It’s January 6 again. Back in the day January 6 was the Feast of the Epiphany and the official end of the Christmas season. Now we remember The Insurrection. There are a number of Insurrection retrospectives online today. Joyce Vance reposted something she wrote on 1/7/2021. Don Moynihan has a good commentary headlined Jan. 6 and the Path Not Taken. President Biden has an op ed at WaPo headlined What Americans Should Remember About Jan. 6. But then see David Kurtz at TPM, who says Biden was mistaken when he wrote that we’re “beyond” the Insurrection.
The Insurrection isn’t over. It continues even now. Ever since the 2020 election we’ve been locked in a struggle against a faction of socially alienated and angry neo-fascists who have been whipped up into believing that Trump was robbed of an election — or, at least, are willing to say they believe it to justify their burn-it-all-down agenda. Standing against this faction are those who support the Constitution, democracy the rule of law, and the institutions of government, flawed though they may be. Plus there’s a big third faction of low-information voters who don’t know what the bleep is going on but voted for Trump because they think he’ll bring down the price of groceries. Which he won’t.
And I understand The Weather is dumping a ton of snow on Washington, DC. Seems poetic.
Meanwhile, MAGA freakazoid Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee to head the FBI, has been pushing the claim that the FBI planned the January 6 insurrection. Yeah, he’s just the guy to head the bureau. Trump is putting his people into critical positions so that the work of January 6 — to destroy the guard rails that keep us safe from tyranny — can continue. He may yet succeed. And I fear the Republican majority in the Senate will meekly let him get away with it.
Related: I recommend The Internet Is Worse than a Brainwashing Machine at The Atlantic. No paywall.
In other news: The White House announced that “Today President Biden will take action to protect the entire U.S. East coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California, and additional portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska from future oil and natural gas leasing.” Great, but won’t Trump just reverse that as soon as he’s sworn in? Maybe not. According to The Daily Beast,
Biden is invoking the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) to prevent new fossil fuel developments off the East and West coasts of the U.S. as well as in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s North Bering Sea.
The law gives presidents the power to permanently withdraw parts of the Outer Continental Shelf from future oil and gas leasing—but doesn’t include a provision for how another president could revoke such an order. Trump would therefore likely have to get Congress to change the law before he could undo Biden’s action.
Trump’s pack of flying monkey supporters are screeching bloody murder about this, of course. None of the news stories I’ve seen are mentioning that there was a record oil production boom during the Biden Administration.
The US is the largest crude oil producer in the world, pumping out nearly 13 million barrels on average every day in 2023, an all-time record, according to new data from the US Energy Information Administration.
That’s an awkward milestone for President Joe Biden, who has arguably done more than any modern president to facilitate America’s transition away from fossil fuels to greener alternatives.
For the last six years, America has outstripped Russia, Saudi Arabia, and other OPEC countries in crude oil production. And it has picked up the pace under Biden, who had approved more permits for oil and gas drilling on public lands by last October than former President Donald Trump had by the same point in his presidency.
Drill-baby-drill isn’t going to bring the price of gas down anytime soon, although good luck trying to explain that to the flying monkeys.
January 6. I'm reminded of Saruman at Isengard after the Ents wrecked the surrounding fortress. He tries to rewrite recent history (The dead are only now being buried.) with the King of Rohan, Gandalf, and several other characters at the foot of his tower. It doesn't go well for the former wizard. But it's important to note that in the story, most of the soldiers in attendance were deceived at first and recognized the truth later.
The primary target for Trump over J6 seems to be Liz Cheney. There's nothing to prevent the DOJ from bringing charges against her. Once they do, the process moves to the courts where Trump can'r make the rules. Cheney is allowed to present a defense and any charge related to how Cheney conducted the J6 inquiry should allow the defense to litigate the truth of J6.
For YEARS, literally, we were promised that Joe Biden would be impeached. It didn't happen because there was never evidence of High Crimes and Misdemeanors. The people Trump has put in positions of power will (I think) go for it, even with no evidence because Trump will demand it and they are toadies as green as Yoda. So we're gonna see if putting idiots in charge bites Trump on the ass.
