Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

~~~

~~~

Monday, January 31, 2022

WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING IN AMERICA?

This happened in America, in Florida, January 30, 2022!


What force/who has unleashed this evil?

What has happened to America?

The Greatest Generation fought to rid the world of this Evil, and something has unleashed it in our country. 

Why? 

Why is this happening?

 




'The Jew is the devil' — Neo-Nazis rally in Florida 

By MICHAEL STARR Published: JANUARY 30, 2022 07:51

"The Jew is the devil" and "Jews rape children and drink their blood" were among slogans chanted at a rally in Orlando held by the National Socialist Movement. 




Orlando, Florida, Jan. 30, 2022









A Nazi's salute at a neo-Nazi rally in Kansas City, Missouri. (Dave Kaup/Reuters)
(photo credit: DAVE KAUP / REUTERS)



Participants at a neo-Nazi rally in Orlando, Florida, on Saturday waved Nazi flags and shouted anti-semitic and anti-Black slogans, according to the NGO StopAntisemitism.org. 

 The rally was organized by the National Socialist Movement (NSM) and was live-streamed on the American Nazi Party’s website




 "Right now: shocking display of Nazi flags and demonstrators on multiple overpasses between downtown Orlando and Disney on I-4," Thuman wrote, sharing images to Twitter. 

It was unclear if those Nazi banners and demonstrators were connected to the rally on Saturday. 

 "'Let's go Brandon' written on sign next to Nazi symbols & flag," he added in a follow-up post, including another photo. 

"Let's go Brandon" is a slogan adopted by critics of President Joe Biden, signifying "F*** Joe Biden






Friday, January 28, 2022

 BREAKING NEWS!



BREAKING: Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will retire, giving President Biden a chance to nominate his replacement.

Thursday, January 27, 2022

Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart

 

January 27, 1756 -- December 5, 1791


Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major, K. 364.



Wednesday, January 26, 2022

"VIRGINIA GOVERNOR URGES PARENTS TO RAT OUT SCHOOLS FOR TEACHING KIDS ABOUT 'DIVISIVE' TOPICS LIKE RACISM" And Florida's "Don't Say Gay" Bill!

 REPORT: 

The Mcminn County School board in Tennessee just voted to ban a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust.   The vote was 10-0




The newly elected governor of Virginia has instituted a "Inform on Your Teacher" policy. 


Stalin would be proud! Back in the day, he had a policy similar to Youngkin's:  

"Neighbours. Friends. Even your closest loved ones. In Stalin's Russia, everyone was an informer. And even one word from a resentful child was enough to send you to the firing squad."



Youngkin has created a tip line at helpeducation@governor.virginia.gov so that parents can report “divisive” teaching. Do we now pit parents against teachers? Will Virginia have teachers looking over their shoulders if they teach about race? Segregation? Slavery? Lynchings?


Youngkin:  

'We're asking for folks to send us reports and observations,' Youngkin said. 'Help us be aware of … their child being denied their rights that parents have in Virginia, and we're going to make sure we catalogue it all. … And that gives us further, further ability to make sure we're rooting it out.'





"If that sounds an awful lot like something the Stasi would approve of, it’s because the East German secret police was all about relying on people to inform on their acquaintances. Or as Der Spiegel put it: 'Neighbors reporting on neighbors, schoolchildren informing on classmates, university students passing along information on other students, managers spying on employees and Communist bosses denouncing party members.' ” 

And let's not forget that this happened:



Here's a beaut  coming out of Florida:





Remember, the GQP is the party of "smaller government," except when it wants that government to get people to inform on each other and pass laws that stifle free speech!



Tuesday, January 25, 2022

THIS IS A WIN FOR AMERICA

I've brought this post here from last week, because more comments were added to it today.




Supreme Court refuses to block House Jan. 6 panel from receiving Trump documents

Monday, January 24, 2022

The War on Masks Continues

 

Trumpublicans constantly bleat that it is the Democrats who have lost their minds. They ignore what is right in front of their noses:


Virginia parent charged after she threatens to "bring every single gun loaded" over school's mask dispute 

 A Virginia mother was charged Friday after she said at a school board meeting that she would "bring every single gun loaded and ready" to fight mask requirements for her children." 

