Disambiguation from the political and social musings of Jack Altschuler

Congress

Lessons From a Senate Committee Hearing


The Merrick Garland confirmation hearing yielded a couple of unanticipated lessons, one of which we might have expected, but it arrived in a surprisingly moving and impactful way. The other was a fresh take on what happened on January 6.

Judge Garland responded to a question from Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) about why he wanted to be the United States Attorney General. Here’s what Judge Garland said – I watched it live – as reported in the Washington Post:

“I come from a family where my grandparents fled antisemitism and persecution,” Garland said. And then he stopped. He sat in silence for more than a few beats. And when he resumed, his voice cracked. “The country took us in and protected us. And I feel an obligation to the country, to pay back.”

“This is the highest, best use of my one set of skills,” Garland said. “And so I want very much to be the kind of attorney general you’re saying I could be.”

Does that work for you? Is that the kind of fiercely held attitude of service and integrity you want the chief enforcer of our laws to have? I think we can feel safe in entrusting our Constitution to this guy. And won’t that be refreshing?

One other thing was also prompted by Sen. Booker. He invoked the Bible, Micah 6:8: ”  .  .  .  to do justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God.” Booker used that to frame a question for Judge Garland, but I got to thinking about those words and juxtaposing them with the cross carrying, Bible thumping, hate spewing, Jesus intoning violent people who attacked the Capitol Building and everyone in it or guarding it on January 6.

As these people ransacked the building, as they went hunting for Nancy Pelosi and Mike Pence in order to murder them in the name of their false patriotism, as they befouled the halls of Congress, what was their score in doing justly?

As they murdered several people, and injured 140 Capitol Police and DC cops, as they brutalized one cop trapped in a doorway and bludgeoned another with the staffs of American flags and baseball bats as he lay prone and defenseless on the steps of the Capitol, how were they doing in loving mercy?

Booker didn’t mention the walking humbly part, but did you see or hear any humility on the part of the hate-filled, raging insurrectionist mob that day?

It’s a most stark and shocking comparison between a humble man who longs to give back to the country that took in and protected his grandparents when they had nowhere else to go, and the hateful thugs who want to tear down every good thing this country stands for.

Every now and then Congressional hearings bring us something truly valuable. In these hearings we found a good man, this in a time when we dearly need good people.

—————————

Unavoidable Footnote

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-QAnon) used his five minutes in this hearing to make vacuous claims, like saying that the rioters carrying Trump flags and invoking his name were Antifa provocateurs and far left subversives. Claim after claim was not just false, but outrageously, cartoonishly false.

I believe Johnson to be reasonably intelligent, which eliminates his using ignorance as his excuse for saying such things. That leaves us only one other explanation: he lied. Now, why would he do that, especially in such a brazen and evil cartoon character manner?

I think it’s time for the Commissioner to shine the Bat Signal onto the clouds and summon Batman and Robin to clean up the pandering.

—————————

Correction

In the original posting of this essay Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) was identified as the invoker of the cartoon comments. It was Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin who made the cartoon comments, not Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio. This post has been updated to correct the error. Many thanks to sharp-eyed reader Chuck Tanner for the correction  and apologies to Sen. Portman.

—————————————-

Ed. note: We need to spread the word so that we make a critical difference, so,

  1. Did someone forward this to you? Welcome! Please subscribe and pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) Use the simple form above on the right.
  2. Engage in the Comments section below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. Said John Maynard Keynes, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” So, educate me and all of us. That’s what the Comments section is for.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Trump’s Future, Dead Politician and Curmudgeon Corner


The Future of Trump

Memo to DC, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, New York State, New York City, SDNY, the Justice Department and all the women he raped:

Indict the crook for inciting a riot, election interference, bank fraud, wire fraud, tax fraud, insurance fraud, money laundering, incitement to insurrection and sedition, bribery and the rest.

Indict Jr. and Giuliani for incitement to riot, insurrection and sedition.

To the women Trump assaulted, abused and violated: full steam ahead, all guns blazing.

Memo to broadcast and cable news organizations:

Continue to refuse to give that circus sideshow barker any air time. You made the mistake of giving him free, almost constant advertising in 2016, including wall-to-wall broadcasting of his campaign rallies, obsessing over his tweets and televising his every public word for five years. Don’t do it again. Ever.

Memo to all:

Bow your head and join with me in the Accountability Prayer:

Constitutional Fathers, we pray that He-Who-Should-Have-Been-Convicted will spend the rest of his life defending against civil lawsuits and criminal indictments. We pray that he is relocated permanently to federal and state penitentiaries. May he there make new acquaintances with the kinds of people he has diminished, insulted and discriminated against for decades, that he may learn the error of his ways through their traditional teaching methods. Amen.

Dead Politician Walking

Memo to Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX):

Perhaps your four years of being a Trump suck-up have combined with your lifelong self-absorption and self-righteousness to cause you to believe that you can jawbone the entire state of Texas into submission. From your various mea culpas it appears that you think you can blame your behavior on your daughters and spin your way out of this. But here’s the thing.

Texans are cold now, desperate for water and sanitation and electricity and Covid-19 vaccinations and they are semi-homeless due to bursting water pipes. They were lied to by their state government, even as the loss of power, heat, water and the rest rolled on, but they didn’t lose their sense or suddenly become stupid. They can identify the difference between you actually caring about them, doing whatever you can for them, and your complete abandonment of them. You went on vacation to Cancun in their hour of greatest need.

They see you for what you are, which is why you are now officially a dead politician walking.

Impeachment Final

The supreme rule, the imperative of imperatives for Republican representatives and senators was, with just a few exceptions, the protection and preservation of one’s own ass. Refusing to act out of integrity was an integral part of the process.

It’s an easy swipe to make at these legislators, but the unavoidable predicate is that We the People put them in Congress. To paraphrase the snake story, we knew what they were when we voted them into office.

Curmudgeon Corner

Flint, Michigan water poisoned thousands of children and adults with lead as a result of the actions of the local dictator appointed by former Governor Rick Snyder, who now faces criminal indictment. There isn’t a lot that can be done for those kids medically.

Other than some immediate liberal outrage and hand wringing, the poisoning happened and kept on happening both there and elsewhere, but our nation as a whole isn’t paying attention. Do you suppose things might have worked out better if this had started in Bloomfield Hills instead of in Flint? I mean, those Flint kids aren’t White.

Same issue for our schools in non-White areas. Mold, 12 year old text books with pages missing, leaking roofs, mice and rats and the rest of the low income education wretchedness goes on and on and never gets fixed. Meanwhile, in White areas the schools and text books are just fine and the roofs don’t leak. Really, if we gave a damn about non-White kids, would we tolerate this?

A large percentage of the people in this country cheered as Trump imposed his Muslim ban. In a First Amendment smack down, the Supreme Court declared that religious discrimination was legal. But, hey, it was against Muslims, so no problem.

