Has the mystery guest been revealed?

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2022

Recalling Groucho Marx: Has today's mystery guest been revealed? According to both the Post and the Times, the mystery guest will be Cassidy Hutchinson.

If so, it's hard to know what the mystery will turn out to be, let alone the bombshell. That said, it's always possible that someone even more mysterious will testify this afternoon too.

Last night, Rachel and Lawrence entertained us acolytes with their ruminations on this topic. No one suggested that this sudden hearing might be a way for the January 6 committee to grab the spotlight back from the end of Roe v. Wade.

On cable, such buzzkills simply aren't done. That said, CNN seems to be adjusting its degree of segregation by viewpoint. Competently executed, this would be a good move.

Back in the day, What's My Line really knew how to bring on a mystery guest. The panelists slipped their blindfolds on. The guest took chalk and signed in.

Groucho Marx handled the role with aplomb.  He may have performed such signs-in before. To see him sign in, click here.

We don't know who's going to sign in today. Important information may emerge, or then again possibly not. We're facing a large political problem. Our world has a long way to go, with no obvious way to get there.


41 comments:


  1. "...or the January 6 committee to grab the spotlight back..."

    Whoa. And here we thought the five (six?) infamous SC justices are the real Enemies of The People now!

    Your tribe's psycho-shamans are real busy these days, dear Bob, aren't they. Exciting, eh?

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  2. Somerby suggests that this is a theatrical move by the committee, like mystery guests on TV, intended to attract viewers and generate suspense. That demeans the purpose of these hearings, which is to investigate serious crimes against our nation.

    I don't watch Rachel and have no idea what she talked about, but elsewhere I have read several valid reasons why this unscheduled hearing might have been set up: (1) new information has been received that is important for the public to know about, (2) a witness wants to testify sooner rather than later for personal reasons, to get it over with, to try to take the heat off of him/her and reduce efforts to suppress testimony via threats, (3) the videotaped documentary may contain scenes that can be corroborated by today's live witness and would be better released by the committee than leaked piecemeal over the time remaining before hearings resume in July, (4) the timing of the hearings has not been "set in stone" so the inclusion of another hearing before the July 4 holiday is no big deal for the committee, who perhaps thinks of it as replacing the session that was postponed, (5) it is the media who are pumping this up as some big surprise, trying to generate suspense and viewership, not the commission itself.

    Somerby is introducing these concerns and attributing them to the Senate. In the process, he insinuates that the Senators have political motives for timing and staging of the hearing. That is, of course, a right wing meme. On the left, we think the hearings are performing a public service by letting ALL of the American people know, from the mouths of Republicans themselves, what happened on 1/6, who is responsible for the attempted coup to keep Trump in the presidency, and what has been done to cover it up. This is national business and should be of great concern to the people, no matter when the hearing sessions are scheduled.

    Note that Somerby has not once suggested that we should watch the hearings, as most liberals are doing, especially to encourage those who only watch Fox to hear what really happened. This really has nothing at all to do with Rachel.

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  3. "Important information may emerge, or then again possibly not."

    Why would the committee waste their time and ours by presenting info that was not important? Somerby's dismissal of the importance of what is happening suggests a desire (and attempt) to minimize the 1/6 insurrection. Only Republicans are doing that these days.

    We don't know who the witnesses will be today, and we don't know what they will say, but we do KNOW that the information is important because the committee rearranged its schedule and added an unplanned session in order to present that information to the public.

    This hearing may not be important to Somerby, but if it is not, it is because he (1) doesn't understand the gravity of the crimes committed by Trump and his supporters, or (2) is rooting for the forces of evil and hoping they will be excused from their crimes, as he has suggested several times before, when he urged that no one be locked up and suggested that there is political peril for Democrats should they press for indictments (sort of like the threats used against several of the witnesses who testified about Trump's pressure campaign).

    Somerby should be ashamed of himself, but he won't be, because lack of shame is the conservative superpower.

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  4. I don't think anyone is interested in this bullshit.

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    1. You can speak for yourself, but I don't think you speak for anyone else. More people watched the first hearing (20 million) than watched NFL football that evening (typically 13 million). More watched than the audience for all of the cable news networks combined.

      Columbia Journalism Review says:

      "The ratings for the two subsequent hearings last week were much lower, even as Fox News chose to broadcast them, having opted to stick with its prime-time opinion programs on night one (shunting hearing coverage to the much lower-rated Fox Business)—but the latter two hearings were held during the day, so this was to be expected. (The change of slot might also have had something to do with Fox’s decision to tune in.) Various critics, meanwhile, have pointed out that the ratings, as the AP’s David Bauder put it yesterday, “don’t begin to measure the true reach of what is being said” at the hearings, with clips of key moments reaching many more people online and via other TV shows. Jeff Jarvis, a journalism professor, told Bauder that the hearings seem, unusually, to have been designed with modern media consumption habits in mind."