Amelia King later emailed the board to apologize for her choice of words, saying she was not referring to "actual firearms." The Luray Police Department said King, 42, was charged with making an oral threat on school property. She has since been released on a $5,000 bond, the department said. 

 King was seen on video making the comments at the Page County Public Schools board meeting on Thursday night, where members voted on whether face masks would continue to be required at the district's schools. When she was told she had run out of time to speak, she replied, "I'll see you all on Monday." 

 The US has gotten to the point where parents are threatening school shootings, because kids are asked to wear masks. The GOP enables and fuels this insanity.

Read some of their blogs and see them blaming Democrats (who advocate mask wearing) as being unhinged. I've yet to see a pro-masker at a school board meeting threaten to bring a gun "loaded and ready" unless all children are wearing masks.

But the Trumpublicans call Dems/pro-maskers "unhinged."

From a Trumpublican blog:  


"...this tyrannical whimsy has got to be stopped. Stop masking kids, stop forcing children to be vaccinated, knock off the mask kabuki, and move on. If people feel they are threatened by covid, we are adults and we can all decide how to proceed. Me [not] wearing a mask is not killing grandma. And Rachel willinsky is full of s*** when she says wearing a mask cuts down transmission by 80%. The scientific data does not support her statement."


Source Control to Block Exhaled Virus 

Multi-layer cloth masks block release of exhaled respiratory particles into the environment, along with any microorganisms associated with these particles. 

Cloth masks not only effectively block most large droplets (i.e., 20-30 microns and larger), but they can also block the exhalation of fine droplets and particles (also often referred to as aerosols) smaller than 10 microns which increase in number with the volume of speech and specific types of phonation. 

Multi-layer cloth masks can both block 50-70% of these fine droplets and particles and limit the forward spread of those that are not captured. 

Upwards of 80% blockage has been achieved in human experiments, with cloth masks in some studies performing on par with surgical masks as barriers for source control. 

In one study, conducted prior to widespread circulation of the Delta variant, masks worked equally well for blocking aerosolized particles containing both “wild-type” virus and the Alpha variant (a more infectious variant).

The Covidiots are the reason we're stuck in COVID. They don't believe in the science -- unless it's their preferred confirmation-biased science:


"About these "vaccines" and boosters... Dr. Roger Hodkinson Warns, "The General Public Will Be Revolted" When the Truth Starts To Come Out. The video is short; please watch it."


Fact-checked by: AFP 2020/11/30 | Canada 

Roger Hodkinson, a doctor, claims the Covid-19 pandemic a “hoax” and that masks and social distancing are useless. 

Saturday, January 22, 2022

SATURDAY NIGHT DANCING

 

RUSSIAN SAILOR DANCE! . Igor Moiseyev Ballet.



 

"...The stench of partisanship on the Court..."

Does a Supreme Court justice wife's support of Donald Trump and his "Stop the Steal" seditionist marchers on the Capitol compromise that justice? The Court?

Imagine if this were a wife of a Supreme who publicly advocated for BLM or Antifa. 

How would the Trumpublicans feel about that?



via Democratic Underground: 

Is Ginni Thomas a Threat to the Supreme Court? 

Behind closed doors, Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife is working with many groups directly involved in controversial cases before the Court. 

By Jane Mayer January 21, 2022 

 //snip// 

"The claim that the Justices’ opinions are politically neutral is becoming increasingly hard to accept, especially from Thomas, whose wife, Virginia (Ginni) Thomas, is a vocal right-wing activist. She has declared that America is in existential danger because of the 'deep state' and the 'fascist left,' which includes 'transsexual fascists.' Thomas, a lawyer who runs a small political-lobbying firm, Liberty Consulting, has become a prominent member of various hard-line groups. 

Ginni Thomas’s political activism has caused controversy for years. For the most part, it has been dismissed as the harmless action of an independent spouse. But now the Court appears likely to secure victories for her allies in a number of highly polarizing cases—on abortion, affirmative action, and gun rights. 

Many Americans first became aware of Ginni Thomas’s activism on January 6, 2021. That morning, before the Stop the Steal rally in Washington, D.C., turned into an assault on the Capitol resulting in the deaths of at least five people, she cheered on the supporters of President Donald Trump who had gathered to overturn Biden’s election. In a Facebook post that went viral, she linked to a news item about the protest, writing, 'LOVE MAGA people!!!!'

