loser

A Different Take


The Atlantic’s Jonathan V. Last Thinks Mike Pence Is an American Hero
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You read that right.

Pence was on the wrong side of nearly every issue, like reproductive rights, gay rights, failing to prevent an Indiana HIV outbreak from becoming far worse and more. His public religiosity didn’t extend to caring about those who got hurt by his policies. And he sucked up to Trump and his malfeasance for four years plus two campaigns.

All he did on January 6 was to obey the rules of the Constitution to do his clerical job. He could have spoken up at least a month before the insurrection and that might have saved lives, but he refused to do that.

We all know that he was under great pressure from Trump, who didn’t “want to be Pence’s friend anymore” if Pence wouldn’t lie and cheat Trump back into the White House. Pence didn’t knuckle under. That one time. I guess they aren’t friends now.

Sorry, Mr. Last, but this guy’s no hero. His tombstone might read, “At long least I got one right – in the last minute.” The sub-text will be all the things he got so terribly wrong for such a very long time.

Similarly, we learned from the June 23 public hearing of the January 6 House Select Committee proceedings that DOJ men of integrity had prevented Trump from invoking the Department in his efforts to steal the 2020 election. But, like Pence, they didn’t speak up when it could have prevented the injury, death and destruction of the January 6 insurrection.

What If  .  .  .

.  .  .  the January 6 insurrectionists and seditionists had started a large bonfire just a short way from the gallows intended to be used to hang Mike Pence?  What if they had brought with them a poster size version of the United States Constitution? What if they had ripped one page at a time from it and fed it into the flames of that bonfire? Would that have been worse than what they actually did?

They were bashing the Capitol Building, defecating on its marble floor, ransacking offices, bear spraying cops and viciously mauling every person and every thing that stood for our Constitution and our country. They tried to overturn the democratically determined will of We The People. They tried to paralyze the very government that is outlined in the Constitution. They sought to establish authoritarianism in place of democracy. They wanted and still want government by vigilante.

They were motivated and led by Republican officials, the likes of which have been working to overturn and end our democracy since at least 1960 and probably since FDR. The Republican Party may as well have burned the Constitution back then.

So, what if the insurrectionists, the seditionists, had lit a bonfire and burned the Constitution? They as much as did that, as they tried their best to end America. And vacuously, ignorantly, they claimed they are the patriots. That was no 1776 event. It was a Benedict Arnold betrayal.

One More Time

We’ve known all along that Trump knew he lost the election fairly and we’ve learned through testimony to the January 6 House Select Committee that he was told that by an army of his own people. They begged him to tell the insurrectionists to stand down, but he didn’t listen to any of them, not even his own daughter. He sat watching and enjoying the destruction. And there is exactly one reason why.

Trump was desperate to remain president because he knew that as soon as he was an ordinary citizen once again that he would no longer have the protection against prosecution that accompanies that office. He knew that prosecutions for election tampering, money laundering, conspiracy to commit a dozen crimes and so much more would come down on his head and he would spend the rest of his life in prison. That’s why he was and is willing to do anything, bray any unpatriotic lie and more just to stay in office.

Plus, of course, he would have to admit publicly that he’s a loser.

“Desperate people do desperate things.” – Rachel Caine

Special from The Texas Republican Party

From the June 18, 2022 report by Professor Heather Cox Richardson:

.  .  . delegates to a convention of the Texas Republican Party today approved platform planks rejecting “the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and [holding] that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States”; requiring students “to learn about the dignity of the preborn human,” including that life begins at fertilization; treating homosexuality as “an abnormal lifestyle choice”; locking the number of Supreme Court justices at 9; getting rid of the constitutional power to levy income taxes; abolishing the Federal Reserve; rejecting the Equal Rights Amendment; returning Christianity to schools and government; ending all gun safety measures; abolishing the Department of Education; arming teachers; requiring colleges to teach “free-market liberty principles”; defending capital punishment; dictating the ways in which the events at the Alamo are remembered; protecting Confederate monuments; ending gay marriage; withdrawing from the United Nations and the World Health Organization; and calling for a vote “for the people of Texas to determine whether or not the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation.”

That’s pretty much the horrific bleeding edge of the GOP today and what they want to do to America. So, right now, this minute, mark your calendar to vote – November 8, 2022 and November 5, 2024 – unless you want what’s in that paragraph above.

From reader and writer Steve Sheffey:

Democracy is not a friend of Republicans, and instead of changing their policies to win votes, they are fighting democracy so that they don’t have to change their policies.

A Republican Song Of Today

To the Tune of This Land Is Your Land

Chorus

This land is my land,

I don’t mean thy land.

It’s just for my clan,

Not for those we can’t stand.

So if you’re all woke

You’re sure not our folk.

This land was made for me and mine.

Verse 1

I schemed and hated

And I agitated.

And scammed and ripped-off

And l lied my ass off.

We won’t be lonely

‘Cause it’s White’s only.

This land was made for me and mine.

Chorus

Verse 2

We band together

To hate forever.

Stick it where it don’t shine,

‘Cus you just aren’t me’n mine.

We are the patriots,

Unlike you idiots.

This land was made for me and mine.

Chorus

Verse 3

So, send the Blacks back

To where they came from.

We don’t need Asians

Making us all feel dumb.

