Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

 

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN

 

SATURDAY NIGHT DANCING

 

Shake your booty!

 

GUEST POST BY DAVE MILLER

Dave Miller is our guest poster this week at P.E. Here are some thoughtful and insightful questions that he's asking of conservatives and liberals. I hope you give these questions your serious consideration and serious answers.

Thank you, Dave.

2022 --  The year of our midterm elections.

To mark the occasion, I’ve decided to offer up five questions to both conservatives and progressives alike. Questions that will give you a chance, not to vent, but to think. A chance to see how people of other political stripes think about issues facing their respective tribes. And hopefully, if people really think on a few of these, maybe some will grapple with what I see as some of the difficult questions facing our political leaders today.

I’ll start with questions for my conservative friends first, and then follow up with another set for my progressive amigos.

1. Conservatives, especially in the 2020 elections, decried mail-in and expanded no reason absentee voting. Many have called for a return to in person one day voting. In California, there are 13 districts with over 200,000 active voters. In Texas, there are 33 districts with more than 200,000 voters. Similarly, in both Rhode Island and Idaho, there are two districts with more than 200,00 active voters.

If we calculate that the average voter will need 10 minutes to wade through his or her ballot, and those polling locations were open 12 hours, we would need on average, at least 2500 voting machines in each of these districts. Plus staff.

When you extrapolate this across the US, it will mean millions of new voting machines and a massive ramp-up in hiring.Given that elections are in the domain of states, how should we fund this?

2. If we look around the world, the United States is an outlier when it comes to gun violence. Simply put, more people die as a result of gun violence annually in the United States than anywhere else in the world.

What should be done to stop this violence and how can we make it happen?

3. We all know politicians play fast and loose with the truth. Statements like “He misspoke” and “That statement is no longer operative” can, and should drive us crazy. Most would agree that we should excuse public lies when national security is at stake. 

But outside of that instance, can you explain when a presidential statement is a lie and tell me whether you believe a president should strive to always publicly tell the truth?

4. Fact: The events of 1/6 happened. On that day US officers were beaten with flags, poles and other instruments. The US Capitol was invaded and defaced. Congressional offices were ransacked. The vice president was threatened as were members of Congress, many of whom feared for their lives.

Was it wrong for people to resort to violence that day as a means of airing their grievances towards the federal government? 

5. And of course, my final question is one of my favorites for conservatives: What ideologies would a conservative hold or behaviors would they exhibit that you would consider extremist and/or dangerous? And should those people be expelled from the GOP? 

The other day I offered up five questions for conservatives as we head into the 2022 midterm elections. 

Today, the shoe is on the other foot as I offer up five, I hope, equally difficult questions for progressives.

1. Immigration has become a huge issue for people living along the southern US border. The numbers of people trying to enter the US outside of normal immigration procedures has grown exponentially. 

Do you believe the US has a right to police our border and take whatever steps are necessary to keep people who try to enter the US illegally out?

2. When a family does not have enough money to pay all of its bills, they sit down and make a plan. That plan usually will include cutting expenses and raising, sometimes through another job, additional revenue. Progressives in government are generally good on the side of raising revenue, usually through more taxes.

Are there some federal programs and expenses you believe we can cut to help balance our budget, or do you believe a balanced budget is unnecessary?

3. All across red, rural America, people are losing jobs as our manufacturing and fossil energy sectors contract. This has led to an economic nightmare as health and education services as well as economic activity in these areas dwindle. 

What ideas do you have to address the economic concerns of people who live in these areas and fear losing the homestead and way of life that has been part of their family for generations?

4. After the death of George Floyd, cities across America exploded in rage. Portland is a good example of a city that was gripped in violence, but not the only city. Some protestors supporting Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police movements were anything but peaceful. State, local and federal government buildings were attacked and in some cases fire-bombed across the country. Businesses were broken into and looted.

Was it wrong for people to resort to violence in these protests as a means of airing their grievances towards various government and police agencies? 

