Noon-time this Tuesday here in California’s Central Valley, with overcast skies and chillish temperatures it’s a bit gloomy winter’s day. Supposedly sunshine forecast for tomorrow, but rain expected before the end of the week.
Weather be as weather always be…
Meanwhie, the T-Rump’s impeachment trial in the Senate began this morning, and right now there’s a break in the action as charges of inciting an insurrection seemed obvious via a video played earlier by House impeachment manager, Jamie Raskin, caught the time perfectly:
"If that's not an impeachable offense, then there is no such thing" — Raskin pic.twitter.com/7RIDZrztM6
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 9, 2021
Summary via NPR just a few minutes ago:
The video — much of which emerged publicly in the days after the insurrection, and some of which apparently was taken by those participating in the riot — showed Capitol police being overrun by the mob, people using flag staffs to break the building’s windows, a police officer screaming as he was attacked and the gunshot that killed Ashli Babbitt, one of five who died during during the violence.
…
The video was interspersed with clips from the speech Trump was delivering at the same time on the Ellipse outside the White House, including one in which he said, “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”There was also footage of Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, speaking on the chamber floor as the mob breached the Capitol, who argued there was nowhere near the massive scale of election fraud that Trump and his allies were arguing took place, as the Senate debated whether to certify the results of the November election.
The tape included chants of “Stop the steal” and “No Trump, no peace.”
One apparent Trump supporter tells an officer inside the Capitol building, “We are listening to Trump — your boss.”
The video displays a tweet from Trump calling into question the intentions of then-Vice President Mike Pence — whose job was simply to preside over the certification — followed by videos of Trump supporters shouting “Hang Pence.”
Trump was also shown in a clip from later in the day, when he told the insurrectionists to “go home, we love you.”After the video was shown, the lead impeachment manager, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., pointed up to the screen. “You ask what a high crime and misdemeanor is under our Constitution,” he said to the hushed chamber, “that’s a high crime and misdemeanor. If that’s not an impeachable offense, then there is no such thing.”
Reportedly more of the same the rest of the week — apparenty those with hearts and sense were affected:
Just left the Senate chamber, where I witnessed senators’ real-time reactions to that presentation. A few notes.
—Sen. Booker put his hands over his eyes when video played of shooting thru House door
—Several senators rubbed their eyes during footage of officer being crushed— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) February 9, 2021
And the video in question:
Achingly-heartbreaking is most likely the T-Rump will skate, despite the obvious guilt, and the added factor of his lawyers being incompetent morons — T-Rump chief attorney Bruce Castor’s rebuttal was beyond farce:
This is a "My Cousin Vinny"-level mismatch of opening statements so far
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) February 9, 2021
This afternoon more of the same — sense vs idiotic…
(Illustration: Pablo Picasso’s ‘Harlequin Head,’ found here),