QAnon supplies news to many Republicans, which is how they know that Jews funded by George Soros are operating a laser from space, the very laser that started the California wildfires last year. But we don’t care about the harm these pea brains cause with their idiotic conspiracy theories because, after all, they’re only hurting Jews.

There are still children in cages at Tornillo and there are concentration camps just across the Rio Grande packed with refugees fleeing terrorism. They are effectively imprisoned by our Catch-22 immigration system. These prisoners have faded to almost nothingness for most Americans, so there they stay, out of sight, out of mind. But, no worries; they’re just Hispanics.

I propose that we get over our hypocrisy and admit that this nation only cares about White Christians. The rest are only of value as they serve their betters. I mean, somebody has to pick the lettuce and do the landscaping and pick up the garbage and clean other people’s houses and those White Christians won’t do that work.

For decades we’ve allowed minority rule to serve power hungry White Christians, AKA Republicans. Doubt that? The majority of the popular vote has gone to the Democrat in all but one of the last 8 presidential elections, but we still moved Republicans into the White House. That was accomplished thanks to the Electoral College, a vestigial remnant of government having surrendered to low population slave states to give them outsized power. It was then and it still is a racist practice, but it serves White Christians well.

The same can be said for the filibuster, another racism leftover that was created for and historically was employed by Senate segregationists. They used it to oppose civil rights legislation and other racial equity issues. Now the minority Republicans use it to oppose anything Democrats like or that hints at moving toward racial equality. That’s all done by power hungry White Christians for the benefit of White Christians.

Right now thirty-three Republican state legislatures are finding ever more outrageous ways to prevent non-Whites from voting. We elect extremists to Congress who effectively poison the air with racial dog whistles. We tolerate all of that.

From a recent essay by Fahreed Zakaria:

According to a recent American Enterprise Institute survey, 56 percent of Republicans believe “the traditional American way of life is disappearing so fast that we may have to use force to save it.” Thirty-nine percent backed an even stronger statement: “If elected leaders will not protect America, the people must do it themselves even if it requires taking violent actions.”

These are White Christians who are fearful their superiority might be slipping. You can see clearly what they’re willing to do to keep their superiority. Too bad for everyone else. And for the Constitution.

If we were actually against these injustices we’d be outraged and would take action, but we aren’t and we don’t. So, let’s just get over that “liberty and justice for all” business and the self-congratulatory “land of the free and home of the brave” declaration, because we really don’t mean it. We really don’t care. Perhaps it’s time to wordsmith the Pledge of Allegiance into something that approximates the truth.

Or we can at long last do something about our perversions of integrity.

If my comments have ruffled your feathers because the words don’t describe you, then good for you and good for all of us. But be sure to pass this along to your crazy Uncle Bubba. He has different feathers.

—————————————-

Ed. note: We need to spread the word so that we make a critical difference, so,

  1. Did someone forward this to you? Welcome! Please subscribe and pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) Use the simple form above on the right.
  2. Engage in the Comments section below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. Said John Maynard Keynes, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” So, educate me and all of us. That’s what the Comments section is for.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Imagine That Little Chat


No Surprise

It was a shock, but no surprise. We have been cultivating Rule by Mob for decades. Incrementally, the extremists, the angry, hateful ones, have infiltrated our society and our government, first with a toe hold of buffoons in Congress, then with more zealots spouting patriotic sounding phrases, the true meanings of which are anything but patriotic. They puffed with each step of power grabbing, strutting like self-important peacocks. All they needed was a megalomaniac cult leader to manipulate and channel their rage.

We now have 140 representatives and forty-three senators* who are so broken, so beholden to their dear leader that they have made themselves shockingly blind to the obvious. The result is a disempowered Congress, an even greater public distrust in government and a giant step toward autocracy and fascism.

Because of Republican cowardice the January 6 assault on the Capitol, the insurrection, the sedition has now become a training exercise for more assaults, mob rule and the end of democracy. These cowards dishonored 245 years of patriots and patriotism.

And they did it on our watch.

Impeachment – the Trial

To be fair, Trump’s attorneys had no way to defend him with facts or with law, since all the facts and all the law were against him. They had nothing substantive to work with. That left them only distraction, disingenuous arguments about process that had already been settled, attempts at smearing Democrats and whataboutisms. So, with great passion and righteous indignation attorneys van der Veen, Schoen and Castor claimed what follows. See if you can identify the theme. Editorial comments are in italics.

A lot of Democrats didn’t like Trump.

Something about Antifa.

It was whataboutism. The political left was not on trial. Plus, Antifa is a political idea, not an organization. It’s like they blamed the insurrection on grumpy.

Congressional Democrats refused Trump due process.

This was said literally as attorney Schoen was defending Trump in the exact venue of his due process, precisely as proscribed in the Constitution.

Elizabeth Warren and some other Democrats used the word “fight.”

There was nothing offered to suggest that any of the Democrats’ use of the word “fight” had anything to do with themselves or with Trump inciting riot, violence, insurrection and sedition. Besides, the Democrats were not on trial. Trump was.

Some bad things happened at some BLM protests.

BLM was not on trial. Trump was.

Some Democrats objected to the counting of electoral college votes in 2017.

There have been times when Democrats have had questions about election integrity.

Jerry Nadler opposed the impeachment of Bill Clinton.

Trump has First Amendment rights that the House Managers sought to refuse him. Castor presented an in depth recitation of case law about freedom of speech.

The First Amendment does NOT protect Trump or anyone else from prosecution for incitement to riot. It is akin to the denial of freedom of speech to falsely yell “FIRE!” in a crowded theater. Castor’s argument had no applicability to the proceedings..

Democrats hate Trump.

The House Managers were intellectually dishonest.

Some Democrats have spoken of punching people and have joked about the death of opponents.

Some law professors and the House Managers were mean to Trump’s attorneys.

Righteous indignation was expressed with great energy.

Jamie Raskin is a hypocrite.

The House Managers manipulated information and tried to trick the jurors.

This is just a sampler of the things said by Trump’s attorneys. Have you spotted the theme?

There was exactly one count of impeachment against Trump: that he incited an insurrection that violated the Capitol Building, the Constitution, the Congress and killed a lot of people. That was the only thing in question.

So the theme of all of the defense counsels’ arguments is that nothing offered in Trump’s defense addressed this one and only question. Which is to say, Trump’s lawyers presented no defense whatsoever. Zip. Nada. Bupkis. All they brought were various forms of distraction, and tragically, treasonously, that was enough. In the Through the Looking Glass America of the past several decades, that has been the through line of Republican politics. It has resulted in minority rule.