On oil – Trump was gifted with a glut as Russia and the Saudis got in a pissin' contest and the price of oil plunged. Trump finally begged the Saudi gov't to back off because US companies were losing money badly. I'm getting gas for just under $3 per gallon now. The US oi companies can't make a profit if gas drops to $2. So you can figure that gas will probably stay at $3 under Trump.
Over, not even close. Coup, insurrection, love fest, 1/6, or Trump's folly we don't even know what to call it. Kristallnacht was the event of 1938 that signaled the rise of the Third Reich. My German is not that good, but we know when it is close to a name like Sheissentag it is closer to ready for the history books. I do not know how they are going to work with names like the proud boys. You need something in German that sounds a lot tougher than proud boys. If they only wore the same color shirts it would have helped.
Rachael Maddow noted the bronze that appeared on the national mall for a bit, that immortalized the event with a sculpture of Nancy Pelosi's desk on her show last night. complete with a bronze heap of poop in the shape of the famous emoji. It is an attempt, but it is no Guernica.
I would suggest some art piece using duct tape and featuring gallows. It would help if you got some rich tech nerd to pay a ridiculous amount for it at a Sotheby's auction.
Then you have the missing parts. What part did Gini Thaomas and Roger Stone play? Who did the Shaman's make-up and wardrobe? So much we do not know about. No, it is far from over.
"Drill-baby-drill isn’t going to bring the price of gas down anytime soon"
Yes of course but it's not really intended to lower gas prices it is of course intended to increase market share and therefore profits for the US oil suppliers. But since the "left" is against increased drilling (for purposes of saving the environment) it's easy for diaper don to yell "drill baby drill" just to own the libs. He plays the same game with every issue under the sun it's all a fucking shell game, and it works brilliantly!
"Trump’s pack of flying monkey supporters are screeching bloody murder about this, of course."
Yes talk about flying monkeys Stump himself enacted the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act law during his term to ban offshore drilling in the waters off both Florida coasts, and off the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina until 2032. Oh well what do facts matter!
https://time.com/7204985/biden-bans-new-offshore-drilling-us/
“but it’s not really intended to lower gas prices” Perhaps, but drilling to lower gas prices was a big part of Trump’s campaign pitch. It may not be the real reason, but it’s the “official” reason.
I agree but even diaper don knows increased drilling won't lower prices, it's just a slogan for the rubes!
I'm not sure what Diaper Don knows. But the slogan is the point.
Mad King George is ranting incoherently at Mar a Lago this morning. Lord help us.
I heard it. It was sickening.
I just finished reading the Atlantic article on 1/6, and it is so solid. We do have a broken information environment, a badly broken one and intentionally broken one. That information that is "politically correct" for desired narrative can be rapidly warped to fit the right's agenda. It was done amazingly fast with the New Orleans domestic terrorist. The authors correctly illuminated the reality warp that was imposed upon the event. The misinformation message came from the Speaker of the House, and it was never retracted or corrected even after the facts were known. They bent the facts to fit their immigration threat reality, and just left the broken information strewn like the dead bodies in the street. What a horror.
Nothing will be solved by cheaper gasoline. The message of drill baby drill is a call for pollute baby pollute. The reality bending machine is at war with the reality of climate chaos. That information environment was under attack by Trump today, and he was inviting foreign investors with a promise to allow the United States to let them pollute at will.
I presently drive a plug-in hybrid and really appreciate not having to buy much gasoline at all. Fossil fuel use must be rapidly curtailed if we are to remain on planet earth in the numbers, we humans now have. This is a fact, and time is not on our side. Cheap energy will only lead to more waste, more pollution, and more and faster climate chaos. I hope to deploy renewable energy gear to charge my car without the grid this year.
New Orleans has been hit hard and repeatedly by weather events. Much of New Orleans is below sea level and it is sinking while the ocean is rising. Now they worry about terror attacks for the Superbowl which will be in New Orleans this year. That is the least of their worries as we accelerate the city's fate. Meanwhile, the broken information environment pushes for more fossil fuel drilling. Run faster you lemmings they chant.
The horror goes on and on.
Fun fact: the inflation-adjusted price of gas is now lower than for most of the last 70 years (it's almost $0.50 cheaper now than at the right end of that graph). "Bringing down the price of gas" is a ridiculous goal at this point.
h/t Campos at LG&M