It was so much worse than we even knew.

by Therese Odell, posted in Uncategorized

It is Thursday. Things are dark. Here’s a chipmunk shoving too many peanuts into his mouth.

Political Crap: Impeachment corner: Impeachment 2: FURY ROAD

Yesterday was rough. We were told that the House Managers were going to present video of the Capitol siege that we hadn’t seen before, and we were warned by Representative Raskin when he began yesterday’s opening statement that they would be showing graphic imagery, in case any parents or teachers watching wanted to shield young eyes. And the video, it was terrifying, showing just how close we came to having even more blood shed on that day.

But before we were shown that video, the House Managers carefully laid out the argument that the story of the siege of the Capitol and Former President Firestarter’s responsibility for it did not begin on on January 6th: it began with The Big Lie. 

Representatives Joe Neguse and Joaquin Castro argued that when he began plummeting in the polls in the summer, Former President Combover began saying and tweeting that if he didn’t win, the election was rigged, priming his supporters to become deny reality.

“The president realized really by last spring that he could lose — he might lose the election. So what did he do?” said one of the impeachment managers, Representative Joe Neguse of Colorado. “He started planting the seeds to get some of his supporters ready by saying that he could only lose the election if it was stolen.”

“President Trump told his supporters over and over again, nearly every day, in dozens of tweets, speeches and rallies, that their most precious right in our democracy — their voice, their vote — was being stripped away and they had to fight to stop that,” Castro said. “And they believed him. So they fought.”

The House Managers then explained that when he lost in November, he filed countless lawsuits to try to change the results, and when that didn’t work he began wooing Michigan lawmakers and harassing Georgia election officials, and when all of that failed, he turned to his last tool: violence.

Representative Stacey Plaskett — who is a goddamned star, by the way —  gave an amazing presentation on how the Former Sociopath-in-Chief has long enjoyed violence being used in his name, from his 2016 Presidential campaign rallies, to refusing to denounce the Proud Boys and ordering them instead to “stand back and stand by,” and most remarkably, the terrible bus incident that so many of us — myself included — had long pushed into the back of our memories, as so much other awfulness has happened since.

“A caravan of more than fifty trucks covered in pro-Trump campaign gear confronted and surrounded cars carrying Biden/Harris campaign workers and a Biden/Harris campaign bus as they were traveling down Interstate 35 from San Antonio to Austin,” Plaskett said.

Video of the incident rolled on Senate monitors.

“According to witnesses, this caravan repeatedly tried to force the bus you saw — and you see in that video — to slow down in the middle of the highway and then to run it off of the road,” Plaskett said. “What that video you just saw does not show is that the bus they tried to run off of the road was filled with young campaign staff, volunteers, supporters, surrogates, people. As the Trump supporters closed in on the bus, a large black pickup truck adorned with Trump flags suddenly and intentionally swerved and crashed into a car driven by a Biden/Harris volunteer. News of the event went viral on social media. The President of the United States in a campaign saw his own supporters trying to run a bus carrying his opponent’s campaign workers off the highway. To physically intimidate people in this country campaigning — here was his response the next day.”

Plaskett then showed Trump’s tweets in support of the “Trump Train.”

“I LOVE TEXAS!” Trump said in support.

“The President of the United States tweeted a video of his supporters trying to drive a bus off of the road,” Plaskett continued.  She noted that Trump’s tweet had a “fight theme” song placed over the otherwise silent video when he tweeted it.

Representative Plaskett then pointed out that the man who organized the “Trump Train” caravan that tried to run the Biden bus off the road — guess where he was on January 6th?

Rep. Plaskett also discussed the Million MAGA March that took place in December and ended in street violence in DC on December 12. Former President Proud Boy flew over the march in a helicopter, and praised them on Twitter, calling them “patriots” and promising that they had just begun to fight.

