Just One Thing
I realize that the primary purpose of the January 6th Committee's prime time hearings that started last night is to attack Republicans and to try to cast most/all Republicans as supporting the disgusting travesty of January 6th and Donald Trump's behavior that day. However, that doesn't mean that evidence which the hearings present to the public is not worth considering.
Liz Cheney (R-WY), one of only two Republicans on the committee, basically gave the prosecutorial opening statement last night. It was an overview of the case against former President Trump complete with videos and audio of witnesses talking about who did what on that fateful day. Much of what we heard was damning about Trump, which does not surprise me at all. I do believe that Trump's second impeachment was more justified than the first one. He utterly abandoned his job as the president of the United States.
If you're interested, Cheney's long opening statement is here: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/09/liz-cheney-jan-6-committee-full-statement-00038730
It will benefit the nation greatly if Trump's influence on American politics is diminished. BUT, I suspect that the vast vast majority of Trump supporters will not watch any of the hearing, nor watch or read any news coverage of it. They will continue to live in a siloed world of confirmation bias and Trump will remain as influential over his MAGA cult as ever despite so much evidence showing that he is unfit to lead a Rotary Club meeting, much less the United States of America.
If that sounds harsh or aggressive, I'd just like to say that it's rather tame compared to how angry I am at Trump and at the January 6th rioters. It's sickening that people support these criminals; it's sickening that they, including idiots with "Q" shirts, thought that they had the moral standing to carry the American flag en route to their anti-American riot.
And don't forget that it was ALL based on lies. Lies spread day after day by the president and his surrogates and attorneys. Disgusting.
All that said, I agree with former Congressman Trey Gowdy that the entire process would be seen by many as more valid if, like a trial (even though this really isn't one), there were rebuttal witnesses who had the chance to explain what might initially seem like damning testimony (and might still seem like that after rebuttal, but still...)
My biggest problem with the whole spectacle is that it is (necessarily) so backward looking at a time when we are dealing with important serious problems caused largely by our current Democrat-run federal, state and local governments.
p.s. It's still INSANE how lightly protected the Capitol was. Congressman Jim Banks continues to focus on that aspect of 1/6. It's an absolutely legitimate line of inquiry and should run in parallel with investigating what Donald Trump did or didn't do around the day's events.
Today's Guests
Michael Burg is a principal shareholder in the law firm that bears his name, Burg Simpson. We'll debate whether personal injury cases should have caps on the amount that a plaintiff can be awarded in a lawsuit. We'll also discuss a terrible case in which Burg Simpson is representing the victim in a gas line explosion at a retirement home.
--------
Jennifer Sey became something of a public figure with her aggressive (and public) pushback against public schools staying closed for far too long through the COVID pandemic. But when I interviewed Jennifer, who is the former US national gymnastics champion, where I really saw fire in her eyes was when we talked about the abuse perpetrated on so many young women by former Team USA doctor Larry Nassar. Nassar, who is now in prison (which is too good for him), in my opinion and the opinion of many others whose opinions matter more than mine does, could and should have been stopped sooner but for the FBI refusing to investigate allegations against him, allowing Nassar to sexually assault many more vulnerable girls. Over 90 of those girls, now women, are suing the FBI for $1 billion for that failure, and we'll talk about all of it with Jennifer.
Simone Biles and others to sue FBI for $1bn over Larry Nassar investigation - BBC News
Understanding the complaints from Simone Biles and others seeking $1B from FBI : NPR
Other Stuff
This is a completely unimportant story but I'm starting with it anyway: It's hilarious that of all the things that Sen Rick Scott and I talked about yesterday, this part was picked up by a website: Rick Scott touts benefits of local honey (floridapolitics.com)
--------
This morning, the government's CPI report, essentially a measure of inflation, came in MUCH higher than economists had been predicting. I don't know why they were so low...seemed to me that with energy prices continuing to soar, the price of almost everything is going to continue to rise. Anyway, the stock market starts the day on a VERY weak note.
Consumer price index May 2022: (cnbc.com)
Consumer Price Index Summary - 2022 M05 Results (bls.gov)
--------
Remember that the "ESG" grift, pushing people to invest in funds that have higher management fees under the guise of investing in companies that are more ethical or something will have caused a lot of easily manipulated people to miss one of the great sector trades of all time: Owning the energy sector in 2022. Even with today's weakness, this particular energy-related ETF is up 31% for the year with the S&P 500 down 17.5%.
XLE $89.08 (▼1.29%) Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund | Google Finance
--------
This is NOT a "conservative" polling outfit: Biden’s Approval Rating Sinks to New Low - Morning Consult
--------
Governor Polis gets this right: Democratic governor defends vetoing bill requiring EV charging stations in Colorado: 'Last thing we need' (msn.com)
--------
17 freakin' days: Man sues American Airlines claiming 'hasty decision' wrongfully put him in jail for 17 days - ABC News (go.com)
--------
I %*@&$ agree!!! The Case for Mindful Cursing - The Atlantic
Offered without further comment:
Today's Videos
Taco Bell has a new fast-food drive-through concept. I think it's a cool idea. I hope it works.
Canadian tears
I endorsed Erik Aadland in the Republican primary for Colorado's 7th Congressional District. The other credible candidate in the race, economist Tim Reichert, has some very odd economic ideas but more importantly when it comes to the question of whether he could win in a Democrat-leaning district like CD-7 is this video that, to me, is so nuts that it guarantees that Mr Reichert would get crushed even by a fairly weak Democratic candidate. I'm posting this because I don't think my description does it justice. The Reichert campaign told me that this clip is out of context so I watched the entire video, which is incredibly cringe-worthy, and my conclusion is that the shorter clip is absolutely fair to the overall message and tone of the full video which I also offer below.