      We know that people are being affected by the hearings because of the changes in polling responses about whether the president committed crimes and whether he should be charged.

      Hype about a mystery guest is bullshit, but the hearings themselves are not bullshit -- they are the antidote to the disinformation being spread on the right (the real bullshit).

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    2. I’ll never get tired of seeing the video of Right-wing snowflakes throwing a childish temper tantrum , just because black peoples votes counted in the 2020 Presidential election.
      Nor will I ever tire of reminding Right-wingers about it.

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    3. And you have your excellent counterparts across the aisle watching triggered SJWs lamenting the Clinton loss to Trump. All in a days work of dumbing down politics into theater.

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    4. Those lamenting Clinton's loss did not attempt a coup.

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    5. Well, to be fair, Psycho-Witch did start the birther movement, via her henchman Sid Blumenthal...

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    6. ...not to mention this:
      "Barack Obama's campaign team today accused Hillary Clinton's beleaguered staff of mounting a desperate dirty tricks operation by circulating a picture of him in African dress, feeding into false claims on US websites that he is a Muslim."
      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/feb/25/barackobama.hillaryclinton

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    7. I watched SnowflakeFest 2021 from the U.S. Capitol in real time.
      It was so fucking believable, because of the whole “every Right-wing accusation is really a confession” dictum.

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    8. That article's a far cry from Mao's accusation of birtherism. Obama did attend Kenya and wear African dress, because he has relatives there. Hillary didn't circulate the photo as a smear, as is clearly stated at the link you provided.

      "Aides for Mrs Clinton, who is fighting a last-ditch battle to keep her hopes of the White House alive, initially tried to brush off the furore, but later denied having anything to do with the distribution of the picture. "I just want to make it very clear that we were not aware of it, the campaign didn't sanction it and don't know anything about it," Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson told reporters. "

      However, the smears against Clinton continue, perhaps because her names is being circulated as a candidate in 2024.

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    9. Anon at 2:24 you are making me LOL I think there is a real future for you with this stuff

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    10. For the alternatively gifted: theguardian.com piece is not about birtherism. It's in addition to birtherism, initiated, as we already informed you, dear, by Psycho-Witch's henchman Sid Blumenthal.

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    11. You quoted a link that did not support your statements, Mao. You still haven't supported your accusation about Blumenthal and Clinton. It is a Republican lie.

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    12. Turns out Trump physically attacked his driver on Jan 6 because the driver refused to drive Trump to the Capitol Building to be anointed Pres/King.

      On the other hand, Repubs now have their own Jussie Smollet, with Giuliani claiming to have been attacked, when in fact video reveals he was merely tapped on his shoulder.

      It is easy to fume at the lack of moral integrity exhibited by right wingers, but it comes from pain deriving from unresolved trauma. These people behave in a way that severely damages society, but they are severely damaged themselves, these people are wounded to their souls.

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    13. 2:30,
      The truth set me free.

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    14. Mao is clearly a little nervous. He should be.

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    15. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt, dear dembot scientist.

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    16. @2:36 -- this false report has been debunked.

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    17. 2:36. That is not something today's witness saw. That is a story today's witness heard second hand. This is how they fool you to make you look like Charlie Brown trying to kick a football. Again and again and again and again and again and again and again.

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    18. Are you accusing MS Hutchinson of committing perjury? I think you should take the 5th on that one David.

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    19. Democrats will believe literally anything no matter how outlandish, and now they’ve been humiliated by their gullibility once again in a most spectacular but hilarious fashion.

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    20. 9:53
      No kidding. Especially the one about blacks should be treated equally under the law.

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  5. For a guy who is constantly hyping tomorrow’s post, Bob is pretty snooty about this…..

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  6. Palmer Report says:

    "Hutchinson has reportedly been subjected to serious and credible threats against her safety, to the point that there are reportedly bomb squads in place at the Capitol today. These kinds of extreme threats from Trump world, against someone who hasn’t even been a widely known name up to this point, points to just how petrified Trump world is about her testimony. As compelling as the various witnesses have been up to this point, and as damaging as they’ve been to Trump, Hutchinson could end up being the most ground-shifting witness of all."

    She was in the room during conversations between Mark Meadows and Trump, among others.