And here’s where it becomes interesting: the group that organized the January 6th rally, Women for America First, had originally planned the rally to fall after the inauguration, applying for a rally permit on January 22 or 23. However, a week after the violent Million MAGA March, Former President Chonkus wrote the infamous tweet encouraging people to come to D.C. on the 6th, adding that “Be there, will be wild!”

Women for America First then changed their permit request for January 6 — and Former President Tiki Torch became involved in planning the event. Originally, the event was only going to stay at the Ellipse, there was no march involved. But once Former President Rioter got involved, that changed — while no official march was planned, it was noted in the permit application that: “Some participants may leave to attend rallies at the United States Capitol to hear the results of Congressional certification of the Electoral College count.”

All of this points to a simple equation: Former President Big Lie knew his supporters were violent, he reveled in it, and it was at his invitation that they came to Washington D.C. on January 6th, the very day that they would be counting the electoral votes and formalizing Joe Biden’s win, because he wanted to use his “patriots” to stop that — or at the very least delay that — from happening.

Representative Madeline Dean then laid out how on January 6th, before his speech, Former President Gasoline tweeted out attacks on Former Vice President Mike Pence, insisting that his win was in Pence’s hands.

Narrator: It wasn’t.

Then Former President Lit Match went to that speech on that day and told his supporters what he wanted them to do: fight right now.

And his “patriots,” they heard him: screaming “STORM THE CAPITOL!” and “FIGHT FOR TRUMP!”

Then, the video, the terrifying video.

Representative Plaskett began the presentation of the attack with a reflection on September 11, and how these terrorists did what Al Qaeda failed to do: breach our Capitol. This is incredibly powerful and worth your four minutes:

The House Managers told the story of the actual attack on the Capitol building through videos posted online by participants, and perhaps even more chillingly, through security footage that showed just how close Congresspeople and their staffs came to falling into the hands of a mob of violent terrorists. The rioters screamed “HANG MIKE PENCE!” and called out for Nancy Pelosi who was so in danger, security had to remove her from the Capitol complex altogether.

Mike Pence was escorted away from the Senate floor, coming a mere 100 feet from the mob; Ms. Pelosi’s staff had to barricade themselves in a conference room and hide under tables;

Senator Mitt Romney very nearly ran directly into the terrorists until that impossibly brave Capitol Police Officer Goodman directed him away from them:

Body camera footage, emergency calls screaming for backup, a map showing the progress of an armed and furious crowd of domestic terrorists as they stalked the halls of our most sacred building coming within 58 steps of Congresspeople as they fled … it was hard to watch, hard to hear, but every American should and must look.

Finally, the House Managers pointed out that while Former President Tinder Box knew all of this was happening he did … fuckall. Well, that’s not exactly accurate. He retweeted the speech that started it all; he watched the scene unfold on television with delight and was confused why everyone else wasn’t as excited as he was; he ignored calls and pleas from the very Republicans who are going to acquit him to stop his goons;

He called one Senator, Tommy Tuberville (well, he actually called Senator Mike Lee believing it was Tuberville’s number, and Lee had to give Tuberville his phone), and Tuberville told him that Mike Pence had just been taken out of the chambers by security; immediately after, Former President Cockknuckle tweeted out that Mike Pence was a coward — WHEN HE KNEW PENCE’S LIFE WAS IN IMMEDIATE DANGER:

“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!”

Y’all, he was willing to let Mike Pence — HIS VICE PRESIDENT — be killed by his mob.

