Aaron Russo - Milton Berle - Robert Reich - Mark Twain - Anatole France - Will Rogers - Howard Zinn - Nicholas Biddle - James K Polk - Thomas Jefferson - Red Skelton - Mark Udall - Victor Hugo - H L Mencken - Plutocracy: Political Repression in the USA 2015 - Knock Down the House 2019 - The Swamp 2020 - CNN online - BBC News: Storming the Capitol TV - Storming the Capitol TV - The Crime of the Century TV - Four Hours at the Capitial TV -
5,471. Silence is golden but when it comes to your freedom it’s yellow. We have to stop being scared. We have to stand up and do what’s necessary, to stop these bankers, this elite, this government full of lies, these Congressmen full of liars ... There is a rising tide but we have to mobilise. (Freedom & Banksters & New World Order & Congress & Solidarity) Aaron Russo, interview Alex Jones
6,598. You can lead a man to Congress, but you can’t make him think. (Think & Congress) Milton Berle
49,777. The dirty little secret is that both Houses of Congress are irrelevant. America’s domestic policy is now being run by Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve. America's foreign policy is now being run by the International Monetary Fund. When the President decides to go to war, he no longer needs a declaration of war from Congress. (Democracy & War & War on Terror & US Empire & US Foreign Policy & Fascism & Congress & Secret Government & Federal Reserve & IMF & United States of America) Robert Reich, 7th January 1999 USA Today, member of Clinton’s Cabinet
68,146. Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. (Congress & Idiot) Mark Twain
68,147. It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress. Mark Twain
68,148. America – where thanks to Congress, there are forty million laws to enforce the Ten Commandments. (Congress & Law) Anatole France
68,149. The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets. (Congress & Tax) Will Rogers
68,150. With Congress every time they make a joke it’s a law, and every time they make a law it’s a joke. Will Rogers
68,151. There obviously was a kind of culture of timidity in Congress, deference to the executive branch, and the fear of being called unpatriotic. Howard Zinn
68,152. Nothing but widespread suffering will produce any effect on Congress. Nicholas Biddle
68,153. There is more selfishness and less principle among members of Congress than I had any conception of, before I became President of the US. James K Polk
68,154. If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour? Thomas Jefferson
68,155. Congress: bingo with billions. Red Skelton
68,156. There is no getting around it: Congress is failing the American people. Mark Udall
68,157. I don’t mind what Congress does, as long as they don’t do it in the streets and frighten the horses. Victor Hugo
68,158. Congress consists of one third, more or less, scoundrels; two thirds, more or less, idiots; and three thirds, more or less, poltroons. H L Mencken
109,470. Congress became known as the Millionaires Club. (Working Class & Class & Repression & United States of America & Solidarity & Industrial Action & Strike & Trade Union & Labour & Poverty & Congress & Wealth) Plutocracy: Political Repression in the USA I: Divide and Rule, 2015
126,855. In 2018, record numbers of women, people of colour and political outsiders set out to transform Congress. Many established Democrats face primary election challenges from other Democrats running for the first time. (Politics & Democrat & Election & Congress) Knock Down the House, Netflix 2019
135,700. Of the 435 members of Congress, more than 100 actually live in the building. (Politics & Congress & Republicans & Corruption) The Swamp, Sky Documentaries 2020, opening scene, Gaetz
135,701. This guy [Trump] has got some rough edges … He could be a change agent. (Politics & Congress & Republicans & Corruption) ibid.
135,702. We are going to drain the swamp of Washington. (Politics & Congress & Republicans & Corruption) ibid. Trump
135,703. If people are going to drain the swamp like the president wants to do, they need better information about how this place is broken, and that’s my mission in Congress. (Politics & Congress & Republicans & Corruption) ibid. Massie
135,704. Ken Buck: Drain the Swamp: How Washington Corruption is Worse that You Think. (Politics & Congress & Republicans & Corruption) ibid.
135,705. He [Newt Gingrich] has changed the agenda, changed the culture, changed the language and changed the dialogue … (Politics & Congress & Republicans & Corruption) ibid. television interviewer
135,706. A lot of people would be surprised to find out that members of Congress are expected to pay their party for their committee assignments. (Politics & Congress & Republicans & Corruption) ibid. Massie
135,707. As a member of the clergy so eloquently said – As we act, let us not become the evil that we deplore. (Politics & Congress & Republicans & Evil & Corruption) ibid. Barbara Lee
137,551. CNN: As I wrote this, the US Capitol building was being stormed by right-wing protesters trying to stop the peaceful transfer of power.
This was an attempted coup, encouraged by the President of the United States, in an attempt to derail today’s congressional certification of the electoral vote that will lead to Joe Biden’s inauguration in two weeks.
