE UNCLEAR, THEY ARE INTERNALLY INCONSISTENT. SO WE MADE A SERIES OF RECOMMENDATIONS ABOUT HOW TO MAKE THEIR RULES CLEARER AND MORE CONSISTENT.’
The board “insisted,” because it has no real teeth, that Facebook find a “proportionate response” in the next six months.
President Biden appointed Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III to head the Pentagon.
Ossoff & Warnock Move To Overrule Voter Suppression Law
So many people find America’s government extremely frustrating and with good reason. Any time we must interface with our government, we find ourselves caught up in a whirlwind of paperwork, one that buries its citizens and goes on forever. If Democrats were smart, they would cut through all the red tape and pull out efficiency. Republican legislators are worse. Their expressions are grim; their attack on voters vicious; plus winning at any and all costs is a bit horrifying.
Democratic Georgia Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff introduced the Voter’s Access to Water Act this week. It allows voters to have access to water while waiting in line to vote. This was in direct conflict with a new state Republican provision, a highly controversial new voting law, Senate Bill 202.
This strictly forbids handing out food and drink to voters standing in line for hours during the hot Georgia summers. Governor Brian Kemp (R) signed this bill into law late last month. Thus far, a minimum of five lawsuits has challenged it.
A provision within the bill reads, according to WSGW:
‘[NO INDIVIDUAL MAY] SOLICIT VOTES IN ANY MANNER OR BY ANY MEANS OR METHOD, NOR SHALL ANY PERSON DISTRIBUTE OR DISPLAY ANY CAMPAIGN MATERIAL, NOR SHALL ANY PERSON GIVE, OFFER TO GIVE, OR PARTICIPATE IN THE GIVING OF ANY MONEY OR GIFTS, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, FOOD AND DRINK, TO AN ELECTOR … ON ANY DAY IN WHICH BALLOTS ARE BEING CAST.’
‘[HOWEVER, POLL STAFF] COULD STILL OFFER VOTERS SELF-SERVICE WATER FROM AN UNATTENDED RECEPTACLE TO AN ELECTOR WAITING IN LINE TO VOTE.’
The two senators’ federal bill would override the Georgia state bill if they can get it passed in the deeply divided Senate:
‘[IT BANS] THE PROVISION OF FOOD AND WATER TO VOTERS WAITING IN LINE AS LONG AS VOLUNTEERS ARE NOT ENGAGING IN CAMPAIGNING OR POLITICAL ACTIVITY, AND AS LONG AS FOOD AND WATER ARE OFFERED TO EVERY VOTER.’
Ossoff released a statement on Tuesday:
‘[THE BILL] WILL ENSURE A NONPARTISAN, GOOD SAMARITAN VOLUNTEER CAN OFFER VOTERS IN LINE A BOTTLE OF WATER WITHOUT FEAR OF CRIMINAL PROSECUTION.’
The U.S. Republican lawmakers have decided to kiss Donald Trump’s ring, even though he was never as popular as President Joe Biden already has become. In fact, they are working on expelling a traditional conservative Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) from her leadership role. Her crime?
She told the truth about the Big Lie, that Trump lost the 2020 presidential election fair and square. Her associates in the House fear the ex-president’s attack more than they fear losing. After all, 45 lost them the House and the Senate majorities and the presidency.
The Senate Rules Committee has the massive voting rights bill S. 1, named after a former Georgia voting rights advocate and House leader. The John Lewis Voting Rights Act was introduced one week after his death in 2020.
Senator Ossoff sits on the Rules Committee, and he is expected to introduce the Voter’s Access to Water Act as an amendment to S. 1.
For more in-depth reading, go to The Bipartisan Report.