In an effort to support the unity that President Biden seeks to bring to our country, I offer a positive response to these defense counsels. Rather than diminishing these fraudulent men and their pitiful, disingenuous presentation, let us embrace them in an appreciation of their thankless, impossible task and simply hope that they got a fat retainer from Trump up front. Otherwise, they’ll be just like most of Trump’s other attorneys: unintentionally pro-bono bozos.

The damage has been done. Now it’s up to us to figure out how to carry on with some version of democracy, how to sustain the republic bestowed upon us by the Founders. Come to think of it, imagine having a conversation with Thomas Jefferson or Benjamin Franklin or any of them. Imagine that you’re bringing them up to date on what we’ve done with the country they birthed at such great peril to themselves and with such great hope. Go ahead; imagine that little chat.

————————

Just in case you’d like to do something about the aforementioned, here’s a list of the 17 Republican senators who voted to acquit Trump and who are up for re-election in 2022. Consider donating to their Democratic opponent who will hang that albatross around their necks.

Roy Blunt (R-MO)
John Boozman (R-AR)
Mike Crapo (R-ID)
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
John Hoeven (R-ND)
Ron Johnson (R-WI)
John Kennedy (R-LA)
James Lankford (R-OK)
Mike Lee (R-UT)
Jerry Moran (R-KS)
Rand Paul (R-KY)
Rob Portman (R-OH)
Marco Rubio (R-FL)
Tim Scott (R-SC)
Richard Shelby (R-AL)
john Thune (R-SD)
Todd Young (R-IN)
Many thanks to MSA for the list.
—————————
* A question for the 140 representatives and the 43 senators: What was so personally valuable to you that you were willing to violate your oath, compromise your integrity and sell out your country?

—————————————-

Ed. note: We need to spread the word so that we make a critical difference, so,

  1. Did someone forward this to you? Welcome! Please subscribe and pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) Use the simple form above on the right.
  2. Engage in the Comments section below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. Said John Maynard Keynes, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” So, educate me and all of us. That’s what the Comments section is for.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Pop Quiz For Republican Senators


Answers are required for all questions.

Hints for conservatives are provided. Easy questions come first.

Impeachment – Second Chance to Get This Right

Since the beginning of his candidacy in 2015 the disgraced former president stoked violence against those who opposed him, including a continuation of his cavorting in the swamp of racism. He urged violence on protesters at his rallies, even guaranteeing legal fees for those who violently attacked protesters.

He began dog whistles to mob violence long before the November 3 election by claiming the only way he could lose is if the “election is rigged.” He went on to whine about fraud in nearly every public statement for months, but it was fraud that did not and does not exist. That was made abundantly clear by the judicial rejection of the over 60 lawsuits he brought.

He warned ominously that if he didn’t win he and his followers would be cheated. He fired off flare after flare of victimization of his followers to ignite their rage. He threatened them with loss of “their country” if they didn’t act forcefully. He told his followers there would be a big protest in DC on January 6, to be there, that “It will be wild” because “something” was going to happen. It was an only slightly vague message of “We’re going to show our muscle and take over the country.”

Of course, he didn’t explicitly say that last. Recall that Michael Cohen testified before Congress that Trump speaks in code like a Mafia don. So, he didn’t tell his rabid followers to go to the Capitol Building, trash it and find legislators, especially Nancy Pelosi and Mike Pence, and kill them. Instead, he called them to DC, promising a big event. He wailed about fraud and how his followers had been cheated for so long. He told them to march to the Capitol Building and “fight like hell or you won’t have a country any more.”

After months of inciting rage, he set his angry mob loose, directing them to the Capitol Building to fight like hell. And they did.

When such a thing is done in a Central American or Eastern European country it’s called an attempted coup.

Everyone knows all of that, including the Republican Senators and Representatives who could have been killed if Trump’s mob had found them. That leads to the next questions for Republican Senators who are yet to vote on the charge identified as House Resolution 232-197, Impeachment of Donald John Trump for High Crimes and Misdemeanors, Incitement of Insurrection:

What is your resistance to convicting this traitor on the charge of inciting a murderous riot and insurrection – sedition? Recall that you witnessed it, so there’s no question about guilt. (Hint: There is nothing conservative in allowing someone to get away with sedition.)

Seven people are dead due to Trump’s treachery and hundreds are injured. Do you not care because it wasn’t you who got beaten by the weaponized staffs of American flags?

Is this all about you and your political career, such that the “preserve, protect and defend” part of your oath of office is secondary to the demands of your radical base and your selfish prospects for re-election?*

Republican Senator, maybe you’re a believer in an afterlife. Based on many of your past actions you just might be concerned about significant heat following your demise. You still have a little time to do what is right before the very worst thing happens. It’s worth considering. All that’s at stake for you is eternity.

So,

In this impeachment trial, what will you do? (Hint: There is nothing conservative about letting traitors get away with it.**)

Last question:

Do you smell something burning? Perhaps a sulfurous smell? It might be very close to you.

—————————

Quotes of the Week

From motivational speaker Les Brown:

“You have to know what you stand for, or you’ll fall for anything.”

From Timothy Snyder, professor of history at Yale University and author of “On Tyranny”:

“If tyrants feel no consequences for their actions  .  .  .  nothing will change.”

—————————

History Lesson of the Week

2017, Charlottesville, VA

White supremacists and neo-Nazis amassed in a rally of hate, where counter-protester Heather Heyer was killed – run over by an automobile driven by one of those white supremacists. The President of the United States told us there were “very fine people on both sides” and expressed nothing for Heather Heyer. He faced no consequences for coddling hate groups.

January 6, 2021, Washington, DC

White supremacists and neo-Nazis amassed in a rally of hate at the Capitol Building, where seven people died. The President of the United States told us that the insurrectionists were patriots. These are the very same people who vandalized the Capitol Building, symbol of our country, and threatened to kill congresspeople and the Vice President. They killed one cop and injured 140 more. Trump expressed nothing for the dead and injured cops. He said he is proud of the rioters and that they are very special. He has been impeached, but the Republicans in the Senate are threatening to refuse to convict him for his obvious crime.

Refusing to hold wrongdoers accountable inevitably leads to far worse behavior and ever-more dangerous outcomes. History is replete with examples of this and if we fail in our duty now there will be a worse megalomaniac in our future and we will not be able to prevent the death of our democracy at the hands of an enraged mob, incited by one who hates what we say we hold dear. We ignore the lesson of history at our inevitable peril.

—————————

*To decide whether this is a sound course, be sure to read Ira Leavitt’s “Can Republicans Still Hit the Curve Ball?“

**Just wondering if you remember the good old days, when Republicans were unbending in protecting and defending the Constitution of the United States. They were fierce in their loyalty to country. So,

Do you remember?