5. Finally, a twist on the question I always ask conservatives:  Every movement or group has its extremists, and progressives are no different.What ideologies would a progressive hold or behaviors would they exhibit that you would consider extremist and/or dangerous? 

And should those people be expelled from the Democratic Party?

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN

 

Hat tip to Billions of Versions of Normal:

SATURDAY NIGHT SINGING

 

From Lin-Manuel Miranda's extraordinary smash Broadway hit, Hamilton, the song "Dear Theodosia" was performed on January 6, 2022, during the U.S. Congress's memorial to that terrible day. 

It is a song of hope about our flowering, beautiful new country, but now, hearing it, just makes me weep.

READ IT

 

From Rick Wilson's Twitter account, 1/6/2022:

Rick Wilson @TheRickWilson

"A year ago this morning the plan was in place. The conspiracy was in action. The players knew their lines and marks. They had worked for weeks to contrive a ludicrous legal argument based on specious reasoning to retain Trump's hold on office. 

It ran deep, far across the entire right-wing ecosystem. Near the center was a putrid slurry of Trump, his crime family, his goon squad sycophants, cosplay lawyers, leathery degenerate Roger Stone... ...pernicious little ratfuckers like Ali Alexander, conspiracy loons like Alex Jones, and of course the throbbing, cancerous gristle of Steve Bannon. 

One ring out was the Fox apparatus and all sniping gulls that follow the sewage barge of its daily content. For weeks, the most powerful normative force in GOP politics blasted out the Big Lie, as they do to this very moment. Its handmaiden Facebook fed algorithmically crafted poison to millions of Americans as the kinetic parts of the plot to overthrow the election spoke openly as to their intentions. 

 But the most important parts of the plot to break American the Republic were elected Republicans bred to a new era.  In the House and the Senate, a cadre of Republicans was eager for that day. Ready for it. Praying for the short, sharp shock of their nationalist revolutionary fantasies to come to be. Democracy for them is a hindrance to power. An obstacle. Their evolution from oh-God-not-Trump in 2016 to "All hail the Great Leader's shock troops" in 2021 was complete. Not every Republican felt that way, but the ones who didn't were worse. They lived in fear, and after a brief vote went back to living in fear. 

The "good Republicans" still spent the majority of the Trump era -- and that fateful day -- saying one thing and voting with him. Backing him. Why were (and are) they so scared of his mob and his enforcers? Because the purpose of terror is to terrorize. Bannon and his ilk would have danced a merry jig if the mob had murdered a Representative or Senator. They would've loved it. Pour encourager les autres, bro. If not for luck, providence, and the courage of the MCPD and Capitol Police, they would have. This was an act of terror, as even Fat Wolverine [Cruz] now admits. 

It was one more in a chain of crimes and sins by Trump and his movement to break this nation into an authoritarian kleptocracy based on fear and violence. And the GOP still won't have a moment of clarity on it. Oh, in private they still acknowledge it, but the fear of the mob is with them still. The frisson of a bullet passing close by but missing. The narrowly averted car crash. It sticks. They're trapped in a political and media ecosystem built for mob rule. I'll spare you a discourse on how fundamentally anti-conservative the Trump movement is, but the GOP is ruled now by criminals, cowards, and opportunists. The fact only two Members stood up to serve on the 1/6 committee is all you need to know.  

One of the great gifts of the GOP is a relentless commitment to staying on message, no matter how absurd it looks in either the moment or in retrospect. (QED my old twitter feed lol). What will their message be about 1/6? "Democrats are exaggerating because they're Marxist communist Antifa revolutionaries who want mandatory socialism and sharia gay marriage to your dog." "It was a protest that got a little out of hand." "But BLM was worse." "But Russiagate was worse." "Hunter's Laptop was worse." "Trump didn't do anything wrong." You know the drill. You've seen the movie. 