Former President Smooth Brain never called for help, never sent backup to save Mike Pence or the Congress or the police officers fighting off his monsters, and it took him hours after the insurrection began before he recorded the infamous, “we love you, you’re very special” twitter video and before he tweeted out:

“These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”

And then! AND THEN! When Congress returned to the chambers to certify the vote because FUCK YOUR INSURRECTION, Rudy Giuliani called Senator Mike Lee, again mistaking his number for Senator Tuberville’s, and left a voice mail asking Tuberville to delay the count a little longer:

Because this was always the plan: Former President Spray Tan knew his supporters were inclined to violence, he whipped them up into a fury after he lost the election, he invited them to Washington D.C. for a “wild time,” he told them to FIGHT LIKE HELL or they’d lose their country, he encouraged them to walk to the Capitol at the very time the electoral college votes were to be counted and certified — and with the help of two Senators in particular, Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, slowed down that process — he watched in glee as they stormed the Capitol, killed a police officer and threatened the lives of Congresspeople and their staffers, all so the electoral college vote could be delayed long enough to do … something. Prevent it from being made official? Delayed long enough that he could declare martial law to postpone the inauguration indefinitely or overthrow the results of the election altogether? Who knows.

Whatever the plan was, the House Managers made it clear that there was one, it was orchestrated by Former President Insurrectionist and that he must never be allowed near the levers of power ever again.

“Donald Trump surrendered his role as commander in chief and became the inciter in chief of a dangerous insurrection,” Mr. Raskin said. “He told them to fight like hell,” he added, “and they brought us hell that day.”

More of this nightmare to come tomorrow before the spineless Republicans — Republicans who were targeted by these terrorists — will vote to acquit Former President Dicktator because we are living in a fucking nightmare.

All Other TV News

The biggest TV story of the day is that Disney and Lucasfilm, finally fed up with the nonsense surrounding Mandalorian actress and TERF Gina Carano, has cut ties with the actress.

The final straw appears to be a pair of Instagram posts she made on Tuesday night: one a photograph of a person with cloth masks covering their entire face and head and a caption that read, “Meanwhile in California.”

The other, a post she copied from another account that read: “Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors…even by children. Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?”

BEING TARGETED AND MURDERED BY A GOVERNMENT FOR YOUR ETHNICITY OR RELIGION IS NOT THE SAME AS PEOPLE DISAGREEING WITH YOUR (SHITTY) POLITICAL VIEWS OH MY GOD.

#FireGinaCarano began trending yesterday, and Lucasfilm finally put out a statement reading: “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future. Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”

And now, obviously, the Far Right is SO MANGRY, and have started #CancelDisneyPlus. Cancel culture, amirite?

The irony of this is that these were the same dingdongs who were angry that a strong female character was introduced to The Mandalorian, and called Cara Dune a “Mary Sue.”

Whatever. Hire Lucy Lawless and make her a whole new badass female character — there can be more than one on a show, you know.

HBO was at the Television Critics Association tour yesterday and they broke a ton of news, including that renewals for Lovecraft Country, Barry, and, intriguingly, True Detective — but without Nic Pizzolatto, are looking promising. Also, Michaela Coel is “noodling ideas” and they hope to be involved.

As for that rumored Harry Potter series, Casey Bloys the head of HBO says that it’s early — “I wouldn’t even say it’s embryonic at this point.”

But don’t worry — they’ll make one, eventually: “There’s nothing in development but I think it’s fair to say across Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and DC, these are franchises that WarnerMedia enjoys and it’s a big advantage for us so there’s always going to be interest in doing something of quality from those properties,” he told Deadline.

In response to a tweet about Mindy Kaling voicing Velma in a new animated series, some asshole tweeted the Michael Scott screaming “NO!” gif — you know the one:

And Mindy Kaling had the perfect response:

QUEEN.

House of the Dragon will begin filming in April. Stay tuned for breathless speculation and blurry photos of extras taking smoke breaks.

“Friendships fade?” So I guess they’re not killing Samantha off after all?

It sounds like Kenan Thompson wants to stick around Saturday Night Live for a few more seasons. I suspect he’s welcome to stay as long as he wants.