—————————————-

Ed. note: We need to spread the word so that we make a critical difference, so,

  1. Did someone forward this to you? Welcome! Please subscribe and pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) Use the simple form above on the right.
  2. Engage in the Comments section below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. Said John Maynard Keynes, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” So, educate me and all of us. That’s what the Comments section is for.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

White Privilege


The trial in the Senate of the Disgraced Awful Former Terrible President (“DAFT-P”) is underway and the attorneys for the DAFT-P have done a fine snow job to this point. They had to do that, because neither the law nor the facts are on their side. All they had were a distraction dance and a weepy story about sailing.

Yesterday’s session was to argue whether the trial itself is constitutional, now that the F part of DAFT-P is most decidedly accurate. By now you know that the trial will proceed.

The end result appears to be a foregone conclusion. That is specifically because of Republican cowardice in the face of the extremist voters in their primaries. Said another way, these Republicans are afraid of their constituents. I very much want them to prove me wrong, but I don’t think they will. Meanwhile, there are some very talented lawyers working this case and this trial is history in the making, as well as a living civics class. I urge you to watch the proceedings.

And keep an eye on the Republican efforts in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin to recall their election results and turn over their paper ballots to Republican legislators for them do a partisan recount. DAFT-P’s evil fraudulent election Big Lie is not dead.

Fun Fact: Mitch McConnell voted that a trial of DAFT-P is unconstitutional because he is no longer president so he cannot be removed from office. McConnell himself is the person who prevented the impeachment of DAFT-P from reaching the Senate until after the inauguration when DAFT-P was no longer in office. Pretty slick, Mitch.

Reminds me of McConnell refusing to give a hearing to Judge Merrick Garland for a seat on the Supreme Court, saying that no justice had ever been seated during a president’s last year in office. That proved to be one of those “alternate facts” that isn’t factual at all. Mitch the Manipulator, consistently putting the “hum” into humbug.

After George Floyd was murdered by cops the world took to the streets in protest. It seems that at last there is some recognition by Whites that perhaps it’s time for people “of color” to be treated properly, treated fairly, treated as well as Whites are treated.

I think my heart is in the right place about race, so I took to heart that call to change and had a look at whether I might have been and still am a lucky guy with white privilege. Here’s a short inventory.

I’ve never been pulled over by a cop and hassled for driving while White.

I didn’t have to give my kids “the talk”.

I’ve never had a problem getting a taxi ride in any city I’ve visited.

There hasn’t been a single incident of someone coming toward me on a sidewalk and crossing to the other side of the street to avoid me.

No one has ever expressed surprise at my eloquence or intelligence.

Neither I nor my children have been shot by police while playing in a park with a toy gun.

Nobody has ever asked to touch my hair because they’ve never before touched hair like mine.

Not even one cop has put a knee on my neck.

No cop has fired bullets into my house or arrested me on suspicion of intent to steal as I was about to enter my own house.

I’ve never been the last hired or the first fired.

I know where all of my ancestors came from and most of their names 3 generations back. None of them was enslaved.

I’ve never been followed in a retail store.

I got a mortgage easily and was able to buy a house wherever I chose.

Nobody suspected that the only reason I was hired was because of my race.

No vigilantes have followed me or tried to gun me down.

I’ve never been asked to speak for my entire race.

I’ve never been handcuffed and slammed onto the hood of a police cruiser.

I just go about my life pretty much as I please.

Long, long ago I wondered why everyone didn’t do the same and couldn’t they live as they wanted like I did? Turns out the answer, of course, was and is no.

The January 6 white supremacists didn’t worry about police shooting them the way police had assaulted Blacks in our cities last summer as they marched for Black Lives Matter. Yes, there was some violence and vandalism during some of those marches.

But there was nonstop violence and vandalism on January 6, yet there was no SWAT team and there were no riot police to confront and brutalize the nearly all White mob, as had happened in Kenosha and Portland and elsewhere last summer. No National Guard showed up firing rubber bullets like they did in Lafayette Park, even as those horrific things were done in and to the Capitol Building and a noose for the Vice President hung outside it. None of the insurrectionists was zip-tied and thrown into a police meat wagon, as BLM protesters had been.

And no White teenagers crossed state lines to kill the January 6 rioters. Not even one.

Now, why do you suppose those differences exist?

—————————————-

Ed. note: We need to spread the word so that we make a critical difference, so,

  1. Did someone forward this to you? Welcome! Please subscribe and pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) Use the simple form above on the right.
  2. Engage in the Comments section below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. Said John Maynard Keynes, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” So, educate me and all of us. That’s what the Comments section is for.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

How It Works


In the first Star Wars movie there is a scene with Darth Vader and the officers of the Imperial star ship. The commander says,

 

“The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us. I have just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the old republic have been swept away  .  .  .  Fear will keep the local systems in line.”

That’s pretty much how Hitler did it. He didn’t actually make the Reichstag go away. He just neutered it into becoming a lap dog by means of The Enabling Act of 1933, which the council members passed due to fear for their lives.

It’s pretty much the same in Putin’s Russia, Erdoğan’s Turkey, Xi’s China and Duterte’s Phillippines. Eliminating legislative oversight is what authoritarians do to hoard all power for themselves. Most often it’s done with thug tactics. Just ask Putin opponent Alexei Navalny about his experience with Putin’s nerve poison. The message is always to do what the leader wants or be killed.

Shift to January 6, 2021, Washington, DC. It was a violent mob dispatched by Trump, a riot of Jesus-bannered, cross carrying thugs, including the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other militia hoodlums. They were there to overthrow the government – to eliminate Congress – so that Trump could take over the country.

Does that sound so extreme as to be preposterous? If so, you need to pay closer attention, because that’s exactly what those thugs said they were there to do, all at Trump’s bidding. They were there to murder any House or Senate members they found. They brought a noose to lynch Mike Pence. Those aren’t things people do in order to preserve their government.

Capitol Officer Brian Sicknick

And killing Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick isn’t what people do to protect and defend the Constitution.

Sicknick died defending 535 members of Congress and the symbol of America that is the Capitol Building. He was killed by Bible-thumping American terrorists, who most certainly weren’t promoting law and order or doing what Jesus would do.

Honoring Officer Brian Sicknick

Both before and since the insurrection, members of Congress have received death threats* to themselves and to their family members. As that is happening, Trump and 140 Representatives, 45 Senators, right-wing blatherers and all of those extreme hate groups are continuing to promote the Big Lie to overthrow the will of the people; i.e. to put a stake through the heart of democracy.

For any remaining skeptics: If not to overthrow the will of the people and democracy, what do you think that election fraud Big Lie is about? Surely, you don’t think those rioters are play acting when they attempt kill those in Congress. Surely, you don’t think they believe in democracy when they attempt to trash the votes of millions of Americans.

Click me

This is how democracies die. A cult leader exhorts fanatics, the thugs terrorize all opposition and incrementally people surrender to death threats and violence. And that’s advanced when 199 of our legislators give a standing ovation to the Qanon conspiracy nut case spewing fascist hatred. Yes, fascism can happen here in America.

