26.01/ Week twenty-six, Jan. 9-15, 2021, begins here.

Last week's thread is here: https://twitter.com/JoshuaCypess/status/1345741446209548288?s=20
26.02/ Maggie H reports: "I asked for comment from the WH on the chants to hang Mike Pence. 'We strongly condemn all calls to violence, including those against any member of this administration,' said Judd Deere, a WH spokesman" & I love this response: https://twitter.com/RussOnPolitics/status/1348069799226703876
26.03/ Dr. Perry is right on the money here: https://twitter.com/Lollardfish/status/1348060015609999364
26.04/ One of my favorite posters, @OhNoSheTwitnt, is amazingly funny and she can just sling these zingers at an admirable rate (semi-spoilers for the #Mandalorian ) https://twitter.com/OhNoSheTwitnt/status/1348255609712467973?s=20
26.05/ Very good thread. In general, there's been very good commentary following the #AssaultOnDemocracy. As one of the 'I told you so' crew, I like hearing from others who told us so. https://twitter.com/KarenAttiah/status/1348094579636101120?s=20
26.06/ Truth https://twitter.com/McThingface/status/1348152461953880065?s=20
26.07/ This thread doesn't use the phrase "bad faith" but illustrates the whole process of recognizing when you're dealing with bad-faith antagonists.

I've said so many times: there needs to be vigorous punishment for cheaters, and bad faith qualifies. https://twitter.com/fraying/status/1348351417363255296?s=20
26.08/ I used to read stories of Medal of Honor winners. Almost always they faced overwhelming odds and risked their lives to save dozens/hundreds. That's what happened here with this hero, #OfficerEugeneGoodman https://twitter.com/chrisjollyhale/status/1348325143010017282?s=20
26.09/ Prof. Cotlar is always a great read & his expertise in American history has been invaluable during the #TrumpCrisis.

He supports my reiterated point: we don't leave judgement to History b/c "Justice delayed is justice denied" https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1348298996083695616
26.10/ Many people are saying good things about the offensive farce of the criminals begging for 'unity' after they've been caught with blood on their hands. Three good points here:

https://twitter.com/akjakalope/status/1348353814508683264?s=20
https://twitter.com/RepDanKildee/status/1348284415491919872?s=20 https://twitter.com/MsLaToshaBrown/status/1348274949958545408?s=20
26.11/ Excellent point here, not only showing that Jan 6 was terrorism but how to explain how to respond to the fear & threat from the act. "Don't let the terrorists win" requires justice & rule of law https://twitter.com/DubergerJacques/status/1348314774774435842?s=20
26.12/ It's going to be hard for the #Literalist thinkers to understand crimes of omission, but the "stand down" order of DOD responding for pleas for help in the Capitol, and what Hayes describes below: depraved neglect is part of the coup, as well. https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1348378237508968453
26.13/ I agree with this (Olear is another writer I recommend): this is war-time, one political party has declared war against the republic, one front is active neglect in the pandemic, the other front violent insurrection. We need a wartime inauguration https://twitter.com/gregolear/status/1348258897660936193?s=20
26.14/ I trust I don't need to introduce Goldman. His point here is mine as well: the 25th should have been invoked a while ago; Trump (ym'sh) needs to be neutralized immediately but the GOP has removed too many options (because, ahem, they're complicit) https://twitter.com/danielsgoldman/status/1348280366675734528?s=20
26.15/ The mysterious Southpaw (another key read for me) writes a thread about a common theme for me: Obama's grave failure not holding Bush to justice for the crimes of his admin. This cemented a culture of 'elite impunity' (cf. stealing 2000 election) https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/1348204258747944960?s=20
26.16/ Here we go: the Democrats will call on Pence to invoke the 25th and also start ahead with impeachment. https://twitter.com/mikedebonis/status/1348414295776915456?s=20
26.17/ I agree on the basic point but you need to see the deeper game: the GOP knows the Dems are going to impeach, so they are telegraphing which excuse they plan to claim in bad faith over the next 2 years for the obstruction they always planned to do https://twitter.com/HeerJeet/status/1348414029287411714
26.18/ Crucial thread here from people embedded in the mob, reporting on the demeanor of the crowd and how much (a) it was an old-time lynching & (b) how the mob expected the police to HELP them and got angry when it didn't happen https://twitter.com/TerryBoutonHist/status/1348365412262703105?s=20
26.19/ Rozen is right; the 5th Avenue pledge has been made real, people have been murdered, including a cop, and gallows were set up for the VP. And the GOP? They're asking for unity and no repercussions https://twitter.com/lrozen/status/1348106887691182082?s=20
26.20/ Incredible thread here about the widespread involvement of police officers in the armed insurrection of Jan 6, 2021 https://twitter.com/jbenmenachem/status/1347221008323928064?s=20
26.21/ 100% agree. Which is why I've been implicating the GOP in everything I've been writing. https://twitter.com/scalzi/status/1348003025718288387?s=20
26.22/ I few more good comments I'd like to highlight:
I agree with this 100%
https://twitter.com/Booker4KY/status/1348016508052664321?s=20
This is a clever point
https://twitter.com/Green_Footballs/status/1348083556929646592?s=20
Love it
https://twitter.com/MuthoniK20/status/1347975366879694854?s=20
Hee hee hee https://twitter.com/mekkaokereke/status/1347256343611154433?s=20
26.23/ Julius Goat is a great read, I highly recommend him. I read his threads every week and think many of his points are just brilliant.