And adios to

Hispanics, all of you.

This land was made for me and mine.

Chorus

 

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Our governance and electoral corruption and dysfunction and our ongoing mass murders are all of a piece, all the same problem with the same solution:
Fire the bastards!
.
The days are dwindling for us to take action. Get up! Do something to make things better.

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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. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
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JA


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

Moving On


Reading time – 4:43  .  .  .

The election should be over – after all, it only takes 270 and it’s clear to all who’s won and who has lost. But this is going to be dragged through the courts for a while by baseless Trump lawsuits and fantasy charges of fraud. Trump’s anti-American histrionics and tweet storms won’t change the outcome, though, so we proceed.

What Has Happened

Donald Trump has spent his entire life trying to prove he isn’t a loser because his father told him that being a loser is the lowest, most worthless thing. Yet who but a loser goes bankrupt six times, including bankrupting four casinos? CASINOS!

Not even the moral rot of lying, cheating, stealing, defrauding, and even compromising the security of this country is off limits for Trump’s bottomless neediness. He tried to turn this country into an autocracy to serve himself. He has spewed hatred at innocent people and has mocked disabled people and Gold Star families. He demeaned and defamed both our war dead and even our doctors during this pandemic and made this virus yet more deadly.

Many thanks to MZ for the pic

There has never been a low that is so low that Trump would not go there.

Now, though, it’s all caught up to him. The con is over. The jig is up. The American people have held him accountable and it’s plain for anyone to see that he is the loser. It’s the one thing he cannot handle, even as the truth is staring him in the face.

Trump-as-loser is an enormously satisfying thing for those of us who can still remember the meaning of words like “moral” and “decency” and “empathy” and “duty” and “protect and defend” and “loyalty” and “integrity.” We know right from wrong and we won’t tolerate any more of his wrong.

Click me

It’s our turn to take the reins, to make up with friends he offended (see the quote from Paris, France below), to put adversaries on notice and to re-balance our nation for the benefit of We the People instead of for Trump.

So, let us end this long dark night of our country with the familiar words of Glinda, the good witch of the north:

“Let the joyous news be spread,

“The wicked old witch at last is dead.”

It’s going to take many years to fix what Trump has broken and we begin the process right now.

What’s Next

Said Fintan O’Toole of the Irish Times In April, “If a new administration succeeds [Trump] in 2021, it will have to clean up the toxic dump he leaves behind.” So, we don our citizenry Hazmat suits and have at it.

Love of country . . . – Joe Biden

I’m imagining that during the lame duck session President-Elect Biden will be preparing some executive orders to sign in the afternoon of January 20 for things needing immediate attention, like:

Restoring full status to the CDC and announcing steps to end this pandemic

Reinstating DACA protections and ordering ICE to stand down and to reunite with their parents all those children in cages at the southern border

Reversing the Muslim ban

Rejoining the World Health Organization (WHO)

Rejoining the JCPOA to make Iran stop nuclear weapons production

Rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement so that we leave an inhabitable place for our grandchildren

Rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership so that we don’t cede all of the Pacific rim to the Chinese

Imposing sanctions on Russia for the Putin-led interference in our elections

It’s time to roll up our collective shirtsleeves and get to work repairing this nation. While President Biden is signing those executive orders, we Americans ourselves start by making peace with one another. See the chart at the bottom for the challenges we’ll have to overcome. And read this.

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Closing Metaphor

I’ve had a persistent vision of life since I was a little guy, this of a long wagon train moving west. The people in the wagons and on horseback and those walking are on a very long journey and all the regular things of life happen along the way. Sometimes someone dies and the wagon train must stop to bury the dead. Prayers are said, tears are streamed and grief is wailed. But when that is over, the people know they can’t stay and that there’s only one thing to do: move on. So, they once again mount their wagons and their horses and on they go toward their new frontier. Progress always means leaving something behind.

We have had much suffering over the past four years and not just from Covid. A major casualty has been our sense of national unity and a certain respect for one another. Some of our most cherished institutions, norms and values have been crushed. Some can be repaired; some may have to be buried. Regardless, there is only one thing to do: we must mount our wagons and our horses and continue on toward our new frontier.

The challenge for all of us is to make sure that everyone comes along. It may be difficult, but we are – all of us – bound to this wagon train and we are headed toward our new frontier together.

C’est la vie.

Immediate reactions to the Biden/Harris win:

From Mayor Anne Hidalgo of Paris, France: “Welcome back, America.” She speaks for the world.

From David Hogg, survivor of the shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School and co-founder of Never Again: “Who’s ready to win GA?”

From Lt. Col. (Ret.) Alexander Vindman: “Congratulations to President Elect @JoeBiden and Vice President Elect @KamalaHarris. I am grateful for your willingness to continue to serve the American people. Now we can start to heal and rebuild.”

From Preet Bharara, former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York: “Who wants to dance?”

Chirpus invertibratis Republicanis, AKA, “spineless cricket”

From Van Jones of CNN: You must watch this clip.

From Don Lemon of CNN: You must watch this clip.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky immediately sent congratulations to President-Elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris.

From most Republicans in Congress: crickets

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Click me for the full report

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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. Sometimes I change my opinions because I’ve learned more about an issue. So, educate me. 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.

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