 Now, many do-gooders still believe we can live in a harmonious, bipartisan land of soft cuddles and cute puppies. With respect...you're out of your fucking minds. The conspiracy goes on. The plot to reinstall Trump is alive and kicking. Bannon walks free. Stone walks free. The DOJ said the right words, but the top of the chain of an attempt to overthrow the election is still in play. The elected plotters and supporters of 1/6, the Insurrection Caucus are doing great -- they're still receiving millions in corporate donations from companies that promised they'd never give to them again. 

The DC Republican media ecosystem -- defined more by their hatred of people who oppose Trump and his authoritarian statism than by any remnant of conservatism -- shrugged off their qualms and have largely forgiven 1/6.  And God love the Democrats, but when they straight-facedly say shit like "This election is about BBB and prescription drugs" they deserve to lose to these fuckers. The Trump side treats this as a cold civil war, and they're planning and ready for a more kinetic iteration.  

Just as 2020 was at every level a referendum on Trump, 2022 is a referendum on democracy. It's a stark, hard choice. The work we put in in 2022 will determine just how much the fuckery of 2024 can be contained. It's a choose-you-own-adventure for the Republic. 

I'll wrap this up. 

 When authoritarians take over, everyone is shocked. "Wait...those clowns?" But the other side isn't working in secret. They're telling you exactly what they'll do. They've promised -- and executed -- political violence.  Once you cross that Rubicon, all bets are off. No, it's not an excuse to imitate them, but unless and until the majority of Americans who don't believe in the very dark future Bannon, Trump, and Fox are painting get brutally tough in their response to it, then the bad guys have a powerful advantage. The rule of law and tradition is nice until they're marching you up the steps of the gibbet. An unpunished coup is a training exercise. 

 End."

 

“He’s not just a former

president, 

he’s a defeated former

president.”

--President Joe Biden

January 6, 2022

 

From a friend:

"A year ago today, Trumpublicans stormed the Capitol Building to overturn our election. They committed a treasonous insurrection. 

Tell it like it is."

And President Biden did just that!

President Biden's speech highlights:

"...for the first time time in our history a president had not just lost the election, he tried to prevent a peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob breached the Capitol." 

 "We must make sure that never happens again." 

 Biden said of Trump, without mentioning his name, that Trump "values power over principle," his "bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy," and "he can't accept that he lost." 

 "A former President of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. He's done so because he values power over principle, because he sees his own interest as more important than his country's interest and America's interest,"  

 "He's not just a former president," Biden said of Trump, "He's a defeated former president."

"[President Biden] warned democracy and the "promise of America" is at risk and called on the American public to "stand for the rule of law, to preserve the flame of democracy." 

"The former President and his supporters have decided the only way for them to win is to suppress your vote and subvert our elections. It's wrong. It's undemocratic. And frankly it's un-American," Biden said."

Always the whiny little sniveler, Trump lied about what President Biden said in his speech today, saying Biden "used my name today to try to further divide America." 

President Biden NEVER MENTIONED TRUMP BY NAME.

Also, President Biden told the truth.  And Trump knew that when President Biden referred to "a defeated former president" that it was him that President Biden was talking about. Give Trumpy points for being self-aware on that!

Good News!

 

Trump cancels press conference that he had scheduled for the one-year anniversary of the Capitol insurrection.

"Alyssa Farah, who worked as the Trump administration's director of strategic communications, told CNN's Kaitlin Collins on Sunday that he is getting terrible advice and should remain silent on the anniversary."

S.K.: Trump didn't know enough on his own that he should remain silent on the anniversary of one of the blackest days in America's history? A day he instigated and that caused irreparable harm to our country?

Never Forget January 6, 2021

As January 6, 2022, approaches, never, never forget what happened one year ago.

Never forget that the insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol where people were maimed and died were Trump cultists incited by Trump's Big Lie.

Never forget this: Republican Leader McCarthy: 

"Some say the riots were caused by Antifa. There is absolutely no evidence of that. And conservatives should be the first to say so. "

And this by McCarthy:

 “The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters,” McCarthy said on the House floor. “He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. These facts require immediate action by President Trump."