I’ve exhorted readers to see what Vice President Wallace had to say about fascism in America. If you believe in democracy and have not yet read his essay, please read it now.

These violent, angry thugs won’t simply melt away if Trump disappears or if this current insurrection fails – and no, it isn’t over yet. You can expect acts of terrorism, including mass shootings and bombings and perhaps political assassinations over the coming years, as highly armed, angry, hateful, bigoted, self-righteous thugs continue their war against America.

Note that violence is only being conducted by right wing fanatics. Any attempt at “whataboutism,” any attack on the center or left to somehow justify this terrorism isn’t only a false equivalency; it’s a religiously bigoted threat to the life and safety of every American and it is an assault on our democracy.

There have been ongoing efforts to bridge our massive national divide. The truth is that I haven’t a clue how to make piece with the guys wearing Auschwitz t-shirts or the Naples, FL supermarket owner who claims 400,000 deaths from Covid are a lie and that the pandemic is “total hogwash.”** Perhaps worse, I don’t feel compelled to make peace with them. I can’t even get to toleration.

Their baseless certainties represent the kind of reality denial that drives American terrorists to violence. Besides, the supermarket guy is allowing his mask-free store to be a super spreader center for Covid-19 infection. That’s another act of American violence.

I’m all for our learning to talk with one another constructively, to make peace, perhaps to have a truth and reconciliation commission. But that can only happen after violence is no longer a threat and democracy is secure. Reference: South Africa.

Now it’s time for all of us to stand and be counted in support of the FBI and whatever resources they need to stop the barbarians, including identifying and prosecuting the January 6 criminals. It’s imperative that we eliminate the clear and present danger that these home grown killers and desecrators are.

The terrorists have already breached the gates of democracy and are buoyed by their treasonous actions because they see January 6 as a victory for themselves. If we are to continue our bold experiment in self-rule, we better get some victories notched against the barbarians damned fast.

———————-

Finally,

From Morgan Freeman as Judge Leonard White in the closing scene of the 1990 film, The Bonfire of the Vanities:

 

“I’ll tell you what justice is. Justice is the law. And the law is man’s feeble attempt to set down the principles of decency. Decency!

“And decency is not a deal. It isn’t an angle or a contract or a hustle. Decency – decency is what your grandmother taught you. It’s in your bones.

“Now, you go home. Go home and be decent people. Be decent.”

————————–

* For spewers of death threats, we all know that your anonymous threatening brands you a coward. It’s the act of people with such low self-esteem and strong sense of impotence that it’s the only thing they can find to help them feel powerful. With that in mind, I offer them a wish:

I wish you a pony in your back yard and a new bike to replace the one you ruined. I wish you unicorns crossing your path and pink, heart-shaped candies on Valentine’s Day.

Then, when you’re feeling all sweet from the candy, my real wish is for you to call or write those you threatened. Apologize to them and beg for forgiveness as an act of contrition. It will be your first step back into the embrace of democracy.

** That isn’t a hypothetical example; it’s what the guy said.

In fact, many people are claiming that Covid-19 is a hoax, even as they see death all around and see our over-maxed hospitals with exhausted, weeping staff and even as these deniers themselves gasp their last breath. I don’t understand that and have asked for an explanation, but none has been offered, so I’m asking again. If you can explain that, please do so in the Comments section below to help us all to understand.

—————————————-

Ed. note: We need to spread the word so that we make a critical difference, so,

  1. Did someone forward this to you? Welcome! Please subscribe and pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) Use the simple form above on the right.
  2. Engage in the Comments section below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. Said John Maynard Keynes, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” So, educate me and all of us. That’s what the Comments section is for.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Stampeding Dishonesty Is Trampling Everything In Its Path


This is about people who are knowingly saying things that are false. It’s called lying.

It’s not just that the dishonesty is present. It’s about its tentacles spreading malevolently and the speed of its corrosive march.

Trump’s blatant dishonesty was on full display when he called for the execution of the Central Park Five after they had been fully exonerated by DNA evidence. He moved on to the birther lie, then “Lock her up!” Then he proceeded to tell over 30,500 lies while in office, nearly one per hour for four years.

But the biggest pile of dishonesty is that of the senators, congressmen/women, pundits, talk show blatherers, TV fake news outlets*, governors, sycophants and cowards. They both have and are supporting Trump’s  Big Lie of a fraudulent election.

I have labeled other Trump lies as the Big Lie but I was premature in awarding the label. There is no bigger lie than to lie in order to overthrow our democracy and replace it with fascism. Trump proclaiming his fraudulent election Big Lie is a traitorous affront to our nation, but 140 Republican congressmen/women and 8 Republican senators have not only promoted his lie, but they have voted in favor of it, endorsing the Big Lie.

Look at that list of Big Lie promoters two paragraphs up. Every one of the people represented by those titles is getting something for themselves by promoting the Big Lie. Politicians are getting donations and votes. Pundits and talk show blatherers are getting ratings and advertising dollars. Sycophants are getting jobs and promotions. It is a whirlwind of self-serving, sell out greed as they shred the pages of the Constitution with their dirty shoes and spit on the flag.

This is going to get uglier, as we incrementally learn why warnings issued days before the January 6 insurrection were ignored and why the National Guard was prevented from being properly armed and called in to quell the rebellion – indeed, why they weren’t in place before the traitors arrived at the Capitol Building.

We’re going to learn about various conspiracies to promote the insurrection and its violence, their intent to murder members of Congress. It won’t be surprising if it’s found that government officials themselves were involved in facilitating the whole thing. Think: reconnaissance tours of the Capitol Building given to traitors led by elected officials the day before the attack.

There is nothing conservative in promoting, supporting and excusing sedition. These people are not conservatives.

Now we find this headline:

Republican Attorneys General Dark Money Group Organized Protest Preceding Capitol Mob Attack

Even as the majority of the nation was horrified the night of November 8, 2016, we didn’t hear Democrats claiming Trump didn’t win. We don’t have Democrats spouting QAnon conspiracy lies, like Jewish lasers in space starting California wild fires or that Hillary has a child sex trafficking ring (or was it child killing in order to drink their blood?) operating out of the basement of a pizza shop in DC.

All of these liars and traitors are Republicans.

There are no equivalencies. Any “they all do it” rationalizations, “they’re all liars” justifications or ways to blame George Soros are all just the refuge of liars and the willfully self-deluded.

Did you see the messages of the traitors on January 6? They were carrying Bibles and crosses and chanting “USA! USA!” and waving American flags, even as they nearly killed a Capitol cop with their flag poles. It was exactly as predicted by Henry Wallace, FDR’s second vice-president. Please download and read his clear explanation. He knew a lot about fascism, as we were in the last year of the war to defeat fascism when he wrote his essay.