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    1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY57Vn0qTiU

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  7. Somerby likes both-siderism. He likes Andrew Sullivan and has several times quoted him admiringly. He tends to like Bill Maher too. Here is Driftglass's take on Andrew Sullivan's appearance on last Friday's Bill Maher show, which I fully agree with:

    "On the day that five radical revanchist Republicans erased a Constitutional right for the first time in American history, Bill Maher broke out his Rolodex, thumbed through this list of fellow contrarian dickheads, and decided that what the country was most in need of at this tragic moment was to hear from America's most prominent White, gay, childless, Catholic, Tory, Conservative, Libertarian phrenologist.

    And Sullivan did not disappoint.

    Sullivan on Biden:

    We need someone who can find a center. It turns out, Biden doesn’t seem to be that person

    And on Biden again:

    [There is] nothing I can see, right now, even on abortion, where he is anywhere near the center of where public opinion is.
    And another shot at Biden, with a steaming pile of Both Siderism on the side:

    The right has gone off the deep end. The left has gone off the deep end. We need someone who can find a center. It turns out, Biden doesn’t seem to be that person.

    And how about one more shot at Biden, with another steaming pile of Both Siderism on the side:

    This is not a moderate presidency. I wish it were. I voted for him. But he’s a captive of his left the way that some of these Republicans are captive of their right.

    And we'll finish off with Sullivan smirking at us stoopid Libtards for not realizing that this...

    ...is actually a great opportunity for liberals, for pro-choicers. The country is not in favor of banning all abortion. Only 13% want that. So, go out there, persuade people, and what this ruling does is call the religious right’s bluff.

    While it's true that having your government savagely turn on you -- rip your basic rights away from you -- can be, uh, bracing, the idea that it's somehow a good thing that a radical, revanchist Republican court will spend the next few decades forcing Americans to re-fight for rights we have already secured is typical Sullivan, contrarian mush-brain claptrap.

    On the other hand, I will take some bitter consolation in the knowledge that when this same Supreme Court terminates Sullivan's marriage by decree, I can haul out his words out of cold storage and explain to him how this is really a great opportunity because it means that now he can drop whatever he was doing, put his life on hold for a decade, buy himself a couple of pairs of overalls and hie himself out to Jesusland to persuade the Christopaths and build coalitions and stuff. "

    You can put the three of these childless men in a single basket of deplorables of a different kind, misguided bothsiderists who will not support a political movement of any kind, because it is cooler to mock all efforts and strike a pose as critics of the sincere efforts of others.

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    1. Hope you’re right about Obergefell reversal. It will go down easier with independent voters after months of drag queen story hour and exposing the grooming of children in school.

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  8. Bad, bad say for Trump. I wonder which MSNBC star Bob will take it out on.

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  9. I hope Somerby now understands that the identity of the mystery witness is far from the most important info revealed today.

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  10. In a sense, this Congressional show trial is exonerating Trump, because they have presented no evidence that he committed any crime. I expect Trump never to be actually charged and tried for any crime.

    However, they are successfully smearing Trump. One technique is to make legal, normal activities sound like misbehavior. Another is to focus on very bad things done by some rioters while ignoring the fact that there's no evidence that Trump told them to riot.

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    1. "However, they are successfully smearing Trump."

      Meh. Do you really think that any normal ordinary person, anyone not suffering from TDS, would watch these shitty show trials? Puh-leeze...

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    2. Hey David, tell us again how Donald J Chickenshit "REJECTED" all the crazy ideas other people were suggesting.

      David believes Liz Cheney (R WY) is leading a "show trial". David has fucked up judgement.

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    3. Democrats don’t actually believe conservatives care about their respect or regard them as quality people because they are self loathing and don’t expect anyone to respect them as Elon Musk observed. That’s why they’re so angry, sad, gender confused, and pierced.

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    4. And so, David frequents a blog that routinely declares Trump mentally ill, “psychotic”, not responsible for his actions, drool dripping from his mouth. So hey, if Trump did do it, he was too ill to have meant it. He escapes accountability yet again.

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    5. Trump has gotten away with his criminality his entire career because he has always surrounded himself in his business with persons willing to lie and cover up for him. He should have stuck to ripping off contractors and laundering Russian mob money, and left us alone.

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    6. 10:00,
      Quick reminder that Right-wing snowflakes threw a childish temper tantrum on national TV, just because black peoples votes counted in the 2020 Presidential election.
      Let’s face it, the bigotry of the Right is their super power.

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  11. Is 10:00 actually Christopher Rufo, or just one of his marks he’s playing for a fool?

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