Yesterday – actually Sunday night, but I saw it yesterday – Heather Cox Richardson had very little to say, but that little was mighty. She wrote about John Trumbull, hired to provide new art for the Rotunda after the War of 1812, being asked to recommend subject matter, and his response. He chose the moment of Washington’s resignation of his commission in 1783. “Madison agreed, and the painting of a man voluntarily giving up power rather than becoming a dictator hangs today in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol.” I hope to heaven that when the Apricot Antichrist dies – and he will, sooner or later – that it is in some place or under such circumstances that we can avoid having his corpse lie in state in that very Rotunda. Such as maybe consumed in a fire. Or lost at sea and the body not found. Or falling out of a window in Russia and Putin refuses to release the body. I know, compared to all his destruction, it’s a small thing. But I really hate the idea of his presence, even dead, contaminating that room and that memory. Yesterday for real, President Biden commuted 37 federal death sentences (out of 40) to life without parole. Also, the House Ethics Committee’s report on Matt Gaetz was released to the public, thanks to two Republicans on the Committee, one from New York, one from Ohio, who voted (some time ago, apparently) with Democrats to release it after adjournment. I haven’t looked at it yet – but if there turns out to be more than I already know, it must be damning. If anyone wants it as a Christmas gift, here it is.
Yes, this is from Friday, and we know now that a CR was passed in the House and the Senate and signed Saturday, which we didn’t know then. But Robert Reich is still worth reading, because, with or without a shutdown, we still have battles ahead.
On Saturday night, Joyce Vance wrote about what is happening to Liz Cheney, why it shouldn’t be, and why it is anything but normal. She writes as a former prosecutor, and clarifies why no sane Attorney General and no sane judge would even consider prosecuting Liz Cheney. Since we are all expecting an Attorney General who is not sane, and also since, thanks to Republicans, so many judges are not sane either, I want to pont out that the Senate’s current push to confirm as many Biden-nominated judges as possible is probably the most influential thing which is actually possible to rectify that at this time.
