So far, top Republicans are staying quiet about the Sept. 18 protest on the Hill in defense of some Capitol riot defendantshttps://t.co/SY7awotPj8
— POLITICO (@politico) September 14, 2021
It’s all fun’n’games, until someone gets caught doing a little light treason…
… Saturday’s rally comes as some conservative lawmakers fan outrage on the right over former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen from him — rhetoric that worries some fellow Republicans, who warn that their colleagues are riling up the biggest fans of the former president. That still-simmering discord within the GOP puts party leaders in an awkward position ahead of the Sept. 18 “Justice for J6” rally on Capitol Hill, organized by a former Trump campaign aide.
So far, top Republicans are staying as quiet as possible about the Sept. 18 protest on the Hill, which has prompted police officials to re-install the Capitol security fence to safeguard against potential violence. They aren’t endorsing it — nor are they condemning it. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters Monday that out of his Republican conference, he “doesn’t think anyone is” going to attend. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did not respond to a question about whether leaders should be encouraging other rank-and-file members not to attend as he headed to a briefing on the rally.
Their approach appears to be working, as no Republican lawmakers have publicly said they will attend — even some who have repeatedly and publicly claimed some Jan. 6 defendants are “political prisoners” being treated unfairly because of their political views. However, the offices of Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) — all of whom have peddled the “political prisoners” claim repeatedly — have declined multiple requests for comment about whether they plan to appear.
Amid the waiting game, some influential conservatives are trying to change the subject; Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said Monday that he wouldn’t attend the rally and didn’t “know anything about it.” Others are shrugging off the question of whether Republicans should appear; Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), chair of the House Freedom Caucus, said it was “none of my business.”…
It is unclear how many people are expected to appear at the Saturday rally, with organizer Matthew Braynard insisting he is working closely with law enforcement to ensure the event does not turn violent. Some Members of the far-right extremist Proud Boys — which has had multiple members arrested for some of the more extreme acts of violence on Jan. 6 — are urging group members on message boards to skip the event, warning that the rally is a trap for them to get arrested.
Privately, Republicans grumbled about the rally as a distraction that pulls attention away from their policy-centered critiques of the Biden administration over inflation and Afghanistan. (Hawley, for his part, said “everything else is secondary” to Biden’s handling of Afghanistan.) And some in the party are taking solace that Trump has not promoted the event so far, a decision that they say would draw a crowd far greater than they expect to appear on Saturday…
They’re waiting to see if their unacknowledged leader, their voters’ GodKing, decides to rile up the rubes again… or if TFG’s current handlers manage to make the threat of immanent arrest real enough to deter him. Portraits in courage, every one!
Sequels seldom live up to the original, after all…
Early previews of Saturday fascist rally in U.S. capital of Washington compare upcoming insurrection to legendary sequels such as “Blues Brothers 2000” and “Highlander II: The Quickening.” pic.twitter.com/CFJ5zf4agx
— DPRK News Service (@DPRK_News) September 13, 2021
SpaceUnit
Actually, nothing could be as bad as Blues Brothers 2000.
Jeffro
They’re all terrified that their comms might get subpoenaed.
I bet they’re passing paper notes around like eighth-graders. ?
VeniceRiley
Take pictures for future identity reveals!
MAGA sentencing for mosque bombing with a twist I did not see coming: 53 Years
Meanwhile, in open threadland: Weird Holmes trial tidbits
Tony Jay
I don’t know what’s going on with Gaetz, but with that face and hair, I’m pretty sure the Big Bad chucks him out of a plane in the third act with a crack about “giving the sharks something to chew over”.
And the audience cheer.
West of the Rockies
Gaetz looks like a demonic caricature of young Jack Nicholson.
Tony Jay
@SpaceUnit:
It says ‘Highlander II – The Quickening‘ right there. That’s some stiff competition you’re dismissing.
JPL
Unless the leader calls them to DC, they will stay home.
SpaceUnit
@Tony Jay: To my enduring shame I’ve seen them both.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@SpaceUnit:
Watched the Nostalgia Critic review of it years ago and I agree. It was a blatant cash grab and not even John Goodman could salvage it
Tony Jay
@West of the Rockies:
There’s an episode of ‘Red Dwarf‘ where Dave Lister contracts a case of ‘space mumps’ that make his head swell up like Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s testicles.
So Gaetz either has an alien virus, he’s really got head-syphillis, or he’s having a reaction to the vaccine.
And we know it isn’t option 3.