It is exactly in line with a quote often attributed to Sinclair Lewis:

“When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.”

We have galloping, stampeding, cowardly dishonesty, now supporting the Big Lie to end our democracy. That’s why we need our senators to put on their big boy and big girl pants and convict Trump for his sedition.**

Trump was defeated, but those fighting his battle to end our democracy are full of self-righteous anger and hate and they aren’t going away.

Wake up, America.

——————————-

And yet more dishonesty

Rudy Giuliani has come down a long way since he was marketed as “America’s Mayor” and has debased himself repeatedly by promoting every Trump lie, fraud and fantasy, including the Big Lie. To make the point starkly, he is a lawyer who has promoted sedition in pursuit of his client’s megalomania.

Giuliani has made defamatory statements about The Lincoln Project, so he has now received Nasty Letter Number One from their lawyer. You want to read this, not just because of the Giuliani smack down, but because it describes at least metaphorically, the last four years.

We’ve been wondering what Putin has on Trump such that Trump lapdogs at every opportunity. The same question can be shifted to wondering what Trump has on Giuliani to make him do and say the most idiotic things.

Many thanks to JHA for the link.

——————————-

Quote of the Week

“Sometimes I think that the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.”

Calvin and Hobbes

——————————-

*On February 1 as our Covid-19 Response team gave its thorough update to the nation, both CNN and MSNBC televised it from start to finish. Fox News instead reported on snow in New York, including one scene of a fellow picking up snow and throwing it into the air. Gotta wonder if Fox News refused to present the Covid update live in order to avoid angering its base of pandemic deniers.

**Q: Why are Republican Senators calling on us to look forward, not backward, exhorting the nation to put Trump’s sedition behind us and not hold him accountable?

A. They don’t want to stand up and be counted doing the right thing because they will lose the votes of the radicals, which might cause them to lose their next primary. That’s more important to them than our democracy.

—————————————-

Ed. note: We need to spread the word so that we make a critical difference, so,

  1. Did someone forward this to you? Welcome! Please subscribe and pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) Use the simple form above on the right.
  2. Engage in the Comments section below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. Said John Maynard Keynes, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” So, educate me and all of us. That’s what the Comments section is for.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

You


Other than the “it’s a hoax” deniers, the super spreader attendees and the “you can’t tell me what to do” crowd, we all want to know the bottom line:

When can we get vaccinated and start down the road in the direction of something resembling what used to be normal?

Good thing you’re so smart that you’re reading this, because here’s your answer. Answers, plural, really.

In this nice piece of reporting by Helen Braswell of STAT you’ll learn why it’s taking so long to secure supplies of vaccines, distribute them and get a few cc’s into your arm, and much more. Plus, she provides a link for where to get vaccinated.

So, track down your vaccinations – get on the right list – and keep wearing your mask, socially distancing, washing hands and avoiding large gatherings for, oh, say the next 11 months.

——————————-

Republicans in Congress have suddenly been cured of their cyclical 4-year amnesia – sort of like the 17-year locusts – and have again discovered how awful and terrible and unconscionable deficits and debt are. The cure for their affliction is the same each time: the presence of a Democrat in the White House. Absent a Democrat living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue they can’t remember either of the “d” words and are peachy happy to increase spending and lower taxes on the wealthy. It happens every time. It’s too tiresome to list such things again, so just refer to this post for some sad recollections.

The point of mentioning the spontaneous remission of Republican amnesia is that their deficit fighting may well impact your health very soon. They are self-righteously invoking deficit and debt to refuse Covid relief in just about all forms, including providing money for the states to get vaccines into arms.

Recall that during the last administration of President He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, the de facto Covid plan was for the feds to dump vaccines into states and then just walk away. Over the course of the prior 8 months they had been absolutely inept at crafting a plan to apportion vaccines sensibly and coordinate efforts to distribute vaccines to where needles and arms were waiting. The entire plan was solely to dump vaccines at airports. How’s that working for you?

Now the Rs want to restrict the money to fight this killer disease by, for example, severely limiting what goes to already cash strapped states. That’s cash strapped as in: laying off police and teachers because they have no money to pay them. How do you suppose the feds stiffing the states will work for you and your health?

Did I mention that 3,000 – 4,000 Americans are dying every day from this disease, while millions of doses of vaccines are sitting in freezers? What’s wrong with this picture and how’s that working for you?

If you have a senator or congressperson with an R next to his/her name, be sure to call them and ask why they don’t care if granny or your kids’ teachers or your neighbor or you all die. Ask them if instead of fully funding everything needed to end the pandemic in this country whether they instead will be co-sponsoring yet another tax cut bill for the rich.

And while you’re talking with them, ask if they’re dumb enough to believe that Democrats are running child sex trafficking rings or drinking the blood of children or any of the other ought-to-be unbelievable conspiracy theories. Perhaps they’re just going along with the crazies in order to be re-elected. Too bad, because that emboldens the crazies.

Exactly what went wrong with education in America that allowed people to believe such detached-from-reality stuff? How did we breed millions willing to surrender their common sense and to reject the realities of science and learning? Why have we allowed people with big megaphones to incite anger, rage and violence? And why have we allowed self-serving, power hungry people to put themselves ahead of our country?

Here’s a memo to Republicans in Congress from Sheila Markin’s recent post:

Hey you guys, what about standing up en masse to educate your duped base instead of caving in? Just tell your constituents the truth:

Biden won.

Trump lost.

Biden is a good guy and a moderate, not a radical flame throwing Antifa.

Trump incited an un-American attack on our government.

Is that really so hard to do?

Our democracy needs you to stop the disinformation and defend the truth. Trump is banned from Twitter. Now’s your big chance.

Something very freaky and weird and dangerous has happened and it has sorely affected our democracy and is threatening your life.

Last time: How’s that working for you?

——————————-

For more on the insanity, watch the video about South Dakota’s shameful ranking of having the worst mortality rate in the nation and the 3rd worst in the world. “How Gov. Kristi Noem Rebranded Her Failures as ‘Freedom’” is a study in self-promotion in place of the health of the people.  After viewing the video, ask yourself how that’s working for the people of South Dakota.

——————————-

Another important thing

Insurrection, impeachment, expanding GOP insanity and far more are happening with the result that other critically important issues get ignored due to our overwhelm. One such critically important issue is the humanitarian crisis at our southern border, as deportations of refugees and incarceration in concentration camps of children continue. It’s time we learned more.

I’ve signed up to attend the watch party with Witness at the Border on Friday, Jan 29, 6:30 PM CST. Will you join me? Use this link to sign up:

https://www.mobilize.us/witnessattheborder/event/371870/?referring_vol=2566916&rname=Jack&timeslot=2630094&share_medium=email_link&share_context=email_1

——————————-
Last thing

Jennifer Rubin writes for The Washington Post. She used to be a sane Republican. She’s still sane, but I don’t know if she considers herself to be a Republican now.

