Month: January 2022

Categories
U.S. Senate Viral Video

America Applauds When Hot Mic Catches Dr. Fauci Destroying A GOP Senator: ‘What A Moron!’

During a Senate hearing Tuesday on the U.S. response to COVID-19, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases made it clear that he has only so much patience when it comes to explaining things to Republicans who refuse to accept facts.

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) was questioning Fauci and asked if he planned to public disclose his financial investments.

Fauci told the senator that his his financial disclosures have been available to the public for decades:

“I don’t understand why you’re asking me that question. My financial disclosure is public knowledge and has been so for the last 37 years or so.”

Rather than accept the reply and move on, Marshall made a snide remark:

“The big tech giants are doing an incredible job of keeping it from being public. We’ll continue to look for it. Where would we find it?”

Clearly getting frustrated, Fauci said:

“All you have to do is ask for it! You’re so misinformed it’s extraordinary! All you have to do is ask for it.”

Again, Marshall pressed even though the question had been answered not once, but TWICE, saying he wondered what “shenanigans” Fauci was hiding in his finances.

Fauci told Marshall yet again:

“What are you talking about? My financial disclosures are public knowledge and have been so. You are getting amazingly wrong information.”

As Marshall’s time expired, Fauci could be heard saying under his breath:

“What a moron!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZBK8FxlugY&feature=emb_logo

Americans applauded Dr. Fauci on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/jgirando/status/1481004245658869772?s=20

Categories
U.S. Senate

Joe Manchin Gets Caught In A ‘Trumpian Lie’ About The Senate Filibuster

As he continues to obstruct major portions of President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is now lying about the history of the Senate filibuster in a desperate attempt to make it appear that he’s on the side of the angels.

According to Chad Pergram of Fox News, Manchin had this to say Monday when asked about whether or not he would support changes in the filibuster rule so that voting rights legislation could be passed:

“The tradition of the Senate here in 232 years now..we need to be very cautious what we do..That’s what we’ve always had for 232 years. That’s what makes us different than any place else in the world.”

But that’s simply not true, according to attorney Max Kennerly:

“232 years ago, in 1790, a simple majority could end any debate. The current form of filibuster that Manchin is protecting—in which votes can’t happen until 60 Senators agree—didn’t exist until 1975. Hundreds of exceptions have been made to it, including one last month.”

Kennerly then added this painful reminder about the filibuster:

Jonathan Chait of New York Magazine also weighed in, noting:

“The Founders considered, and rejected, a routine supermajority requirement.

“The filibuster is actually not in the Constitution.”

And Mehdi Hasan of MSNBC branded Manchin’s comments a “Trumpian lie.”

Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich also called Manchin out on Twitter:

Joe Manchin needs to be forced to explain why he wants to allow Republicans to keep people of color from voting. And he also needs to be called out for his endless lies.

Categories
Elections GOP Voting Rights

Mitch McConnell Gets Cold Busted For Offering A ‘Poison Pill’ That Would Kill Voting Reform

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said something very surprising last week, suggesting that he was willing to discuss reforming the Electoral Count Act, the federal law that governs the way Congress certifies presidential elections:

“Aside from all the other things they are discussing, this is something that’s worth discussing,” McConnell said on Wednesday. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, echoed that view to NBC News. There may even be enough support across the aisle to overcome a filibuster in the closely divided Senate.

But as Hayes Brown notes in an op-ed he wrote for MSNBC, Democrats would be foolish to fall for McConnell’s bait and switch:

While changes to the law’s vague, easily twisted language are important to prevent another round of the chaos that former President Donald Trump inspired last year, McConnell knows better than anyone that reforming the Electoral Count Act absent “all the other things” Democrats want in terms of voting rights would be a new coat of paint on a house that’s about to collapse.

While McConnell wants us to believe he’s interested in election reform, the truth is very different from the words he speaks in front of the cameras:

In June, he even said that voting rights is “not a federal issue.” Case in point: The Democrats’ other main voting rights bill, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, would reinstate the provisions the Supreme Court has decimated. The bill has the support of only one Republican in the Senate — and it isn’t McConnell.

The good news is that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has made it clear he’s not going to fall for McConnell’s trick:

He’s promised to “debate and consider changes to the rules” by Jan. 17 if Republicans continue to stand in the way of the two voting rights bills.