Tony Jay
@SpaceUnit:
‘Blade II‘ is worse.
There, I said it.
lowtechcyclist
Quite literally LOLing!
SpaceUnit
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I like Dan Aykroyd and John Goodman, but that flick was unforgivable.
Cmorenc
@West of the Rockies:
i was thinking instead that gaetz would be a natural for a “Frankenstein” remake, cause he would require far less makeup and hair restyling than any other candidate, and as fas as character acting would essentially be playing himself.
mdblanche
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom
Remember us—if at all—not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.
Baud
Republican leaders aren’t going to address the rally any more than they would refuse the vaccine.
SpaceUnit
@Tony Jay: Man, I don’t know. Have you actually attempted to watch Blues Brothers 2000? It’s seriously bad.
dmsilev
@Tony Jay: That’s crazy talk. There never was any sequel to Highlander.
Tony Jay
@lowtechcyclist:
The now infamous cousin better hope the cure isn’t the same.
“Pop!”
“Splat!!”
“Ohhhhhh, man. That feels so much better.”
Then again, she might take him back if he can prove it wasn’t a terrestrial STI.
“I’m telling you baby, damned alien probed me.”
Baud
I wish they had implemented this after the fascist rally.
Tony Jay
@SpaceUnit:
I confess, I have not. Thank you Ganesh!
@dmsilev:
“There should be only one?”
Thank you, I’ll be here all week. Please don’t cough on your waitress.
piratedan
while I understand that the wheels of justice do turn slowly (sometimes too much so) but if the Congressman from Florida is under investigation and evidence has been given, procured and evaluated, please feel free to arrest his ass if charges are to be brought… if no charges are going to be brought, say so and we’ll listen as to the reasons why, but I don’t see how allowing this asshat to parade around the country is warranted, much less weigh in and vote on legislation.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@dmsilev:
@Tony Jay:
Did anybody watch the tv series? Was it any good?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@piratedan:
Pretty much this. It should be easy to get a statement from a spokesperson confirming that an investigation is still ongoing
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@SpaceUnit:
What possessed Ackroyd to do a BB sequel anyway? He did the Ghostbusters flicks which had to have netted him a lot of money. Plus the SNL years. He couldn’t have needed the money that bad
Keith P.
@Tony Jay: I’d go with Highlander II as well…well, maybe “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot”. What I saw of the latter (15 minutes) was worse than anything I saw in the former.
Mike in NC
Trump would only attend this fascist shindig if he were guaranteed a paycheck. Still, I expect it to get ugly and violent.
Danielx
Profiles in courage, I don’t think. Amazing how a noncompliant Justice Department makes Republican pols flee from public involvement with the Base.
@Tony Jay:
Could SO have done without that image, especially since said cousin’s clap diagnosis.
Danielx
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Clearly you have never seen Dr. Detroit.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Tony Jay: @Danielx: (it’s so rare I get a chance to pedant…. clears throat) it was her cousin’s friend with the swole nuts
piratedan
yes…. yes, those movies were all seriously bad but as a devoted fan of MST3K, I believe that I have a better handle on bad cinema than what has been suggested here and if you’re going to cite crappy sequels, you’re going to have to work much harder to outpace Teen Wolf Too.
Danielx
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
details, details….
The Lodger
@Cmorenc: Yeah, I felt the same about Rush Limbaugh playing Jabba the Hutt. Casting anyone else in that role would just be wasting a resource.
Leslie
@piratedan:
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
This was my thought as well. Why tf isn’t Gaetz (no, not Gretzky, stupid autocorrect) under arrest yet?
In other news, I have saved myself from lasting self-inflicted ignominy by finally depositing my recall vote in a ballot box.
dmsilev
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I remember watching some of it. Didn’t really stick in my mind as particularly good or bad.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
bet he changed a lot of minds in /checks notes/ West Hollywood
Subsequent tweets indicate he was sent home
Roger Moore
I’m definitely hoping this shows up in the “second time as farce” category.
dmsilev
@Leslie:
Whooo! For any other CA procrastinators out there, still a couple of hours left to go before polls close. If you haven’t yet, go vote.
SpaceUnit
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I have no idea why they made that film. I can’t believe any studio in the world would give it a green light. I was embarrassed for everyone involved.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Who let him sit down in the first place?
Tony Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Highlander? It was great, in the 90s, and was very much of its time.
Which is ironic, considering the subject matter.
debbie
@West of the Rockies:
Gaetz moonlights as Frisch’s Big Boy.
