What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[The Minsky Moment]

The Constitution does not provide any mechanism for Congressional objections. In fact, it doesn't provide for any substantive role by Congress at all.  It simply says the electoral certificates from the states shall be opened by the President of the Senate (i.e. the VP) "in the presence" of the House and Senate.  Constitutionally, their role is purely observational.

The Election Count Act, 2 USC 15, passed after the 1876 election fiasco, modified this somewhat to deal with the situation where more than set of certificates are received from the same state.  That law sets a procedure for Congress to adjudicate that situation. The Count Act provided the only possible legal basis for an objection - namely that there is a dispute over the authenticity of the electoral certificates or which set of competing certificates is valid when multiple certificates are received.  In addition, in 1948 the scheme was amended to provide that in the event of a controversy over appointment of State electors, if the State determines such a controversy in accordance with its own internal state procedures by a safe harbor date and certifies their results, that determination is conclusive.

So the objections are out of order because:
+ the constitution itself gives Congress only an observational role
+ the Count Act doesn't apply because the objections are not to whether the electors were certified (that is not disputed) but rather whether the states ran their elections properly, a subject not a basis for objection under the Act.
+ the disputed states all certified their results in accordance with state law on or before the safe harbor date under 3 USC 5

Complicated stuff but Hawley and Cruz both know it.

[Syt]

[The Minsky Moment]

Definition of terrorism under the Code of Federal of Regulations (the part concerning FBI jurisdiction):

Terrorism includes the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives

Looks like a duck, quacks like a duck.

[DGuller]

Any update on the PA?  Have the Republican Congressmen made any headway in convincing the Democrats that the objection should be sustained?

[Syt]

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/06/us/washington-dc-protests#mob-vandalize-pelosi-office

[...]

Scenes of looting in the Capitol roiled Republicans and Democrats, who pleaded with President Trump to intervene.

Pro-Trump protesters stormed Speaker Nancy Pelosi's august suite of offices, flipping over tables and pulling photos off the walls.

In the basement "crypt" of the Capitol, hundreds of Trump supporters shouted "U-S-A, U-S-A," creating a roar in the building. Shattered windows left glass scattered on wet floors.

"You stay here and call everybody you know and tell them to get to D.C. now," one protester said.

A Capitol Police officer tried to reason with the crowd: "You guys just need to go outside," he pleaded with a man in a green backpack. When asked why they weren't expelling the protesters, the officer said, "We've just got to let them do their thing now."

[DGuller]

So back to that woman who was shot, it now seems like it wasn't an accident.  She seemed to be the first in line getting into a place that someone decided to protect from intrusion with deadly force.

[Syt]

It's disconcerting that after yesterday's events there's still a sizable chunk of R lawmakers going through their "election fraud" theatrics.

And then of course there's special pieces of human garbage like Matt Gaetz:

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/392939-matt-gaetz-blames-antifa-democrats-rhetoric-for-capitol-attack-defends-donald-trump

Matt Gaetz blames antifa, Democrats' rhetoric for Capitol attack; defends Donald Trump

In a post-riot debate in which most Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives dialed back rhetoric regarding the challenge to Joe Biden's election, Republican Matt Gaetz went another way.

In a late-night, fiery defense of President Donald Trump and condemnation of the 2020 presidential election, the Fort Walton Beach congressman blamed Democrats' rhetoric and antifa for the attack on the U.S. Capitol. And he denounced the presidential election as rife with systematic fraud.

Gaetz, long one of Trump's most ardent defenders, was one of the few Republicans who explicitly defended him Wednesday night. After the riots had changed how most were feeling, most other Republicans who spoke in the evening debate, even those objecting to Biden's victory, took measured approaches, calling for unity and understanding of one another's positions.

Gaetz came sounding angry at Democrats, not rioters.

He even disavowed Trump of any blame for the storming of the Capitol, which almost everyone else attributed to people who supported Trump and were angry because they believed his claims that the election was stolen. They had headed to the Capitol after hearing Trump rail against the election and Democrats and after he told them to go there, during a morning rally near the White House.

Nope, Gaetz contended. People were angry because Democrats' rhetoric fired them up, Gaetz suggested. And he suggested that members of the shadowy, left-wing, anti-fascist group antifa may have led the charge.

"This morning, President Trump explicitly called for demonstrations and protests to be peaceful. He was far more — you can moan and groan — but he was far more explicit about his calls for peace than some of the BLM and left-wing rioters were this summer when we saw violence sweep across this nation," Gaetz said.

"Now we came here today to debate, to follow regular order to, to offer an objection, to follow a process that is expressly contemplated in our Constitution. And for doing that, we've been called a bunch of seditious traitors. ... And when those things are said, people get angry," Gaetz said.

And the antifa?

"I don't know if the reports are true, but the Washington Times has just reported some pretty compelling evidence from a facial-recognition company showing that some of the people who breached the Capitol today were not Trump supporters. They were masquerading as Trump supporters. And in fact, they were members of the violent terrorist group, antifa," Gaetz said.

Gaetz rose to object to the seating of electors from Arizona. The matter was voted down overwhelmingly in the House as scores of Republicans joined all Democrats in voting against it. The question also lost in the in the Senate, where only six Republicans voted to object. The final vote in the House was 121-303. All of the votes in favor of the challenge came from Republicans.

"States that do not run clean elections should be stripped of their electors," Gaetz said. "This fraud was systemic. It was repeated. It was the same system, and I dare say it was effective."

[Syt]

So back to that woman who was shot, it now seems like it wasn't an accident.  She seemed to be the first in line getting into a place that someone decided to protect from intrusion with deadly force.

I would be surprised if cops intentionally shot MAGA supporters.

[DGuller]

So back to that woman who was shot, it now seems like it wasn't an accident.  She seemed to be the first in line getting into a place that someone decided to protect from intrusion with deadly force.

I would be surprised if cops intentionally shot MAGA supporters.

I would be surprised too, not just because of their sympathies, but also because firing on an advancing crowd can be a very explosive course of action.  However, maybe the rioters didn't know when to take their winning and stop, and the window she tried to get through marked the boundary of an area that had to be defended at all costs.

[Syt]

AT any rate, Congress have confirmed Biden as next president.

[Razgovory]

I'm done being frightened and horrified.  Now I'm really pissed.

[The Brain]

So back to that woman who was shot, it now seems like it wasn't an accident.  She seemed to be the first in line getting into a place that someone decided to protect from intrusion with deadly force.

There's a Korean-owned convenience store in the Capitol building?

[Josquius]

Nothing like spending my evening watching live coverage of a coup attempt in the world's largest banana republic.

It isn't, it is the world's largest and strongest democracy.  If this shit is happening in the US it is serious for all of us.

To be fair it a "democracy". Not a particularly good one for the 21st century. Really needs reform.

[Syt]

"Very fine people"

[Solmyr]

Unless every single person participating in this is prosecuted and convicted, US legal system will be a joke from now on.