Not since August 24, 1814, as the War of 1812 raged on, and invading British troops marched into Washington and set fire to the U.S. Capitol, the President's Mansion, and other local landmarks, has America suffered an attack on the U.S. Capitol.  

January 6, 2021, was inspired by Trump, who refused to accept the will of the people.

I will not forget what happened that day, and I want to see everyone who planned and carried out this attack on American democracy punished and shunned for what they did.

Trumpublicans want us to pretend that what happened was just a "tiny bit of rowdiness," and to move on without having anyone answer for the seditious actions of that terrible day. 

The question now is will the Trumpublican Party, its bloggers and news sites, continue to minimize the U.S. Capitol attack by Trump supporters and continue to spread Trump's Big Lie?

Do they stand with the United States or do they stand with the terrorists?

"To be clear, framing the question to include the word 'terrorists' is accurate, given that FBI Director Christopher Wray described the Capitol riot as 'domestic terrorism' in Senate testimony. 

The federal statute defining domestic terrorism also backs this up, since the events of January 6 involved 'acts dangerous to human life' that were intended 'to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion.' "

Here's a warning to everyone about what the Republican Party has become: 

 "Reuters published a horrifying examination of 'more than 850 threatening and hostile messages aimed at election officials and staff related to the 2020 election,' nearly all of which came from Trump supporters. 

ProPublica reports that dozens of state and local officials, all Republicans, show up on secret membership lists of the Oath Keepers, a violent far-right organization that was amply represented at the Jan. 6 insurrection. 

Meanwhile, local Republican Party organizations literally celebrate the insurrection as a glorious crusade.

From a German observer: 

 "Anyone who wants to understand the USA today needs to look at Germany in 1933, and anyone who wants to understand Germany in 1933 can look at the USA today. America's democracy is in a near death spiral and 'conservatives' are blocking the first responders to reach the dying patient while they scream: 'Look! Over there! A Mask! Antifa! The Squad!' 

 When I visited the USA in spring 2016, at the time when Trump won the GOP nomination, I told my American friends, 'Why do you worry? Trump can't be elected . That's not even a question of politics but of decency.' 

When he got elected I thought that the American people would soon unite in reaction to his corruption, stupidity, and incompetence. 

When the capitol was assaulted I thought that now the GOP would recognize that their strategy of radicalization would eventually engulf them and destroy the very foundations of the country. 

Now, after 5 years, I can't help but to come to the conclusion that Trump is a genuine image of America. He is the mirror which reveals a large part of the American soul, driven by greed, racism, vileness, resentment, violence, and ignorance. 

In the last 40 years America conducted a great experiment, to transition from a free market economy to a free market society, where everything is a commodity: health, justice, education, democracy, and even human decency. It can all be traded and the only question is the price. 

Now, as this experiment is coming to its conclusion, it turns out that this free market society is incompatible with democracy itself."

SATURDAY NIGHT DANCING

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

Stay safe and healthy!

Another example...

of rabid right wingers shutting down free speech again.

This is proposed on the state level. 

It's not protected by the First Amendment, which prohibits the federal government from banning books, as far as I know. 

Does anyone know the law on this?

Oklahoma bill gives parents the right to have a book removed from a school library 

 OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma lawmaker wants to give parents the right to compel public school libraries to remove books that contains objectionable content of a sexual nature or addresses sexual preferences or sexual and gender identity. 

 Under Senate Bill 1142, if just one parent objects to a book it must be removed within 30 days. If it is not, the librarian must be fired and cannot work for any public school for two years. Parents can also collect at least $10,000 per day from school districts if the book is not removed as requested.

Trump supporting states owning the libs one death at a time:

 

*The states with the highest COVID death rates in 2021:

1.    Oklahoma

2.    Alabama

3.    West Virginia

4.    Arizona

5.    Kentucky

6.    Mississippi

7.    Wyoming

8.    Florida

9.    Georgia

10.  South Carolina

*SOURCE:  Johns Hopkins, US Census, CDC   

A new NBCLX analysis details the high cost of low vaccination: 

In 2021, the states with America’s lowest vaccination rates lost residents to COVID at a rate two to five times higher than states with high vaccination rates. 