Either way, she offers 50 things that are better already. Read and smile.

—————————————-

Ed. note: We need to spread the word so that we make a critical difference, so,

  1. Did someone forward this to you? Welcome! Please subscribe and pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) Use the simple form above on the right.
  2. Engage in the Comments section below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. Said John Maynard Keynes, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” So, educate me and all of us. That’s what the Comments section is for.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

What’s Next?


Chinese pictograph for crisis: danger plus opportunity

Earth’s tectonic plates have been put on notice that they are likely to be pushed back to where they belong.

Perhaps there are many who didn’t pay attention or who even boycotted the inauguration, so they did not hear the words that were spoken or feel the integrity behind them. Nevertheless, the world has been told that a new banner is flying. Beneath it is another banner containing this pictograph:

The night when President Obama was declared the winner of the 2008 election, mixed with the joy and renewal of hope of that night, I felt the weight that was about to fall on that man’s shoulders. We were headlong into the Great Recession, the likes of which few living Americans had experienced. It was a financial hole so deep that it affected the entire world. Perversely, within his first month in office Senate and House Republicans were daftly criticizing Obama for having failed to fully fix the financial crisis by then.

At the same time, we were enmeshed in two wars, both of which had been avoidable and which now were intractable, with no foreseeable exit. And it was clear that Obama would face nothing but fierce opposition from Republicans.

Perhaps you recall the reports of the Republicans who met at a restaurant on the night of his election and decided that their number one job was to “Make Obama a one-term president.” Their focus wasn’t to restore our national economy and get Americans back to work. It wasn’t to end the wars and bring our troops home. It wasn’t to form a more perfect union. Their celebration of our most recent exercise in democracy was to commit to obstructing progress and to regain power for themselves.

Obama passed the Affordable Care Act in his first two years, but not much more over the following 6 years, as a blizzard of Republican filibusters and dead letter legislation hampered any progress to overcome our enormous national challenges. Now, the challenges are even greater for President Biden.

There is the pandemic, our cratered economy, damaged international relations, compromised national security, the global climate threat, domestic terrorism and, oh yes, two intractable wars, plus much more. Biden’s first two years better be greatly productive and felt strongly by the American people, or his remaining time in office could be stifled in the same way as Obama’s. Refer again to the pictograph at the top right of this post.

From Ezra Klein’s brilliant essay, Democrats, Here’s How to Lose in 2022. And Deserve It:

But now Democrats have another chance. To avoid the mistakes of the past, three principles should guide their efforts. First, they need to help people fast and visibly. Second, they need to take politics seriously, recognizing that defeat in 2022 will result in catastrophe  .  .  .  And, finally, they need to do more than talk about the importance of democracy. They need to deepen American democracy.

Our nation is terribly sick, both medically and culturally. Not much, especially the economy, will get better until we stop the pandemic. Biden has rightly put that at the top of his to-do list, and doing so will meet Klein’s first imperative of fast and visible benefit to the people. To accomplish that he and his team will have to do something Trump’s team failed to do about the pandemic: deliver on the promise. No more bumbling. Making things more difficult is that Biden will have a lot of obstacles to overcome to get that or anything else done, and the Republican obstruction machine has already cranked up.

Now that a Democrat is in the White House they have suddenly discovered how awful deficits and debt are, just as they did in 2009 when Obama arrived. They didn’t seem particularly interested in such things when George W. Bush started two wars and cut taxes or when Trump squandered $2 trillion to enrich already rich people. Their now-regained fiscal stinginess is one of their favorite obstacles to progress that they love to place in front of Democrats.

Sen. Josh Hawley unconscionably raises an encouraging power fist to Trump’s mob of insurrectionists

Sen. Josh Hawley (he of the power fist salute to American domestic terrorists) objected without cause to a Biden secretary appointment. I’m not in Hawley’s head, but I suspect that he’s hoping to become the inheritor of Trump’s “base” and run for President on the White Supremacist ticket in 2024. There are plenty of other Republican senators and congressmen/women with equally overriding self-serving motives, who openly embrace extremist, hate-fueled conspiracy lies and who are just as power hungry.

With Chuck Schumer at the helm of the Senate we won’t have to worry about a pile up of ignored legislation, like the stacks of folders of House-passed legislation in McConnell’s office. Nevertheless, the filibuster remains for Republicans to use to stop necessary things from happening. Eliminating it will be difficult and doing so is a double edge sword that may prove to be harmful in the long term. But with it in place for obstructionists to use, all we’re left to count on is a sufficient cadre of Republican senators who will put country first. Bear in mind that hope is not a strategy and, by itself, simply can’t get the job done.

What can help, of course, are executive orders, many of which Biden signed in the afternoon following his inauguration. It’s a good start toward neutering the enormous list of Trump’s unscrupulous and unconscionable actions.

Ending the pandemic and embarking, for example, on a Rooseveltian infrastructure program will heal us medically and put Americans back to work, even as it will require bi-partisan cooperation. It will be a huge step toward the culture change and economic recovery we so desperately need.

That alone won’t cool off all the red hot, militant crazies, but people with money in their pockets are far less angry, not least because they feel a sense of dignity and of being in control of their own lives. Re-engaging everyone in such personal ways will be fast and visible to the public and will strengthen our entire country.

We hold the promise in our hands. It’s up to us to make that promise come alive. In the words of Amanda Gorman, “If only we are brave enough to be it.”

That’s what’s next.

For more, be sure to read Sheila Markin’s post here.

———————

Finally

From poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen:

Ring the bells that still can ring.
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything.
That’s how the light gets in.

These are hard times and it’s difficult to know what to do and where to start. What is important is simply that we start. That we ring the bells that still can ring. We will never run out of naysayers, vapid criticism and self-serving idiocy. What’s important is that we refuse to let such things impede progress.

Follow Leonard Cohen’s advice. Today is a good day for that.

—————————————-

Ed. note: We need to spread the word so that we make a critical difference, so,

  1. Did someone forward this to you? Welcome! Please subscribe and pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) Use the simple form above on the right.
  2. Engage in the Comments section below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. Said John Maynard Keynes, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” So, educate me and all of us. That’s what the Comments section is for.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Three Questions, One Answer and A Snow Job


1. Question

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was widely praised for standing up to President Trump by refusing to “find” 11,780 votes for Trump.

Question: When did the bar get set so low that just refusing to commit a felony was cause for praise and celebration?

2  Question

The end of Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution reads:

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the end of their next Session. [emphasis mine]

Question: Trump has been allowed to appoint “acting” secretaries of Executive departments and avoid Senate scrutiny for nearly all of his presidency. Why weren’t his unconfirmed picks challenged when their clocks ran out?