Tony Jay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
And I bet that’s exactly what her cousin is busy telling everyone he meets.
“Damn it Nicki, why can’t you keep a single damned secret?”
Kay
“anti-vaccine event”
Kay
Bitter colleague reaction:
Benw
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I can’t believe they let him stay when they opened the polls. The poll manager ought to have their head examined!
Roger Moore
@Tony Jay:
There should have been only one Highlander.
smith
Am I being a foolish optimist to think it’s a good sign that GQP pols are unwilling to be publicly associated with Insurrection II? Have they possibly become dimly aware of mounting raw fury in the non-Goober universe about their shenanigans, especially wrt covid?
MisterForkbeard
@Benw: Look, clearly there weren’t enough partisan poll watchers at that location. Needs moar TrueTheVote fascists, I guess.
Joe Falco
@Kay:
Littlefield should know you can’t help something progress when it has no interest or intention to do so.
Ryan
“They’re waiting to see if their unacknowledged leader, their voters’ GodKing, decides to rile up the rubes again… ”
In other words, they’re bleeping sheep and have no free will amongst themselves.
West of the Rockies
@piratedan:
Absolutely: DOJ, indict Gaetz or explain why not.
And start sentencing the 1/6 traitors.
And why do Trump’s taxes still remain a mystery?
Are Garland and Pelosi and co. waiting for some magical date in ’22 to inflict maximum damage?
Matt McIrvin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Saw a bunch of responses to that from people insisting he was doing nothing wrong because his political attire was about Trump and Biden and had no direct connection to recalling Newsom. Evidently in their states, what constitutes electioneering is very strictly defined (or so they say).
West of the Rockies
@piratedan:
Speaking of MST3K, when do we get the long awaited sequel to Manos: Hands of Fate?
The working title might be Manos: Hinds of Fate, or maybe Manos: Feet of Fate.
Who could possibly take over the role of Torgo?
Hoppie
@mdblanche
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be; am an attendant lord, one that will do to swell a progress, start a scene or two; advise the prince, no doubt an easy tool, deferential, glad to be of use; politic, cautious and meticulous; full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse; at times, indeed, almost ridiculous; almost, at times, the Fool.
Human nature is very consistent. Unfortunately, we are usually only aware of this as old folks.
piratedan
@West of the Rockies: I honestly don’t think that there will be a Manos follow up and I will be honest, I even find the MST3k rendition of the film painful, its like a self-inflicted wound, almost self-loathing and I have to be in the right frame of mind to re-watch it. Besides, there are plenty of other wonderfully crappy films out there to enjoy, many of which aren’t even self-parodies. I will admit that I backed the kickstarter for their self-funded season, so I am looking forward to see what they have selected and I enjoyed more than a few of the offerings brought to life with Jonah being the host. The concept still works, even with different protagonists on the same theme but ymmv.
KSinMA
@Hoppie: Truth.
Sure Lurkalot
@smith: Am I being a foolish optimist to think it’s a good sign that GQP pols are scared shitless by their base?
Especially considering that through their egregious gerrymandering, they picked their voters.
Mike E
@Roger Moore:
SLOW CLAP
Ken
I’m glad you linked to the original comment, since this could refer to so many films.
Ken
“I’m not trapped in this district with all of you! You’re trapped here with me!”
Roger Moore
@piratedan:
I have not personally seen it, but Little Fockers also gets a lot of attention for “worst sequel”.
Ken
Hmm… I’ve just had a brilliant idea for an OnlyFans channel, giving the MST3K treatment to porn movies. Except by Rule 34, such a channel already exists.
SpaceUnit
@Ken: Yeah, there’s a lot of bad movies, but BB2 is pretty much in a league of its own.
Actually, A League of Their Own was pretty good as I recall.
Roger Moore
@SpaceUnit:
“Cynical cash grab” seems like a comprehensible motivation. That’s what’s behind practically every reviled sequel. The studio figures it has a built-in audience, and they can just repeat the formula and rake in the cash. There are lots of ways a reasonable looking concept gets turned into an awful movie after it’s been green lighted.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
worse sequel: Caddyshack II (no Rodney, No Murray, No Ted Knight, No Harold Ramis, No Lace Underall)
HumboldtBlue
@Tony Jay:
It’s rather remarkable that Liverpool meet AC Milan in the first round of the Champions League for the first time. What, 13 titles between them, and they’ve only met in the final? Extraordinary.