When it was revealed yesterday that Bruce Springsteen was arrested for a DWI back in November, Jeep pulled their Super Bowl ad featuring the iconic singer. Which seems a bit much. But even worse? He wasn’t drunk when he was arrested. The story is, some fans saw him riding his motorcycle in Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and asked to take a photo with him. He pulled over, took the photo and they offered him a shot of tequila, which he took while on his stationary bike. However, a cop saw him, and as soon as he pulled away, they stopped him and arrested him for DWI, reckless driving, and consuming alcohol in a closed area. His blood-alcohol level was 0.02. This is some nonsense.

Black Lives Matter

H’oh boy. Photos of one of the Bachelor contestants (if rumors are true, one of the finalists, in fact) attending an “antebellum plantation themed ball” in 2018 have emerged, and she’s been accused of liking photos of her friends dressed up as Mexicans and standing in front of Confederate flags. Chris Harrison tried to defend her on a podcast by saying that in 2018, “Old South” parties were a type of event a lot of people went to without thinking anything of it. He has now apologized for “speaking in a manner that perpetuates racism.”

The Dallas Mavericks stopped playing the National Anthem before games recently, and Mark Cuban confirmed that he made the decision. The team defended the choice, by putting out a statement that read: “We respect and always have respected the passion people have for the anthem and our country,” the Mavericks said Wednesday in a statement. “But we also loudly hear the voices of those who feel that the anthem does not represent them. We feel that their voices need to be respected and heard, because they have not been. Going forward, our hope is that people will take the same passion they have for this issue and apply the same amount of energy to listen to those who feel differently from them. Only then we can move forward and have courageous conversations that move this country forward and find what unites us.”

In response, the NBA is now requiring all teams play the National Anthem before games, and our idiot Lt. Governor here in Texas, Dan Patrick, is making it a “legislative priority” that any venues receiving public funding will be required to play the National Anthem before events.

Oh, look who is being a racist piece of shit again.

Attacks on elderly Asian-Americans in the Bay Area has left one man dead and residents worried and fearful. Daniel Dae Kim and Daniel Wu are trying to bring attention to the problem. The man accused of the attack below has been identified and arrested:

The fourth and final season of Black Lightning was inspired by the tragic police killing of Colorado man Elijah McClain.

The New York Times has fired Donald McNeil Jr. after he used the N-word and other offensive language with students on a Times-branded trip.

The Morgan Wallen story continues: He was dropped by his agency; and he has urged his fans to not defend his use of racist language, telling them: “Our actions matter. Our words matter. And I want to encourage anyone that is watching to please learn from my mistake. There’s no reason to downplay what I did.” The sales of his album have quadrupled since the incident which is a depressing statement in and of itself, but good news: at least some of those profits are going straight to the NAACP.

Going Viral

3,432 Americans died yesterday from COVID-19. California has now surpassed New York as the state with the most deaths.

Dr. Fauci seems to think we’ll all be able to get the vaccine starting in April. Fingers crossed.

Spike Lee has received his vaccine.

Robert Kennedy Jr. has been kicked off of Instagram for his dangerous and stupid anti-vaxx posts.

This is not a feel-good story.

New York is planning on reopening large venues this month, with limited capacity. We’ll see.

The Oscars will “broadcast live from multiple locations, including the landmark Dolby Theatre.” No word on where else it will be taking place, stay tuned.

Renewals

Cancellations

  • Brooklyn Nine-Nine is for reals going to end after season eight. This is not entirely surprising: after the George Floyd killing and the BLM protests this summer, showrunner Dan Goor and the cast really struggled with how to do a responsible cop show

In Development

  • The Overstory is being adapted into a series for Netflix by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
  • Dolly, a sci-fi courtroom drama about a sex robot who kills her owner, has been bought by Apple TV+. It will star Florence Pugh.
  • Simone vs. Herself has been set at Facebook Watch.
  • Fox News is giving Greg Gutfeld an “irreverent” late-night show.
  • World War Shoe, a documentary series about the feud between the brothers who founded Adidas and Puma, is being made by David Beckham’s production company.
  • In the Shadow of 9/11 has been acquired by PBS.
  • High Heel, a crime drama, is being produced by Dre London, David and Christina Arquette; Post Malone, Tyga, and Trinidad James.
  • Neither Mike Judge project, Qualityland or A5, are going forward at HBO.
  • Vegas High is also not going forward at HBO.
  • Minhal Baig has signed an overall deal with Amazon.
  • Jim Barnes has signed an overall deal with AMC.

