These false claims provoked his supporters to violence

My Sunday movie was Straight Up. Todd is neurotic (yes, we see his therapy sessions) and is afraid of spending the rest of his life alone. All of his friends see him as gay. But he doesn’t like the thought of that – the chance of meeting a gay guy who would put up with him is too small (his gay friends would disagree) – and wants to prove he is straight by dating girls. Of course, it doesn’t go well. He connects with Rory, who seems somewhat neurotic. They enjoy each other’s company and move in together. But after a while she wants more in their relationship and he doesn’t. Can their relationship survive? This move had some interesting cinematography choices. In most movies when characters are facing each other and talking there will be two cameras off their shoulders so the actors can interact. In this one the actors are directly facing the camera. That sounds like it would be tough on the actors. There were also scenes where Todd and Rory were sitting on the bed side by side with faces turned toward each other and the camera, instead of showing both, would show the one on the left at the right side of the frame and the one on the right on the left side of the frame. I recently wrote about the trading card scam being perpetrated by the nasty guy. I had mentioned an opinion that these cards showing him as a superhero were so bad that not only was the broader public gleefully skewering them, but the awfulness would be obvious to the base as well. Kerry Eleveld of Daily Kos wrote that indeed the base noticed. One called it “one of the cringiest things.” The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the Capitol held its final public session yesterday. Brandi Buchman of Kos reported on what happened. The big news, of course, is the committee voted unanimously to make four criminal referrals against the nasty guy to the Justice Department. They are: He aided an insurrection. He criminally obstructed a joint session of Congress. He conspired to make false statements when he tried to pass of fake electoral certificates to the National Archives. He conspired to defraud the United States. Criminal referrals were also made against John Eastman for writing the six-point scheme that was a guide to the nasty guy’s actions. The referrals say: Eastman likely committed an obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Referrals were also sent to the House Ethics Committee for four Republicans because they refused to reply to subpoenas for their records and testimony. They are Reps Kevin McCarty, Scott Perry, Jim Jordan, and Andy Biggs. Mo Brooks was not included because he is leaving Congress. The Ethics Committee won’t do anything by the end of the year and with the House going into Republican hands in January, nothing will be done then, either. Buchman embedded a reader for the 154 page Introductory Material that the Committee issued on Monday. The full report, likely over 1,000 pages, is to be released on Wednesday. The referrals to the Justice Department carry no legal weight, though have a large effect on public opinion. The committee is saying we have a great deal of evidence of actual crimes. But Justice is where actual legal proceedings are started. Alas, there are many people who believe AG Merrick Garland was put into that position to make sure nothing actually happens. Buchman goes into into detail describing the referrals and the Introductory Material. As part of that Buchman wrote that a majority of the 70 witnesses were Republican – so it isn’t a partisan witch hunt. Also, since many of the attackers are being found guilty and sentenced to prison it isn’t fair the instigators – the nasty guy and Eastman – were not also charged. I scanned about a quarter of the Introductory Material document. Kos uploaded it to Scribd here. Pages 4-6 list 17 specific findings. The first one is:

Beginning election night and continuing through January 6th and thereafter, Donald Trump purposely disseminated false allegations of fraud related to the2020 Presidential election in order to aid his effort to overturn the election and for purposes of soliciting contributions. These false claims provoked his supporters to violence on January 6th.

Up to about page 100 of the Introductory Material (as well as the full report) then describes the testimony and evidence that supports those findings. Pages 103-154 are footnotes. Meteor Blades of Kos discussed the recently issued Arctic Report Card 2022. This is the 16th report in the series. The summary: The Arctic is warming three to four times faster than the rest of the globe. The result is the region is wetter and stormier. Bison can break through snow to find food, but if rain falls on the snow and freezes bison may not be able break through the ice to get to food. A third of Alaskan bison died of starvation last winter. The warming also threatens ice-dependent species, such as polar bears and some seals. Impacts in the Arctic won’t stay in the Arctic. Of course, climate science deniers came out in force, though they seem now to not so much deny as deflect and delay. Hugh Warwick tweeted a cartoon by Anne Derenne. It shows Noah’s ark with the boarding ramp out for motorcycles, cars, and trucks with the weight of various other polluter already on board is cracking the boat while pairs of animals wait off to the side. I had written that Elon Musk’s efforts that appear to be dismantling Twitter is having an effect on how progressives view Tesla. Nick Anderson tweeted a cartoon that suggests Musk’s efforts might be a way for the MAGA crowd to get on board with the climate agenda.