SpaceUnit
@Roger Moore: Cash grab is almost certainly correct, but I’m guessing the studio lost its shirt with that stinker.
James E Powell
@SpaceUnit:
Grossed $14M on a budget of $30M – according to wikipedia.
Rocks
@Roger Moore: “I saw your Highlander movie Ricky Bobby. It was shit!”
LiminalOwl
@Ken: Ooh, yes!
Steeplejack
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
The Highlander TV series was actually pretty good, in a louche way. I didn’t watch it religiously, but it was syndicated late at night on some channel that I watched in the wee hours, so I caught most of it.
My memory is that it was shot in Europe, so there were a lot of “haven’t seen this person before” actors and interesting “haven’t seen this either” locations. Adrian Paul did a serviceable job, and the supporting cast was pretty good. Most of the plots were not laughable (given the basic premise of the series).
SpaceUnit
@James E Powell: I’m surprised it made that much to be honest.
Steeplejack
@Baud:
Exactly! He never should have faced a single voter.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Tony Jay: Remember Highlander fans refuse to admit there was ever a Highlander II it’s so bad.
Steeplejack
@Kay:
I think that GQPer misspelled his nym: @KlandragonUL.
Kattails
I just came in from stacking a cord of wood, so a bit punchy, but I have a nagging question. I wonder if Steve Bannon smells as gawdawful as he looks. And I say that as someone who just moved about 3,000 pounds of hardwood from one pile to another.
Roger Moore
@Tony Jay:
It was actually an ’80s movie, released in 1986. Some of the stuff in the movie (e.g. the survivalist) was very, very ’80s. I remember re-watching it years later and finding it to be very cheesy and dated. It’s still a fun movie, but it’s nowhere near as good as I remember it being.
SpaceUnit
@Kattails: God willing, we’ll never know.
Kattails
@SpaceUnit: True, and amen.
The cats are fed, litter boxes cleaned, and I have a large Lagunitas Colossus IPA at 9%ABV, hope I won’t fall asleep in the shower. I stayed out stacking wood under a lamp because it’s a lovely mild evening and there won’t be too many more. We are still getting peaches here in NH, which is pretty unheard of.
Another Scott
I saw something somewhere (probably Twitter) about the latest festival that MyPillow man attended – they were expecting 10,000 and got a few hundred attendees. Apparently it was the “Bardsfest” thing in St. Louis. They held it at a drive-in theatre because the arena they planned to use kicked them out because of COVID restrictions.
From BardsFM:
Yes, Jesus was a great believer in war. (groucho-roll-eyes.gif)
Lindell gave a 1+ hour speech there. It’s easy to find video of the hundreds and hundreds in the audience…
They’re still out there, they’re still talking crazy, they’re still hiding behind ‘religion’, but their numbers are small.
Small numbers of people can do great damage, but we can’t cower. We have to be clear eyed.
Forward!!
Cheers,
Scott.
Steeplejack
@Roger Moore:
We’re talking about the TV series (1992-98).
West of the Rockies
@Ken
That does sound funny though!
Kattails
@Another Scott: Yes, and that tw_t (fill in the vowel of your choice) Boebert was ranting in front of some audience or another about how God told her to run for office and they are going to take back this country and make it a Christian government. And yet claims to be a Constitutional originalist if I’ve got my nutcases in order. Audience on it’s feet cheering. They may be few, but they are galactically stupid AND mean.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Six seasons available on Peacock and Vudu.
HumboldtBlue
Just one more Norm McDonald clip for the road.
The crocodile hunter.
Jeffro
@smith:
I’m telling y’all, they’re just terrified of having their comms out in the open. They’d do it if they thought they could get away with it. But…how does that go again…elections have consequences
MobiusKlein
@dmsilev: I rewatched The Highlander recently, and it was pretty bad too, in retrospect.
Perhaps a case where the original was ruined by the sequal?
burnspbesq
@piratedan:
Have you not been paying attention for the last 75 years? With the single exception of Comey re Hillary, DOJ never, ever does that, for two reasons. First, it’s grand jury material within the meaning of Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure; disclosure by anyone in government is a felony. Second, until the statute of limitation expires, there is always the possibility that new evidence could come to light that would change the decision whether to indict.
CCL
Late to the thread, @Matt McIrvin:
Here, that’s true if the person so attired is an elector – i.e. a voter – as long as the attire does not refer to the current candidates or ballot initiative, s/he cannot be denied his/her right to vote. However, if the attire refers to the current candidates etc. , that is considered campaigning inside the polls and the voter can be asked to remove the offending apparel (take their hat off, turn their t-shirt inside out, put a jacket over it, etc.).
