New top story from Time: Republicans Sink Proposal for a January 6 Commission

https://ift.tt/3wHhZyS

This article is part of the The DC Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox every weekday.

As the clock ticked past 2 a.m. this morning, Sen. Dan Sullivan stood before a mostly-empty Senate chamber. Ostensibly the Alaska Republican was talking about the pending tech bill, but those watching in their offices knew their colleague’s filibuster was about everything but a tech bill on the floor. “We must face this challenge with confidence and strategic resolve,” Sullivan droned on as he took his turn gumming up the legislative process in a 19-hour filibuster. Just so long as facing that challenge wasn’t investigating the failed insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Senators today rejected a planned commission to study what led to a mob storming the Capitol while trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The Democratic-led House had already passed its version of a bipartisan commission. But Republicans in the Senate would not go along with this because it likely would have codified that the deadly protest on Jan. 6 was a direct result of then-President Donald Trump and his promotion of The Big Lie—the false claim that he’s the rightful President instead of Joe Biden. In the end, only six Republican Senators joined Democrats in asking for the inquiry, short of the 10 required to break a procedural roadblock.

The commission to track down an official accounting of what happened on Jan. 6 now seems beyond resuscitation. Its cause of death? Partisanship.

“The Republican Party minority just mounted a partisan filibuster against an independent commission to report on Jan. 6,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said today on the Senate floor, his contempt hardly hidden. “Out of fear or fealty to Donald Trump, the Republican minority just prevented the American people from getting the truth about Jan. 6.” Moments later, he sent a letter to Democratic colleagues vowing to find answers, perhaps through a special select committee.

It’s a partisan jab, for sure. But he’s also not wrong. For the last 24 hours, moderate Republicans have been begging their colleagues to step up and make a stand against The Big Lie. Over lunch yesterday, Sen. Susan Collins of Alaska challenged her colleagues to do their jobs and push ahead with an inquiry. Not one to leave that unanswered, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell rose immediately to offer his rejoinder: any panel looking at Jan. 6 would be bad politics for their party, which stands to make inroads next year when one-third of the chamber is on the ballot and the map seems to favor the GOP.

It’s a cold political calculus in light of the terror he and his colleagues experienced less than five months ago. During normal times, the certification of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6 would have been a bland vote of process, one that merited a handful of words buried in a few newspapers, and unremarked-upon in most others.

But Trump insisted on convening a rally a mile away from the Capitol that day. He whipped his supporters into a frenzy and urged them to march upon the Capitol. Once there, they breached security barricades, bashed windows and ransacked offices. They were unsuccessful in overturning the election but they shook many assumptions about government and its durability.

The ensuing riot sparked Trump’s second impeachment. He survived, of course, because Republicans feared crossing him. In the months that followed, his grip on the Republican Party has not faded. He is still a galvanizing force inside GOP politics and he seems to remain a king-maker inside the party. Which means the default position of ambitious Republicans will be to fall in line with what Trump demands. And, at least at the moment, that means burying their heads in the sand and ignoring the mob that tried to overtake the Capitol just a few months ago. It seems insane that a Republican Party that campaigned so hard on law and order in 2020 now is trying to mute a probe into a mob, but it’s that same party that needs the mob’s mascot to survive primaries.

Make sense of what matters in Washington. Sign up for the daily D.C. Brief newsletter.

Comments

FOX NEWS: Thanksgiving dinner: 5 recipes to win over everyone's taste buds Perhaps you’re simply looking to supplement Thanksgiving’s signature staple entrée with something different.

Thanksgiving dinner: 5 recipes to win over everyone's taste buds Perhaps you’re simply looking to supplement Thanksgiving’s signature staple entrée with something different. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/3jJSDfV

New top story from Time: Bomb Targeting Mosque in Kabul Kills a ‘Number of Civilians’

https://ift.tt/3Fg5SxS KABUL, Afghanistan — A bomb exploded in the entrance of a mosque in the Afghan capital on Sunday leaving a “number of civilians dead,” a Taliban spokesman said. The bomb targeted the sprawling Eidgah Mosque in Kabul, where a memorial service was being held for the mother of Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, who later tweeted the attack had claimed civilian lives. Taliban fighters were not been harmed in the attack, Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi told the Associated Press. Those killed in the attack were civilians outside the mosque gate. He did not provide a figure for the number killed and said an investigation was ongoing. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Emergency NGO, an Italian-funded hospital in Kabul, tweeted it had received four people wounded in the blast. The area around the mosque was cordoned off by the Taliban, who maintained a heavy security presence. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. However, since the Tal...

More trouble for Chinese cos as India changes trade rules in public procurement https://ift.tt/2EeBklg

Amid the border tension with China, the government has changed trade rules imposing restrictions on public procurement from China and other countries with the common border. According to the changed rules, the government has imposed restrictions on firms, companies from countries which share common land border after it amended the General Financial Rules 2017. An official statement on Modi government latest move said that this has been done on the grounds of defence of India, or matters directly or indirectly related thereto including national security. The Department of Expenditure has, under the said Rules, issued a detailed order on public procurement to strengthen the defence of India and national security, it said. Here what the order says: As per the order, it said, any bidder from such countries sharing a land border with India will be eligible to bid in any procurement whether of goods, services (including consultancy services and non-consultancy services) or works (...

