“Trump tried to steal an election
… and, so far, none of these defenders have mounted a serious defense against the charge. Instead, they carp about the lack of Trump defenders on the committee. As far as it goes, it’s a fair complaint. It just doesn’t go very far. Heck, even Donald Trump blames Kevin McCarthy for it. But there’s nothing stopping the carpers from offering a defense on TV or outside the hearing room.” — Jonah Goldberg.
How did Mike Pence become a RINO?
Gerard Baker in the Wall Street Journal
 :
“The stolen-election theory carries many of the requisite concoctions of all fabricated conspiracies. But none are as implausible as the premise that the people who stopped Mr. Trump from claiming his rightful re-election were all sinister figures conspiring to hand the reins of power to the illegitimate Joe Biden.
“Because it hasn’t been Adam Schiff and his comrades who have made the most effective case against Donald Trump. It has been Mr. Trump’s own, handpicked people. Think about the list of conspirators that you would have to conclude had somehow become late-convert enemies of Mr. Trump (and American democracy) to believe the former President’s story.
“Mike Pence, impeccable servant of the Republican Party, loyal (crueler observers might say servile) supporter of the former President, who sometime between Nov. 3 and Jan. 6 became a notorious RINO and traitor.
“William Barr, perhaps the most effective defender of Mr. Trump through the mostly manufactured controversies of his term, but who somehow became a double agent for Mr. Biden after the election.
“Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, who stood down Stacey Abrams’s race-baiting charges of a stolen election himself and proved himself a strong conservative in office but somehow plotted with fellow Republicans in the state to confirm a fraudulent victory for his political opponents.”
Get your shine box
Tom Nichols in The Atlantic Daily:
“The January 6 committee, however, deserves a great deal of credit for illuminating the dangerous mediocrities on whom Trump relied for his mischief — the men and women who were certain that their moment had finally arrived. These people — call them the Third String —t hought that they were finally going to The Show, and they were going to burn the Constitution if that’s what it took to stay there.
“Consider, for example, Jeffrey Bossert Clark, a minor Justice Department official who sought to oust his own boss and get Trump to make him the attorney general, after which Clark would try to overturn the election results. … Clark got his comeuppance in a meeting in the Oval Office when Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue warned Trump that any such appointment would lead to mass resignations, and told Clark: “You’re an environmental lawyer. How about you go back to your office, and we’ll call you when there’s an oil spill.”
And then there’s John Eastman …
Ann Coulter on 2000 Mules
First, the movie doesn’t show what it says it shows.
• Cellphone tracking isn’t precise enough to distinguish between liberal activists stuffing drop boxes, and store owners, police officers, delivery men and others who have perfectly legitimate reasons to be within a few yards of the same drop box every day.
• In all five battleground states D’Souza considers, it is perfectly legal for third parties to drop off ballots for others, with varying degrees of lenience. …
• Even if every cellphone dot represented a left-wing organizer illegally dropping off another person’s ballot, that still wouldn’t make the ballot invalid. A legal ballot can be illegally delivered, although the guy who delivered it might be in trouble. — (More here.)
Education
Blaska Policy Werkes 
We do enjoy the finer, simpler things in life.
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Since the Senate has nothing going on right now and is taking the next 16 days off maybe they can come up to Sauk County too. “Ya know, check out the colors, wine tasting, hang out with ROJO. Would be a good time for all.
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Been that route (C.T.H. B off’n State Hwy 60) many a time; good road the whole way to Plain, rolling through marvelously productive farmland.
No victims out that way…
The Gotch
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I lived in a natural paradise in the heart of Sauk County for nearly 30 yrs and I feel that it saved my life. Or at least I KNOW it made me whole again. Was just out visiting today. Thanks to the Nature Conservancy and the previous owners of this land, the old farm house and outbuildings are all gone. It’s now God’s Country again.
David, I really appreciate your occasional posts like this one that provide such poetic balance in your writing. For me, it’s actually your accounts of your excursions away from this city that make it clear to me that you are a man that one can trust.
Thanks again.
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There’s a beautiful, old church (St. Mary’s) in Keyesville (north of Bear Creek and just into Richland County) where I used to take an elderly friend to Christmas Eve service.
Seeing hillside farmhouses decked out in Holiday Splendour in the early evening darkness along the way was a real treat!
Had clients in Honey Creek, Westfield, Ironton, and many other Sauk County TWSPS; where were you?
The Gotch
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Honey Creek and that’s as specific as I’ll get. The fate of Pewit’s Nest comes to mind. 😉
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Some of my now deceased clients were on Jacoby Road in Honey Creek, Mill Road in Troy, & Prairie Road in Prairie Du Sac TWSP.
Don’t take too awful long to…um…find oneself Hell-n-Gone out that way!
FWIW, The Gotch pulled the lever for you in the 2019 School Board primary.
The Gotch
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Anyone that makes it out as far as Plain ought head a little further NW to Carr Valley Cheese just north of Lime Ridge on C.T.H. G.
Certified Master/World Champion Cheese Maker Sid Cook (winner of more top national and international awards than any other cheesemaker in North America!) is one of the most unassuming guys you’ll ever meet, and the squeaky-fresh curds and Six Year Aged Cheddar will make it worth the trip!
The Gotch
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YES, good catch ! We caught it on the day they had their little hometown summer celebration. Unusual cemetery above the road on a steep hillside. WI is a great place to just cruise off in any direction (other than Beloit). Gorgeous drive, hope we can re-visit for Fall Color ! We shoulda bought more cheese….
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“We shoulda bought more cheese….”
Practically have to take out a second on the house for any quantity of that Six Year Old Cheddar.
Regrettably, they just CLOSED their Middleton store on Parmenter.
Agree on the Beloit avoidance.
Despite all the other reasons, the name is an onomatopoeia for dropping a steel marble into a toilet…
The Gotch
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We have a Carr Valley on the main drag in the Dells. Come on up. Let me know when your in town to meet.
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HAH ! 😉 !
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I see it doesn’t pay to be nice to gootchie. No one would steal a 10 yr old Focus anyway.
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OK Gotch, I admit that one was funny.
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And to be fair, I thought Richard’s “You’ve got ME” on one of these threads was too.
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you really should lay off the cheese gotch; your bowels are getting full.
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Art’s Ridge Club still up on G
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Plenty of ridges up that way; hollers too. Moreso over into Vernon, Richland, & Crawford Counties.
In their most private moments, longtime residents of each kinda long down their noses at the other.
The Gotch
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Mullins Cheese in Mosinee has 10yr cheddar for around 12-13.00lb. Its really good stuff. The salt crystals are just starting to form up. I have some in the back of the fridge that is about 13.5yrs old now.
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That’s a mighty fine price for a Ten Year!
Been to the original facility in Knowlton.
Cheese-o-philes will drop a load on their favorites, but @$209/lb, The Gotch says let ’em keep their Hook’s 20 Year Cheddar.
The Gotch
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