[skip]

“Certainly you can attribute a substantial number of COVID deaths to a mistrust of public health measures, and you could probably attribute a certain amount of that to political and social trends that have happened over the past decade or more,” Dowdy said. “So I think it's fair to say that those trends have killed people.”

They sure did own the libs by killing themselves, didn't they.

I've read E.O. Wilson's books and have always admired him and his work. R.I.P.

 

From Frans de Waal's public page on Facebook:

RIP E.O. Wilson

Prof. Edward O. Wilson, one of the most distinguished and recognized American scientists in modern history, died on December 26th in Burlington, Massachusetts. He was 92.

Wilson was an inspiration to all naturalists in the world, moving easily from his deep knowledge of ants and their societies to the general synthesizing of scientific ideas and being a pioneer in the field of biodiversity and conservation.

He wrote like a poet and was awarded two Pulitzers for his books.

I've met him on multiple occasions, and he was always gracious and humble even though he was certainly no pushover and would object vigorously to ideas he didn't agree with. His own ideas met with public resistance, especially in the 1970s, and he seemed to enjoy the fight.

We've lost a giant!

Carl Zimmer wrote a nice obituary for the NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/.../27/science/eo-wilson-dead.html

See also:

https://eowilsonfoundation.org/e-o-wilson-darwins.../

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN

 

CHRISTMAS DAY DANCING

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

MERRY CHRISTMAS

The Nutcracker Ballet:

CHRISTMAS EVE 2021

 

This was my father's favorite Christmas song:

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

 

To my P.E. friends:

I wish you a healthy and peaceful holiday.

P.E. will be off for a few days while I enjoy my special family from France as they are here to celebrate Christmas with me.

Joyeux Noel! Buon Natale! Feliz Navidad! Happy Christmas! 

A Love Letter to Trump From One of His Cultists

 

You do remember Ethan Crumbly, don't you? 

Here's a billet doux written by his mother, Jennifer Crumbly, to Donald Trump.

But it could have been written by any of Trump's female cultists -- especially those on The Mother Ship who adore the guy who's been impeached twice and incited an insurrection against his own government and vice president. In fact, much of what Mrs. Cumbly writes sounds EXACTLY like what the women on the Mother Ship write about Trump on a daily basis.  

This is stomach-turning:

Ethan Crumbley's mother is a member of Donald Trump's political cult, a movement fueled by white supremacy, misogyny, sadism, anti-intellectualism and other antisocial tendencies. In a letter to Trump, Jennifer Crumbley wrote:

Mr. Trump, I actually love that you are a bad public speaker because that showed sincerity, and humility. You changed your mind, and you said "so what." You made the famous "grab them in the pussy" comment, did it offend me? No. I say things all the time that people take the wrong way, do I mean them, not always. Do I agree that you should of shown your tax returns? No. I don't care what you do or maybe don't pay in taxes, I think those are personal and if the Gov't can lock someone up over $10,000 of unpaid taxes and you slipped on by, then that shows the corruption. I like that you have failed. I love it even more that those failures taught lessons and made you one of the most successful Business Men in my history.

I love that you are not from the political spotlight, maybe you are the hope that can really uncover the politicians for what I believe they really are. I have high hopes you will shut down Big Pharma, make health care affordable for me and my MIDDLE CLASS family again. I hope you uncover the cure for cancer, because there is one, we all know it, but you are the one to prove it. I'm not scared of your big personality and quick temper….

My parents teach at a school where their kids come from illegal immigrant parents. Most of their parents are locked up. They don't care about learning and threaten to kill my mom for caring about their grades. Do you realize Mr. Trump that they get free tutors, free tablets from our Government so they can succeed. Why cant my son get those things, do we as hard working Americans not deserve that too?...