Here's from two years ago about what "unity" should look like: https://twitter.com/JuliusGoat/status/1060115681692303361?s=20
26.24/ I've mentioned often, see one example below, about how America under Trump (ym'sh) follows the dynamic of spouse abuse
https://twitter.com/JoshuaCypess/status/1114982664988237824?s=20
There's good work on this especially now, like the following thread https://twitter.com/popelizbet/status/1347737146568957952
26.25/ He calls this mentality childish - and I agree - but it's also what I've labeled #Literalist thinking. It's also borne from aggressive ignorance https://twitter.com/agraybee/status/1348079779501715459?s=20
26.26/ Again, this is language abusers - and enablers - use. "Don't impeach because then we'll get really violent!" should be absurd on it's face, but the press corps seems optimized for this enabling/acceptance of abuse https://twitter.com/Toure/status/1348105158002176000?s=20
26.27/ Others who recognize the abuse pattern:
Thread here:
https://twitter.com/fran_wilde/status/1347952919166021639?s=20
Sargent from WP:
https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/status/1348100165517905922?s=20
The great Popehat: https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1348097302951469057?s=20
26.28/ I know Trump (ym'sh) supporters; they either don't know of this pettiness or they rationalize it away. But I won't forget. Not the actions they accept nor how easily they explain away terrible things because they like the ends and justify the means https://twitter.com/jdawsey1/status/1348084057851232258?s=20
26.29/ Said this at the time, that not only was the difference between how they treated #BlackLivesMatter protests & the anti-maskers, but also how they allowed the gun-toter to go unpunished. But this is on Barr/DOJ & the overlooked crimes of omission. https://twitter.com/stuartpstevens/status/1348089224369639427?s=20
26.30/ A few more great comments:
GOP is all bad-faith: https://twitter.com/BillPascrell/status/1348002302108594179?s=20
Agreed, but I think they're lying:
https://twitter.com/NormOrnstein/status/1347968929071845378?s=20
Said straight & hard to disagree
https://twitter.com/Theophite/status/1348127206183104515?s=20
and I love this: https://twitter.com/scottjshapiro/status/1347879463959355392?s=20
26.31/ See how good she is? https://twitter.com/OhNoSheTwitnt/status/1348138559744712704?s=20
26.32/ Agree with the whole thread https://twitter.com/EmilyGorcenski/status/1348136133436305408
26.33/ Well, when you put it that way:
https://twitter.com/mat_johnson/status/1348089238017896448?s=20