Casting News

Mark Your Calendars

  • Nomadland will stream on Hulu on February 19.
  • New Amsterdam will return on NBC on March 2.
  • Yes Day will premiere on Netflix on March 12.
  • Last Chance U: Basketball will stream on Netflix on March 10.
  • Marriage or Mortgage will premiere on Netflix on March 10.

R.I.P.

Larry Flynt, Founder of Hustler and the winner of a landmark First Amendment Supreme Court case against Jerry Falwell

Chick Corea, Jazz great and pioneer

WATCH THIS

Clarice: Picking up where Silence of the Lambs left off, this new series follows Clarice Starling on her next serial killer investigation. (Alas, it is Hannibal-free.) Series premiere.  9 p.m., CBS

There is no “I” in Threesome: This documentary follows a New Zealand couple who have an open relationship until things become … complicated. Premiere.  HBO Max

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things: Kathryn Newton and Kyle Allen star in this Groundhog Day-esque movie — this the twist is that it’s about teens! Premiere. Amazon

Into the Dark: “Tentacles”: A couple’s relationship turns into something terrifying in this Valentine’s Day installment of Into the Dark. Premiere. Hulu

Late Night:

  • Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Cardi B, Alex Moffat, Lang Lang
  • Late Night with Seth Meyers: Will Forte, Annie Mumolo
  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Blake Shelton
  • The Late Late Show with James Corden: Mila Kunis, Robin Thicke
  • Jimmy Kimmel Live: Kevin James, Kat Dennings, Mammoth WVH
  • The Daily Show: The Daily Social Distancing Show
  • Watch What Happens Live: Matt James, Lindsay Hubbard
  • A Little Late with Lily Singh: Taraji P. Henson
THUR 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC Celebrity Wheel of Fortune
(new)		 The Chase
(new)		 The Hustler
(new)
CBS Young Sheldon
(new)		 B Positive
(new)		 Mom
(new)		 The Unicorn
(new)		 Clarice
(new)
CW Walker
(new)		 Legacies
(new)		 News/Local
FOX Hell’s Kitchen
(new)		 Call Me Kat
(new)		 Last Man Standing
(new)
NBC Mr. Mayor
(new)		 Superstore
(new)		 Law & Order Special Victims Unit
(new)		 Dateline

2 thoughts on “It was so much worse than we even knew.”

  1. Extraordinary job (as usual) on the impeachment trial recap. However, you’ve missed out on a new #MeToo update. Check out the new Joss Whedon accusations, they’re pretty bad. I always suspected something was amiss in the Buffyverse with the abrupt departure of Charisma Carpenter. The news really ruins my happy memories of two great TV shows. I hope that Ms. Carpenter can find some peace now that the truth is out.

    Reply

    1. Thanks for the kind words, Lisa. Yeah, I saw the Charisma Carpenter story, but a little peek behind the scenes of my editing process: I actually have begun compartmentalizing certain stories to certain days because if I address everything, every day, I’ll never finish these posts. So, for instance, I collect all of the #MeToo stories of the week and publish them on Tuesdays. I actually considered including Ms. Carpetner’s stories in the Black Lives Matter section that I do on Thursdays as her revelation was related to Ray Fisher’s complaints against Whedon, DC Films, and Warner Brothers, but decided that it was more of a #MeToo story. I also knew that more will come out between now and Tuesday, so I decided to hold off until then. It’s an infuriating story that had been floating around for a while now, but I am happy she was brave enough to address it herself. I’ll have more about it next week.

      Thanks for reading!

      -T

      Reply

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