For poll workers, though, it’s a different story. The Registrar of Voters (who hire the poll workers) or Moderator has the right to remove or fire any poll worker. Poll workers are expected to act as non-partisan and ensure the rights of every eligible elector to vote.
burnspbesq
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Not gonna happen, for the first of two reasons set forth in my prior comment. The existence of a grand jury is itself grand jury material.
cope
@debbie: I learn more toward the Max Headroom comparison.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_(TV_series)#/media/File%3AMaxheadroomMpegMan.jpg
Citizen Alan
@Another Scott:
One of my big pet peeves right now is the use of the phrase “prayer Warriors,” which shows up a lot on Herman Cain a Ward entries. What a sad Testament it is to the state of contemporary American Christianity that the only way to get christians to pray for friends and neighbors who are sick is to characterize it in violent terms.
Ruckus
@Kattails:
See, I always thought that losing my sense of smell would turn out to have a good side.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
as I understand the law, Congress has the right to see trump’s taxes, not to make them public, and IANAL but I believe his taxes would only become public if there were relevant evidence in a trial, and I’m guessing only parts, and trump would fight like hell to keep them private
and to all teh questions about why Gaetz hasn’t been arrested: I would guess because prosecutors feel they don’t (yet?) have evidence that they think would lead to a conviction
a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio
@SpaceUnit: Possibly money for the musicians involved—a lot of older musicians see their bookings and royalties drop off, and competition for session work is always fierce. Between the up-front money and the money they’d get from rebroadcast on television, it could help cushion things for those guys.
Think of it as a helping hand for guys who don’t want charity. And there was the chance of exposing more people to old blues and rhythm & blues, which is a cause close to Dan Ackroyd’s heart.
I expected it to be silly stupid fun, with music, and that’s what I got.
piratedan
@burnspbesq: sorry counselor, obviously I’m out of my lane.
Nothing speaks more to the perpetuation of IOKIYAR then waiting to see if we have ENOUGH criminal charges before the grand jury times out (if you’re gonna accuse a Congressman of having underage sex, paying for sex and trafficking minors across state lines and have already brought in his associates to give evidence against, what the fuck else do they need?)
Meanwhile he’s free to go out there and raise campaign cash, act as an example that the Government is “helpless” to stop these guys. Here we are months after the accusations were brought, weeks post the supposed rollover of his contacts in the FL state legislature. Maybe this look only further perpetuates the idea that the law only works for people of a single color.
and no burnsie, I’m not mad at you, you’re simply educating us as to the why…. but to say its frustrating and makes justice look ineffectual isn’t a stretch imho.
Suzanne
“I lie. If I’m really cornered or something, I lie. I really try not to. I try never to lie on TV. I just don’t, you know, I don’t like lying. I certainly do it, you know, out of weakness or whatever.”
—Tucker Carlson
Steeplejack
@Suzanne:
Is this snark (probably), or do you have a source? Because I guarantee that at some point someone is going to write: “I saw somewhere that Tucker Carlson admitted that he lies!”
eddie blake
@Roger Moore: i see what you did there.
Another Scott
@Steeplejack:
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a37595465/tucker-carlson-lie-on-tv/
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
eddie blake
@Roger Moore: great segues. really good production design. great, really great soundtrack….
i thought it was good shit. the rest?
…not so much.
eddie blake
@cope: pretty sure max headroom and co. were antifa. they’d have nothing to do with matt gaetz. (except maybe, exposing him.)
eddie blake
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: his co-conspirator asked for a delay in sentencing so he could drop more dirt.
wheels of justice are still grinding, i think.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/06/matt-gaetz-associate-joel-greenberg-asks-for-90-day-sentencing-delay.html
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I agree, but since Fitzmas– remember Fitzmas?– I’ve advocated everybody calm down about perp walks, frogmarches and people we don’t like dying in prison
eddie blake
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: –
DELETED.
eta-ok, first response was WAY too malicious.
if he gets to prison, he very well may die, but not from natural causes…
Steeplejack
@Another Scott:
Shiver me timbers! Thanks.
Miss Bianca
I’m so fucking pissed these fuckers want to hold this “rally” on my birthday. Just hoping it’s a huge nothingburger so I won’t have to spend the rest of my life remembering that a GOP Goobers Riot happened on that day.