Yes, the cries of being "silenced" is really just complaining they don't get to face consequences, or get everything they want at all times, and/or harass victims https://twitter.com/TVietor08/status/1348106043943907329?s=20
26.34/ I missed this the first time around but I'm totally not surprised. The whole executive branch needs an audit (as @joshtpm often points out) and a deep investigation. https://twitter.com/Scout_Finch/status/1348137999230447617?s=20
26.35/ I took a quasi-vow that if the Democrats won back the Senate, I would show my devotion and priorities by not getting upset if the #Steelers didn't win a playoff game. God took my vow and rubbed in hard in my face and all I can say is "thank you, God for the pain. We won."
26.36/ More good responses about the cries of unity by the bad-faith GOP:

a. Sounds right https://twitter.com/DerekSheen/status/1348115091275726850?s=20

b. Agree with the thread: https://twitter.com/TomPepinsky/status/1347957527372247040?s=20

c. Perfectly said: https://twitter.com/everywhereist/status/1348037571415134208?s=20
26.37/ Another thread about the discourse coming from the GOP and the MSM about 'unity' is enabling abuse https://twitter.com/EdOverbeek/status/1348050428756254720?s=20
26.38/ BTW, my quasi-vow did not extend to having a nightmare Superbowl of the Ravens vs. Tom Brady's Buccaneers (with AB mixed in). Nope. Nope nope nope. That's not part of the deal. I'm actually rooting for the Browns in a weird way. Why? Because 2020 https://twitter.com/JoshuaCypess/status/1348490765840822273?s=20
26.39/ This piece by a good friend is just so good. Dr. Shani Bechhofer is addressing many of the wackadoodle (my word) conspiracy theories running around the frum conservative political world, and says so in her well-crafted, respectful yet firm way. https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/january-6-a-few-orthodox-thoughts/
January 6 – A Few (Orthodox) Thoughts

From the blog of Shani Bechhofer at The Times of Israel

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/january-6-a-few-orthodox-thoughts/
26.40/ Amazing: https://twitter.com/profmusgrave/status/1348792369303474177?s=20
26.41/ Brilliant: https://twitter.com/CleverTitleTK/status/1348830643602534402?s=20
26.42/ Informative thread, dovetails with what I've been reading from other scholars/experts about the WEP militant ideology via @C_Stroop and @JYSexton (and others). https://twitter.com/Artists_Ali/status/1348321167556411396?s=20
26.43/ I want this to be true so I'm not going to fact-check it.

I've been in many situations, often as leader, when the whiny egoists demand to take over because they know everything will be great with no rules. It's the RBG umbrella metaphor every time. https://twitter.com/theserfstv/status/1348557439130509315
26.44a/ I keep voluminous hard & computer files on the parsha as part of my life's work (I taught Tanakh at Stern, many years a parsha class, hope to publish one of these days), and over Shabbas I read a xerox of a letter I sent to a visiting scholar in 1997. Very glad I did.
26.44b/ I'm glad because, sprinkled in with long-forgotten (by me) insights on the parsha were other assertions I made about a number of topics that made me blush with deep shame that I said them to someone of her stature.

What inexcusable chutzpah I had!
26.44c/ The shame has lain in my head for days & I hope to keep it with me when I write anything in the future: just how confident I was in my 20s and just how stupid I actually was, in my 40+ year old eyes

This memory will be like a kippah in my mind, a reminder to be humble
26.45/ Great line here about the #Steelers

BTW, I said earlier this season that I felt a 2015 CIN vibe to this team; CIN started 8-0, stumbled at the end but won the division, then lost to PIT in humiliating fashion