I believe YOU are the President who will make these things happen. I have NEVER had this much belief in one person, and you are it.

If this blog even makes it to your eyes…thank you. From the bottom of my heart.

Yours Truly,

A hard working Middle Class Law Abiding Citizen who is sick of getting f**ked in the ass and would rather be grabbed by the pussy.

Yeah. That "hard working Middle Class Law Abiding Citizen" gave her disturbed 15-year-old son a lethal weapon (which is illegal in Michigan), ignored his obvious mental instability; and when her son was arrested for killing 4 and maiming 7 others at his school, this "hard working Middle Class Law Abiding Citizen" took off with her husband and hid from the authorities. 

Sounds just about right for a Trump cultist.

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN

 

"Silence the angry man with love.

 

Silence the ill-natured man with kindness.

 

Silence the miser with generosity.

Silence the liar with truth."

SATURDAY NIGHT DANCING

 

Kimin Kim and Maria Khoreva 

From The Nutcracker:

Who Doesn't Love A Little Fish Opera?

 

Laurence Tribe: 

 U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich ruled last week that a corrupt effort to interrupt counting the electoral votes is a federal crime punishable by 20 years in prison even if no violence was contemplated.

GQP STIMULUS HYPOCRISY

 

South Dakota Republican Governor Noem lied to her people when she claimed that the stimulus money from President Biden's policies would go to other states if she refused it. That's not true (What a surprise! She lied!), that money would go back to the Treasury Department. Gov. Noem is taking the money and, like other GQP governors, is taking credit for being able to spend it on badly needed infrastructure programs that she was against.

Oh the hypocrisy!

Strange Things One Reads On The Internet, Part the Gazillionth

Here's what we're up against:  STUPIDITY, against which even the gods contend in vain.

Read this:

A rabid right wing Trumper wrote:

"One might wonder if George Soros is as bad as everyone on the right claims he is, how is it possible that he’s not wearing an orange jumpsuit in federal prison, or buried in an unmarked grave at a remote desert location? Is it possible that Soros is every bit as good at avoiding a “final solution” as is Crone Clinton? I don’t have any facts about Soros, so I cannot say with any degree of certitude that he’s responsible for any of the things I suspect him of masterminding or funding. How would we know if he funded the riots in Ferguson, for example, or gave “seed money” to BLM or Media Matters?

All we know is that Soros is one of the dozens, perhaps even scores, of extremely wealthy Jewish businessmen who use their billions to influence public opinion through the media conglomerates they own and manage … you know, exercising their first amendment rights and their freedom of association to manipulate the less-intelligent masses. Which makes George Soros one of the “well-protected” members of a closed society. Almost as well-protected as Crone Clinton.

I don’t mean to suggest that rich people protect Soros. Not at all — only the extremely wealthy Jews who run this country. And we know this because, in defense of Soros, writers such as Seth Cohen of Forbes Magazine spell it out for us. People hate George Soros because he’s a Jew. Everyone who doesn’t like George Soros, or doesn’t trust George Soros, or who criticizes George Soros, is a filthy anti-Semite. Forget the fact that Jewish George Soros conspired with the Nazis against his own people. "

Sigh.

They don't even read what they write!  This Trumper writes in his very first paragraph that he has NO FACTS ABOUT SOROS! ..."so I cannot say with any degree of certitude that he’s responsible for any of the things I suspect him of masterminding or funding."

And then he goes on to write that "Jewish George Soros conspired with the Nazis against his own people."  (This is a lie. And we know with certainty that it is because he wrote it after stating he knows no facts about Soros. (Here are the facts that this Trumper was too lazy to look up.)

How does one deal with people who don't believe what they themselves have written? Crazy, huh?

But these are Trumpers; and it's painful to read how confused, illogical, fraudulent, and I'm sorry -- (no, I'm not) -- to say just plain DUMB they are!

And he ends with this:

That was only a Meh Moment a long time ago. No, the only reason that people on the right continually challenge Soros is that everyone on the right is anti-Semitic.