But McConnell isn’t likely to budge anytime soon. And he knows that all he needs is one — one Democrat to remain willing to put his promise of “bipartisanship” ahead of voting rights. It’s up to Schumer to make sure that nobody breaks ranks in the name of a short-term victory

McConnell doesn’t want people to vote unless they happen to be guaranteed votes for Republicans. That means he wants every white person (especially conservatives) to get out and vote in every election while at the same time he and other members of the GOP work behind the scenes to make it more difficult for people of color and the poor to cast a ballot. They know that expanding the voting franchise and making it easier to vote would relegate their party to permanent minority status.

Nice try, Mitch, but we’re not falling for your lies.

Categories
Capitol Insurrection Congress GOP Social Media

Jim Jordan Slammed As A ‘Dirty Traitor’ For Refusing To Comply With House 1/6 Committee

After declaring that he has “nothing to hide” about what role he may have played in the January 6 Capitol insurrection that left five people dead, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) is now refusing to comply with the House Select Committee investigating the incident, which set off a wave of disgust and anger on social media, including suggestions that Jordan’s refusal proves he’s a “dirty traitor.”

The Washington Post reports Jordan made his decision public on Sunday:

In a letter dated Sunday and addressed to the committee’s chairman, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), the Ohio Republican and close ally of former president Donald Trump accused the panel, made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans, of playing politics.

“Your attempt to pry into the deliberative process informing a Member about legislative matters before the House is an outrageous abuse of the Select Committee’s authority,” Jordan wrote in the letter, which he posted to his Twitter account Sunday.

It remains unclear if the Jan. 6 committee will now subpoena Jordan, who could be referred to the Justice Department for criminal contempt of Congress if he refuses to obey a subpoena.

In the past, Jordan has insisted he played no role in the Jan. 6 riots:

Jordan said he was unconcerned about the scrutiny. “If they call me, I got nothing to hide,” the far-right lawmaker said in July. In October, during a House Rules Committee hearing, the Ohioan echoed the sentiment, insisting, “I’ve said all along, ‘I have nothing to hide.'”

Jordan’s refusal led many on social media to suggest that he clearly fears telling what he knows because it will incriminate him and others, including failed former President Donald Trump.

https://twitter.com/Guiller07218172/status/1480330537189265408?s=20

Categories
Capitol Insurrection Donald Trump Mike Pence

Former Pence Staffers Are Being ‘Particularly Cooperative’ With House Jan. 6 Committee

In what can only be seen as the ultimate irony, it now appears that the evidence most likely to result in criminal charges being filed against failed, twice-impeached former President Donald Trump may be provided by staffers who once worked for former Vice President Mike Pence.

According to Axios, members of Pence’s staff have been “particularly cooperative” with the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection:

People in and around former Vice President Mike Pence’s office have been particularly cooperative as the Jan. 6 select committee focuses on what former President Trump was doing during the more than three hours the Capitol was under attack, sources familiar with the testimony tell Axios.

The cooperation of those who had a front-row seat to what transpired on that horrible January day is key to the committee, which is on the verge of holding public hearings that could further expose Trump and members of his inner circle to criminal referrals the Justice Department would be hard-pressed to ignore.

Some of the former Pence staff members have even agreed to talk to the Jan. 6 panel without having to be subpoenaed:

  • Both Pence’s former chief of staff Marc Short, and former press secretary Alyssa Farah, who later served as White House communications director, are among those cooperating with the committee.
  • Keith Kellogg also has given a deposition.
  • One source familiar with their involvement said Short, who was subpoenaed by the committee, would not have cooperated without the approval of Pence.

The committee has received the most helpful information from “second- and third-tier administration staff who were not directly involved but were at the White House on Jan. 6 and had access to top administration officials.”

After speaking with the committee, Farah noted:

“You could see how much information they already had.

“Those who are refusing to cooperate likely are doing so out of complete fealty to Donald Trump and not wanting to piss him off.

“But, secondarily, because they’re realizing the committee has quite a bit more information than they realized. And their involvement is known to a much greater degree than they realized.”

The upcoming public hearings could prove to be a tipping point that will convince the majority of Americans Trump and members of his staff need to be held accountable and prosecuted for their crimes. And they should also make for the most fascinating television since the Watergate hearings back in 1974.