3. A Question and An Answer

How is it that thousands of Americans rioted, defacing and violating the people’s seat of government and threatening murder, yet they see themselves as true patriots, even as they were clearly violating the Constitution and the law?

I have at least a partial answer for that one: These people have grievances that are very real to them. You might not like or agree with all of them, but they are powerful for these people.

For example, they really dislike being insulted and dismissed as “deplorables” by “elites.” They respond to that dumping of humiliation exactly as you would. And they most certainly don’t like being lied to, especially by people with a lot of money, which includes members of Congress, as they see it.

For decades politicians have been promising to bring back good jobs, the manufacturing jobs that pay well and allow for a solid middle class life for them and their families. Instead, they’ve watched as town after town lost their strongest employers and their towns became boarded up shells of what they once were.

It’s a huge impact on them to have their economic security undermined. They’re just like you in wanting to be self-sufficient and not needing to be dependent on others. I was reminded of that recently when I delivered a neighborhood collection of groceries to the local food bank. One of the workers told me how humiliated people feel when they have become dependent on handouts to feed their families.

You won’t like the next example.

Over their lifetimes these angry people have seen the increase in power and status for non-whites, women, religious minorities and concessions made to immigrants. To white men viewing everything through a zero-sum lens, that means less power, status and opportunity for them. They see the superior position that they believe is rightfully theirs being compromised and incrementally being taken away.

Yes, that’s racist, misogynist and xenophobic. But it’s threatening to these people and a powerful inducement to rebel. For additional clarification, refer to The American Civil War, which, clearly, isn’t over. We have to find better ways.

There’s far more, of course. Just get that people only act as they did on January 6 for powerful reasons and those reasons don’t include their being stupid. I urge you to read Thomas Edsall’s compilation of insights from expert thought leaders in his piece, “White Riot“.

As much as I insist on accountability, we urgently need to deal with our realities in more ways than just locking up the perps. We need to deal with the root causes of the anger and desperation that drive people to act in this most unpatriotic and dangerous way. Otherwise, we will be condemned to a never ending cycle of hate, violence and suffering.

4. A Snow Job

In the debate over the article of impeachment in the House of Representatives on January 13 I heard Republicans oppose it by invoking:

    • The Wright brothers (yes, really)
    • There is grievous harm being done to Republicans when they are confronted in public by meanies.
    • There was violence and vandalism done at BLM protests.
    • A list of imagined Trump good stuff was recited.
    • There were meanies who wanted Trump impeached from the beginning of his presidency.
    • Moon landings (yes, really)
    • Claims that Trump was cleared of conspiracy and extortion in the Ukraine affair (not true).
    • Claims that Trump was exonerated by the Mueller Report (not true).
    • Nancy Pelosi is a meanie.
    • Republicans are poor victims of a double standard. Woe is them. So unfair. They’re victims. Feel sorry for them. (Yes, they pretty much said those things.)
    • Swift justice is unfair.
    • This is a great country.
    • The economy.
    • Yeah, but Democrats are bad guys, too (the “false equivalence” and “dirty hands” defenses).
    • Trump didn’t conspire with the Russians.
    • Trump didn’t incite violence because all he did was to decry election fraud.
    • The bill of impeachment is a fraud against the people of the United States.
    • Impeachment will be divisive.
    • Trump wanted peaceful protest.
    • The protesters were peaceful. (Seriously, a duly elected congressman said this just days after the rioting mob was looking for him in order to kill him.)
    • There is illegal immigration going on.
    • BLM was founded by Marxists.
    • Democrats have encouraged and endorsed violence.
    • Democrats support defunding the police and taking everyone’s guns.
    • Republicans are victims.
    • We’re in a race to the bottom and we need to do better.
    • The president didn’t incite violence.
    • It’s time to put people over power.
    • This isn’t due process. (Actually, that’s correct, although dumb to say. Per the Constitution, Article 1, Section 2, Clause 5, due process happens in the Senate.)
    • Can’t we all just get along? This needs to be a time of healing.
    • Democrats are hypocrites.
    • Impeachment will start us down the path of cleansing political speech.
    • Democrats have just realized that riots are bad.
    • We shouldn’t waste time on this and instead should get to work on issues for the American people.
    • There are only 7 days left in Trump’s term.
    • Impeachment will offend the people who voted for Trump.
    • This is just an effort to divide the nation.
    • Democrats are hypocrites.
    • None of the rioters has been asked if they rioted because the president told them to do so.
    • Impeachment is a political act.
    • Democrats are hypocrites – seriously, we really mean it, which is why we repeat ourselves.
    • Two wrongs [impeachments] don’t make a right.
    • Democrats oppose free speech.
    • Trump is pro-life and America First. Democrats hate that.
    • There is a double standard regarding people committing violence.
    • The other side only wants to attack and demean.
    • It’s not fair.
    • Democrat committee chairs lied; Republicans didn’t.
    • The assault on the Capitol was pre-planned, but that isn’t included in the articles of impeachment.
    • Trump did a lot to make America great.
    • We need to tone down the volume and heal the nation.
    • The Capitol police deserve our applause. (Actually, that line got applause.)
    • Many Lincoln quotes were quoted. (Nevertheless, he did not make an appearance.)
    • We should seek higher ground.

The old saying is that if the facts are on your side, pound on the facts. If the law is on your side, pound on the law. If neither the facts nor the law is on your side, pound on the table.

The list above, all from Republican congresspeople, is nothing more than pounding on the table. A few statements might be true; still, they miss the point.

THE ONLY ISSUE before the House in this hearing was whether Donald Trump urged violent insurrection and sedition against the Constitution of the United States and whether he should be impeached for his actions. It was not about any of the distractions listed above.

Not even a single Republican congressman/woman opposed the impeachment on the merits. Not one.

.

With the exception of the 10 Representatives who stood strong for the Constitution, these whining Republicans haven’t the courage to call out the traitorous acts that put lives and our democracy at risk. Again. They violated their supposedly sacred oath of office to protect and defend. Again. They put on display their profound moral incompatibility with truth. Again. A 2016 word comes to mind to describe these representatives: deplorable. And I’m no elite.

Now conspiracy hangs in the air, as we begin to uncover evidence of members of Congress giving tours – reconnaissance missions – to insurrectionists the day before the insurrection, and of Capitol police opening doors and removing barricades for the intruders. As ugly as things are now, they are going to become far uglier.

———————————–

Best Quote

Thanks to NK for offering this:

“[2020 was] like looking both ways before crossing the
street and then getting hit by a submarine.”
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2021Countdown

Ed. note: We need to spread the word so that we make a critical difference, so,

  1. Did someone forward this to you? Welcome! Please subscribe and pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) Use the simple form above on the right.
  2. Engage in the Comments section below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. Said John Maynard Keynes, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” So, educate me and all of us. That’s what the Comments section is for.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

JA

 


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

1 2 3 4 5 6 … 10  Scroll to top