Which, when you think about it, is quite revealing.

No. What's "revealing" is the fact that this writer is dishonest.

"How in the world does the media treat the GOP and its continued fidelity to Trump as anything but a repudiation of democracy?"

 

Forget about seeing anything about these jaw-droppingly explosive revelations about the GOP Trump enablers on any Trump-supporting blog or news site. Those GOP news sites and blogs will continue to pretend this assault on the very foundation of our democracy didn't happen or was nothing more than "a tiny bit of rowdiness." That's because they're cultists, and cultists never see their cult leader as anything but a hero, no matter how evil, how crazy, or how big a liar he is.

In fact, these revelations (from actual GOP emails) from Trump's inner circle will prove how Trump tried to pervert our democracy, steal an election, and have his thugs assault his own vice president so that he, Trump, could decertify the electoral college votes and install himself as the illegitimate POTUS.

Everyone's hair should be on fire! 

The House committee now has solid evidence of Donald J. Trump's coup to overthrow the government of the United States.

Jennifer Rubin:

"The extent of this effort reached the highest levels of our government, and it runs right through Mr. Meadows.” 

"Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) used the wording from the federal obstruction statute to ask whether former president Donald Trump “corruptly” sought to “obstruct or impede Congress’s official proceedings.” 

"Unlike many in the media and the White House, they made clear this was an attempt to overthrow democracy."

[SNIP]

"Cheney read text messages sent to Meadows on Jan. 6 by hosts Laura Ingraham, Brian Kilmeade and Sean Hannity, who all pleaded for him to get Trump to stop the Capitol violence. They knew how serious it was; they knew Trump could have stopped it. Yet since that day, they have all defended (if not revered) Trump and played down the seriousness of the scheme to overthrow the government. (Fox did not carry the hearing Monday evening, needless to say.)" 

"As Cheney said, 'These text messages leave no doubt ... multiple Fox News hosts knew the president needed to act immediately.' And they leave no doubt about their cringeworthy pandering to Trump and his base, whom they helped radicalize." 

"As Ingraham declared, 'This is hurting all of us.' ”

[SNIP] 

 "Donald Trump Jr. apparently sent multiple texts pleading with Meadows to persuade Trump to stop the violence. Cheney read from some: 'He’s got to condemn this s--- ASAP. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough. ... We need an Oval Office address. He has to lead now. It has gone too far. And gotten out of hand.' Meadows responded: 'I am pushing it hard. I agree. '

In short, Trump refused to heed pleas to call off the mob, endangering the lives of lawmakers and the vice president and grinding a constitutional process to a halt. Even Trump’s son knew this was a devastating event."

*********************

We are living within a pandemic of ignorance and deceit. All the evidence is before us, and Trumpublicans will do nothing more than shrug. 

Trump's cultists idolize him, as he has helped legitimize the basest feelings of their nature. Nearly half this country hold no truths, no matter how black and white, to be self evident. They are a plague helping to decimate what's left of our institutions.

Ron Filipkowski @RonFilipkowski: 

What did we learn? 

1. All the Fox hosts had Meadows' cell number.

 

2. They either didn’t have Trump’s, or he was blowing them off. 

3. They believed Trump and only Trump had the ability to control the mob.

4. They believed they had influence over Trump and could get him to do what they wanted.

 

5. Meadows either never relayed their messages to Trump, or he blew them off.

 

6. Everyone in Trump’s orbit -- media, friends, WH staff, Cabinet, family, and Members of Congress -- were begging him to tell them to stop but he refused to do anything.

GUEST POST BY DAVE MILLER

 

A Thank You to P.E. commenter and guest poster, Dave Miller, for this thoughtful contribution:

It has recently been reported in Forbes and elsewhere that after a ten month audit of the 2020 elections in Wisconsin, which President Trump lost by over 20,000 votes, no voter fraud has been found.

 

Here are a few excerpts from an exhaustive dive into those election results by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty.