Donald Trump’s legacy is American carnage. Our country is far more divided and violent and deluded than before he entered office. His misrule has led to this moment, but it is not his responsibility alone. Trump’s fear-fueled lies and extremism and conspiracy theories have been indulged for too long by partisans. His rhetoric has directly led to death threats against election officials who have done their job honestly and independently. Now we are all reaping what they’ve sown, as the President watches it all burn from within the White House. But then, there are some men who want to ruin if they cannot rule.
Make no mistake: this is sedition. And it’s coming at the hands of self-styled super-patriots who have been amped up by the President’s lies about non-existent mass voter fraud to excuse losing a free and fair election by a large margin.
They are not conservatives – they are radicals. Because patriots don’t break the windows of the US Capitol building and storm inside when they lose an election. No hostile foreign power has done more damage to what President-elect Joe Biden called ‘the citadel of our democracy’ since an invading British army burned down the Capitol in the war of 1812. But certainly, the enemies of democracy have taken great comfort from their actions today.
We are still in the fog of war. But some things are clear. The politicians and hyper-partisans who have coddled this President’s autocratic impulses have enabled this assault to our democracy. The Republican members of Congress – like Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley – who have tried to benefit politically from contesting the election results without any concrete evidence of fraud are culpable in this violence because they have stoked its fears. So is Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who demanded ‘trial by combat’ to resolve the election dispute at a ‘Save America’ rally this morning, after his legal team lost some 60 cases in court because of an absence of evidence. (Trump & Congress & Republicans & Coup & Protest & United States of America & Riot) CNN online article 7 January 2021, ‘Donald Trump’s American carnage ends with a coup attempt’
137,617. The 6th January 2021: the day that shook the foundations of American democracy, where hundreds stormed the seat of government. And tried to overturn an election result. This assault didn’t come out of the blue. It was by people they were carrying out the wishes of the sitting president, wishes they felt he signalled to them loud and clear. (Trump & Congress & Republicans & Coup & Protest & United States of America & Riot) BBC News report 9th January 2021, Storming the Capitol, Aleem Maqbool reporting
137,618. ‘I call on President Trump to go on national television now and demand an end to this siege.’ (Trump & Congress & Republicans & Coup & Protest & United States of America & Riot) ibid. Biden
137,619. He was caught pressuring an official to re-calculate the votes in a state he lost in the November election. (Trump & Congress & Republicans & Coup & Protest & United States of America & Riot) ibid.
137,620. But Wednesday 6th January was always going to be the day it came to a head. Congress was due to do what’ normally procedural, formalize the results of the election. (Trump & Congress & Republican & Coup & Protest & United States of America & Riot) ibid.
137,621. Fight for Trump: At his [Trump] request thousands of his supporters had gathered from all over the country … ‘You’ll never take back our country with weakness; you have to show strength and you have to be strong.’ It was all his supporters wanted to hear. (Trump & Congress & Republicans & Coup & Protest & United States of America & Riot) ibid.
137,622. Many point to the relative restraint shown by the security forces as compared to some of the scenes we saw as the Black Lives Matter protests law summer. (Trump & Congress & Republicans & Coup & Protest & United States of America & Riot) ibid.
137,623. Many Americans described feeling numb at the events the previous day. (Trump & Congress & Republicans & Coup & Protest & United States of America & Riot) ibid.
137,624. Democrats are adamant Donald Trump needs to leave office immediately … ‘an armed insurrection against America.’ (Trump & Congress & Republicans & Coup & Protest & United States of America & Riot) ibid. Pelosi
137,649. A brazen assault on American democracy. The warning signs I heard just an hour before. And what it means for America as it confronts the threat of extremism from within. It was just after 2pm on Wednesday. This was the protest march that became a riot, that became an insurrection. (Trump & Congress & Republicans & Coup & Protest & United States of America & Riot) Storming the Capitol: The Inside Story, ITV 2021, Robert Moore reporting
137,650. These last four years have been different: anger has been weaponised on social media. The election didn’t calm America, with a president who refused to accept his loss. The anger became fury. The drumbeat of incendiary rhetoric has been growing louder by the day. (Trump & Congress & Republicans & Coup & Protest & United States of America & Riot) ibid.
137,651. ‘Our lives are at stake. This is our last stand.’ (Trump & Congress & Republicans & Coup & Protest & United States of America & Riot) ibid. protester
137,652. And so they did. Although the president never joined them. (Trump & Congress & Republicans & Coup & Protest & United States of America & Riot) ibid.
137,653. Louisville: The resurgent militia movements: I saw these emboldened and empowered militias take over the very centre of Louisville … Why on earth were the police retreating and ceding territory to a private army? What signal was that sending? (Trump & Congress & Republicans & Coup & Protest & United States of America & Riot & Kentucky) ibid.