New top story from Time: Chris Paul on the Legacy of the NBA Strike, 1 Year Later

https://ift.tt/3jiooN4 Even before Aug. 26, 2020—the date, one year ago today, on which the sports world shut down in protest of violence against unarmed Black people—NBA players were having difficulty processing the shooting of Jacob Blake . The video of police in Kenosha, Wis. shooting and wounding Blake emerged during the NBA’s 2020 postseason while players were isolated at Walt Disney World in a COVID-19 “bubble.” The surreal August playoffs were taking place after the season had shut down in March because of the pandemic. “It was weighing heavy on a lot of guys,” says Chris Paul , who was the president of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) for eight years before he stepped aside this summer. Paul told TIME in an interview this week that when George Floyd was murdered on May 25, 2020, he was home and could explain to his children Chris II and Camryn, then 11 and 8, what was unfolding on television. “Whereas when this situation happened, with Jacob Blake,...

Parking at Muni Stops is Being Phased Out

Parking at Muni Stops is Being Phased Out By Andrea Buffa Implementing red curb "clear zones" occurs in two phases. Read more below. If you would like for us to prioritize a particular bus stop for conversion, please make a request through 311. In late November 2021, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution calling for us to “promote unobstructed pedestrian access for boarding public transit by eliminating parking in bus stops.” There are more than 3,500 Muni stops in San Francisco, and about 1,200 are stops at which there isn’t enough dedicated curb space for the bus to pull to the curb for riders to board. Instead, Muni vehicles stop in the travel lane, and riders often must walk in between parked cars to get on and off. These stops are mostly in residential neighborhoods and on lower-frequency transit lines, but they potentially can be unsafe for riders and are particularly problematic for seniors and people with disabilities. The ...

New top story from Time: “Anarchy, Madness, and Chaos”: How Trump Plans to Counter the Democrats’ Convention Message of Hope

https://ift.tt/3aJomYW The ad has Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s names written in jagged, horror-movie script. Images of burning cars and protestors scroll behind their heads. “Don’t let them ruin America,” reads the title. As Republicans put the finishing touches on their convention slated to start Monday, the Trump campaign blitzed social media and streaming services with a nearly $10 million ad buy to counter the Democrat’s feel-good convention program , according to a campaign official, running video clips in front of millions of Americans who visited YouTube, watched Hulu, or browsed their Facebook feeds. The series of ads scrolled through clips showing Democrats as beholden to the “radical leftist mob,” questioning Biden’s mental acuity, his record on race, and accusing him of being unwilling to stand up to China. At the end of one, an older woman is shown dialing the police while someone dressed in all black breaks into her house. “You won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s ...

New top story from Time: Thousands of People Are Fleeing Into Thailand Following Air Strikes in Myanmar

https://ift.tt/3u7UFJB YANGON, Myanmar — Thai authorities along the country’s border with Myanmar are bracing Monday for a possible influx of more ethnic Karen villagers fleeing new airstrikes by the Myanmar military. Myanmar aircraft carried out three strikes overnight Sunday, according to Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian relief agency that delivers medical and other assistance to villagers. The strikes severely injured one child but caused no apparent fatalities, a member of the agency said. Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha on Monday acknowledged the problems across his country’s western border and said his government is preparing for a possible influx of people. “We don’t want to have mass migration into our territory, but we will consider human rights, too,” Prayut said. Asked about people who have already fled into Thailand, Prayut said, “We have prepared some places, but we don’t want to talk about the preparation of refugee centers at the moment. We won’t ...

SFMTA's Newest "Revenue" Service on Wheels

SFMTA's Newest "Revenue" Service on Wheels By Stephen Chun San Francisco’s Bayview and Silver Terrace neighborhoods will be the first communities to experience SFMTA’s first Mobile Sales Van . Just launched yesterday, this van will bring SFMTA services to underserved locations in San Francisco, so customers don’t have to travel to downtown or the Civic Center area to purchase their monthly Lifeline stickers. Available Services will include: Pre-loaded Clipper cards ($11 value for $10) Monthly Lifeline passes (for the month of March 2022) $5 Day Passes (valid on all Muni vehicles, except Cable Car) Parking meter cards ($25/$20) Pick-up/Drop-off parking and fare discount program applications Parking/Transit Citation Payments (customers must present a ticket or letter listing the citation number) Customers can pay with cash, credit/debit card or commuter check Schedule below as advertised: ...

Meet the People who Keep You Safe on Muni

Meet the People who Keep You Safe on Muni By Mariana Maguire Next time you ride Muni or see a Muni vehicle, keep an eye out for the faces of some of the people of the SFMTA working to keep customers and fellow staff safe on Muni, day to day. They include members of our Muni Transit Assistance Program , Proof of Purchase team, our Muni operators, as well as our head of Safety, Security and Investigations. Staff in our Muni Transit Assistance Program ride Muni \ to help address conflicts.Our Proof of Purchase team, Station Agents and Transit Inspectors support customer safety by providing an extra presence on Muni vehicles, at stops and in stations and assistance if issues arise. And our Muni operators provide the first line of safety for customers. While their primary responsibility is to operate their vehicles safely, they can also help address conflicts onboard when necessary and when it is safe for them to do so. In the case that it’s not possible or safe for an operator to...

New top story from Time: Judge: U.S. Must Free Migrant Children Detained With Parents

https://ift.tt/2Vn00hg (HOUSTON) — A federal judge on Friday ordered the release of children held with their parents in U.S. immigration jails and denounced the Trump administration’s prolonged detention of families during the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee’s order applies to children held for more than 20 days at three family detention centers in Texas and Pennsylvania operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Some have been detained since last year. Citing the recent spread of the virus in two of the three facilities, Gee set a deadline of July 17 for children to either be released with their parents or sent to family sponsors. The family detention centers “are ‘on fire’ and there is no more time for half measures,” she wrote. Read more: If You’re Shocked by Reports on Children at the Border, You Haven’t Paid Attention to American History In May, ICE said it was detaining 184 children at the three detention centers, which are separa...

My precise view

Search This Blog