This one goes to eleven. Then it went to 13. And while Kevin McCarthy is getting closer, he still hasn’t quite closed the deal on his speakership. It looks like he could get it done on Friday if he can scrape up just a little more soul to sell. Here’s the latest. As I said yesterday, even if Kevin gets it done, the insurrectionists had an easier time getting into the Speaker’s office.

+ If nothing else, the Speaker votes in the the House turned gladiator pit has made for some excellent, and highly unusual, C-SPAN. WaPo: With the House in chaos, C-SPAN shows footage Americans don’t usually see. (I think I can speak for all Americans when I say how thankful we are that this access is a rarity.)

+ It’s only fitting that this House nonsense that features the publicity-seeking crud of many election-deniers is playing out on January 6. When you don’t hold people accountable for their crimes, they just get worse.

+ USA Today: Two years since the Jan. 6 insurrection, extremist groups are fragmented, but live on. (Some of them got concessions during this week’s Speaker vote charade.)