 

•   In all likelihood, more eligible voters cast ballots for Joe Biden than Donald Trump. We found limited instances where ineligible persons voted or attempted to cast ballots. We found no evidence of more than one vote being cast in the name of the same voter. And our analysis of the results and voting patterns does not give rise to an inference of fraud.

 

•   Donald Trump won communities that used Dominion voting machines with 57.2%, an increase from 2016. WILL’s review found that jurisdictions that used Dominion voting machines had no effect on the expected vote total.

 

Take a moment and let the results of this study sink in. Deep. Because these results essentially mirror the results we saw in Arizona. In both of these states, Former President Trump and his allies have, without any evidence, alleged widespread fraud. The reported results support the views from Secretaries of State across the land, from both political parties who under penalty of perjury, attested that our recent elections were free, fair and devoid of voter fraud.

 

Now, that’s not to say there were not problems.

 

As the Wisconsin report shows, there were times there, and in other states, where officials bent or even created new election procedures out of whole cloth, potentially breaking state and local laws. However, this was mostly what state officials felt was prudent given that we had to hold a national election in the middle of a pandemic.

 

However, this is the crux of the matter, to date… even with the anomalies brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic that caused political leaders in both conservative and left leaning states to change election procedures, audits show few people voted who were not entitled to vote, or voted multiple times.

 

Studies and audits also show that the widespread memes of dead people voting in the election are either false, or when it was found, mostly involved Republicans. Other studies and research lay waste to the claim of far-right conservative voters that millions of illegal voters stepped up to vote for and swing the election to Joe Biden. In the words of Lorraine Minnite, Professor of Public Policy at Rutgers University and reported by the Austin Statesman and other outlets, that view is “preposterous” and not supported by evidence or the facts.

 

In most of the closely contested battleground states, votes were recounted numerous times and cross checked against voter rolls to ensure only registered voters voted. Additionally, in spite of what bloggers have been saying around the country, we did not have more votes cast than we have registered voters.

 

Each time, those recounts, studies and audits confirmed the original results. Joe Biden won the presidency fair and square in the 2020 elections

 

In an election where by and large, Republicans did well, President Trump was unable to match results seen elsewhere in his party. Put another way, voters supported the GOP, but rejected President Trump.

 

All of this affirms that the 2020 elections were, in the words US Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary Chris Krebs, a Trump appointee, the “most secure in US history.” All of this shows that President Trump was not cheated out of an election win, but rather, he lost.

 

The question now is why those on the right will continue to believe and share, without evidence, the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from President Trump.

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN

 

SATURDAY NIGHT DANCING

 

The Rockettes:

I was today years old when I found out...

that it's FOUR COLLY BIRDS, not "calling birds," in the Twelve Days of Christmas song.

In “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” one’s true love bestows, among other things, a partridge, two turtle doves, three French hens, and four calling birds. Right? Maybe not. The “calling” birds were originally “colly” birds, according to a blog post by Peter Armenti, the literature specialist for the Digital Reference Section at the Library of Congress. “Colly bird?” 

It’s essentially a black bird, Armenti said Wednesday. Although both “calling” and “colly” have appeared in versions of the song, “colly,” which is derived from the Old English word for coal, predates “calling” by more than a century, he wrote. And the reference is to the color of the bird, not its voice.

I'll never be the same!

By now...

 everyone's heard about the homeless, and probably mentally disturbed, man who set fire to the FAUX NOOZ Xmas tree.

To hear the NOOZers' unceasing reports on this unfortunate incident, you'd think the wrecked Xmas tree signified the end of the civilized world. They couldn't let it go because they love to feed their viewers on fear and victimhood. The head of the RNC even blamed President Biden for the vandalized tree! 

 "From its early reports, though, Fox News’s on-air team framed the tree burning within the context of a broader story that has been a continuous theme on the network, particularly during the Biden administration: an argument that criminality is on the rise in the United States." 

 FBI Report on Crime Shows Decline in Violent Crime Rate for Third Consecutive Year