It was *their* year... til it wasn't https://twitter.com/colin_dunlap/status/1348643797031415808?s=20
26.46/ This is a constant refrain to abuse cultures and the structure of enabling that sustains it (maintained by strategically placed #Literalist thinkers who see every case on it's own and nullify them one by one, losing the forest) https://twitter.com/Dorothy410berry/status/1348368342432681984?s=20
26.47/ Just wrote a runaway thread about our moment. It's about how to understand why things looked planned when they aren't and it led into a #DvarTorah about the #Exodus

Liberation, struggle, slavery & inhumanity are always topical, but esp. this week https://twitter.com/JoshuaCypess/status/1349070500211863553?s=20
26.47b/ Right after I finished the thread above, I thought of some new connection, so here's another thread about parshat ha-shavua https://twitter.com/JoshuaCypess/status/1349089250822782977?s=20
26.48/ Mini-thread here on one of my themes of the week - the absurd call for 'unity' by the insurrectionists - combined with another theme: that the plea only makes sense in a society designed to coddle & enable abusers https://twitter.com/segalmr/status/1348681259573272580
26.49/ One of the saving graces of Trump's (ym'sh) evil is that he's so lazy - and so frightened of 'blame' & consequences - that he expects other people to do all of his dirty work. https://twitter.com/jbarro/status/1348717076601569280
26.50/ Great comment.

See also: every structural problem wrongfully considered an individual's responsibility https://twitter.com/jelani9/status/1348684571106304010
26.51/ So, the slavish stenographers at the NYT report about Trump (ym'sh): "He’s angry about impeachment, people who have spoken to him say. But the reaction to the PGA decision was different order of magnitude."

As to why? Well, see this: https://twitter.com/stephanstroud/status/1348734399064514563
26.52/ Re: the fur-clad, horned-head N*zi insurrectionist: https://twitter.com/SheriBrewCrew/status/1348762673362644992?s=20
26.53/ Part of me wanted Belichick to accept the award - 5 mo. ago I'm sure he would've - but my wife reminds me "it's never too late to stop making things worse." So I will accept that even the guy who broke the NFL with his cheating can do a right thing https://twitter.com/business/status/1348815478865735688?s=20
26.54/ OK, what? This feels like a trap. He leaks this as a head-fake, then when the Democrats move forward, he slams the door and acts as the GOP savior

I trust #MoscowMitch as much as I can throw his vampiric, seditious husk https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/us/mitch-mcconnell-trump-impeachment.html
McConnell is said to be pleased about impeachment, believing it will be easier to purge Trump from...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/us/mitch-mcconnell-trump-impeachment.html
26.55/ This is a great thread about a key flaw in the, yes again, #Literalist mentality seen in a lot of the bigoted plutocrats: that they basically think of other people as machines/objects and yet want to enjoy the fruits of their free-will action https://twitter.com/courtneymilan/status/1348705042379902977?s=20
26.56/ Now *this* I understand. Cheney is #3 in conference and the 2 above her were all in on insurrection, so she gets to have a Goldwater to Nixon moment and seize control of minority leader.

Greedy people are easier to predict, whew. https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1349126945557114880
26.57/ We're living through sobering times, and the reassurance that the military is not backing the insurrection comes as a great relief. As I've said, the scariest day for me was June 1, 2020 what that was actually in doubt. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/military-statement-biden-commander-in-chief/2021/01/12/9b722200-551a-11eb-89bc-7f51ceb6bd57_story.html
Joint Chiefs call riot a ‘direct assault’ on the constitutional process, affirm Biden as next...

In a memo, the highest-ranking officers called on the force to embody the nation’s ideals and said the rights to free speech and assembly don’t permit “violence, sedition and insurrection.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/military-statement-biden-commander-in-chief/2021/01/12/9b722200-551a-11eb-89bc-7f51ceb6bd57_story.html
26.58/ Fascinating thread here about the complicity of the German bureaucracy in the Shoah. Banality of evil, indeed. https://twitter.com/dburbach/status/1124023976043470848?s=20
26.59/ Pence refuses to stop the man who tried to kill him - despite having the power to do so - so now it's up to the Democrats https://twitter.com/JoshuaCypess/status/1349160272414564358?s=20
26.60/ I propose the impeachment and removal would have more support if we replaced the word "remove" with "yeet" as in "Donald John Tr*mp has been yeeted from the White House by the Senate"
26.61/ Can't argue with this https://twitter.com/emilylhauser/status/1348810722239787008?s=20
26.62/ I wish I said this. https://twitter.com/BudrykZack/status/1348798774047625222?s=20
26.63/ Just clocking down all the things I wish I had said:

"“I’m sure he’s learned his lesson” say the people who refuse to teach him one" https://twitter.com/jdmaccoby/status/1348996969583284225?s=20
26.64/ I've said many times that Trump (ym'sh) acts like a 80s movie villain but now we see how many in the GOP helped with the insurrection, which helps give credence to the stupid "Hail Hydra" plotline in the MCU. https://twitter.com/AynRandPaulRyan/status/1349312406804025345
26.65/ Another thread (what a week!) about the idea that we wouldn't have survived 4 more years of Trump (ym'sh). My point is that this was the tail end of the Reagan-Gingrich Revolution, so it's been a longer assault & needs a longer repair. https://twitter.com/JoshuaCypess/status/1349360492800856066
26.66/ Ironically, white supremacy is an economic argument: it perpetuates by force an unjust caste-system of one-directional theft of resources, prestige, and access. Its adherents know or feel this & are panicked by the potential loss of their advantage https://twitter.com/TiffanyDCross/status/1349334192417611778?s=20
26.67/ As a wise man said earlier in the #TrumpCrisis, I deserve to be gaslit by smarter people https://twitter.com/jamiedupree/status/1349050298065702919?s=20
26.68/ Another great line:

"It was never Blue Lives Matter.

It was always Black Lives Don’t." https://twitter.com/pink_funk/status/1349180442033979392?s=20
26.69/ What I'm seeing now is that 2018 the Dem's had the "justice Democrats" who saw the fracture of the nation and entered Congress to expand the social safety net.

In 2020 the GOP had that mirror image: young Reps who ran in order to overturn the gov. https://twitter.com/thegarance/status/1349182639014555648
26.70/ The Chinese and Jews are used this idea but the rest of America has been introduced to a staggered calendar, i.e. it was 5781 while still in 2020. In this case it says "2021" but 2020 won't actually end until Biden takes office.
26.71/ I've been waiting to hear this language used for Trump (ym'sh) for a while. The Speaker of the House describing the President as engaging in "insurrection .... sedition and treason"

There's a straight line from 2016 to now. But we're here. https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1349197059706900484?s=20
26.72/ Just thinking: if the GOP actually removes him in the Senate, then Pence's refusal to invoke the 25th may have been coordinated with Mitch and thus give him the ability to assume the office with a façade of reluctance.

Or I may just be shoehorning coherence onto nonsense.
26.73/ Trump's (ym'sh) loathsome behavior was never going to affect my decision to support him (I'm a Democrat and I also lived in NY for decades), but his every terrible action did affect my decision to condemn those who *did* support him https://twitter.com/Mikel_Jollett/status/1349143729576108033?s=20
26.74/ Another line I'd wish I'd said:

Everyone tweeting "1776" and "1984" is really tweeting "1861." https://twitter.com/ProfHansNoel/status/1349176391607185408?s=20
26.75/ Yes, the GOP operates in bad faith. Yes it's a double standard. But in another way it's a single standard, that of caste & supremacy. The rules are created solely to hurt their enemies & allow them to operate with impunity.
https://twitter.com/CoriBush/status/1349183008037863426?s=20 https://twitter.com/AriBerman/status/1349171943677767680?s=20
26.76/ Very interesting thread that dovetails nicely with what I wrote this morning ( https://twitter.com/JoshuaCypess/status/1349360492800856066?s=20) about the mission of the current GOP and it's historical roots. https://twitter.com/mattsheffield/status/1349047726361612289?s=20
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