Shortly afterward, she posted about Ronald Reagan’s famous “A Time for Choosing” speech. Her next status update said, “GOD BLESS EACH OF YOU STANDING UP or PRAYING.” 

Two days after the insurrection, she added a disclaimer to her feed, noting that she’d written the posts 'before violence in US Capitol.' (The posts are no longer public.)"

//snip//

"Stephen Gillers, a law professor at N.Y.U. and a prominent judicial ethicist, told me, 'I think Ginni Thomas is behaving horribly, and she’s hurt the Supreme Court and the administration of justice. It’s reprehensible. If you could take a secret poll of the other eight Justices, I have no doubt that they are appalled by Virginia Thomas’s behavior. But what can they do?' ”

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

This is the country we live in --

 

And the Trumpublican governors of states that MANDATE by law that no one should be encouraged, coerced, or forced to be vaccinated are prolonging this pandemic and causing unnecessary suffering and death to their own constituents.

That's the country we live in today. Thanks to the GQP that has politicized a serious health pandemic.



Florida health official placed on leave after encouraging employees to get vaccinated 



Dr. Raul Pino encouraged (he did NOT mandate) his employees to get vaccinated/boostered during a deadly pandemic, and the governor of that state, who passed a law forbidding vaccine mandates, got that doctor placed t on leave.



Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed into law in the fall a measure that prohibits state government agencies from implementing vaccine mandates.


Other countries look at the US and shake their heads over our foolishness, recklessness, and disregard for human life. 

The GQP has politicized protecting oneself from a pandemic, and the people who follow the GQP and its pols are getting COVID 19, DELTA, and OMICRON and dying miserable deaths.

Don't believe me?


January 17

Unvaccinated in Wisconsin hospitalized at 10x higher rate, died at 14x higher rate in December 

The health department says Friday’s high number of COVID-19 cases is due to a change in how data are being reported


MADISON, Wis. (WBAY) – The delta variant was more contagious and deadlier than the original COVID-19 virus that appeared over two years ago. The omicron variant surpassed delta by being far more contagious, but omicron didn’t create the same deadly viral load as the delta variant. In either case, health experts said vaccinations, especially with boosters, not only improved a person’s chance of not developing COVID-19 but making the disease less severe, less deadly, if they were infected. 

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services released its side-by-side comparison of Wisconsin’s vaccinated and unvaccinated COVID-19 cases in December 2021 on Saturday. Even though fully vaccinated people were the majority of the population by mid-December (57.4%), they only accounted for one-fourth of the confirmed COVID-19 cases.





COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations, and Deaths by Vaccination Status January 19, 2022, Summary: 

Unvaccinated 12-34 year-olds in Washington are • 2 times more likely to get COVID-19 compared with fully vaccinated 12-34 year-olds. 

• 5 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 compared with fully vaccinated 12-34 yearolds. 

Unvaccinated 35-64 year-olds are • 3 times more likely to get COVID-19 compared with fully vaccinated 35-64 year-olds. 

• 8 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 compared with fully vaccinated 35-64 yearolds. 

Unvaccinated 65+ year-olds are 

• 4 times more likely to get COVID-19 compared with fully vaccinated 65+ year-olds.
 
• 7 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 compared with fully vaccinated 65+ year-olds. 

• 13 times more likely to die of COVID-19 compared with fully vaccinated 65+ year-olds.



Unvaccinated 14 Times More Likely to Die From COVID 

Unvaccinated people are about six times more likely to test positive than vaccinated people, nine times more likely to be hospitalized, and 14 times more likely to die from COVID-related complications.



And this miserable excuse for a human being below clapped and cheered when she reported General Milley's COVID diagnosis. (She's vaxxed, since FAUX NOOZ mandates that their employees be vaccinated.) 

If there's a lower form of human life, I've yet to see it: 

FAUX NOOZ's Laura Ingraham rejoicing over hearing General Milley has COVID. Then thanks Jesus she's a Christian.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

 Here's an orangutan driving a golf cart, and doing a damn good job!





Saturday, January 15, 2022

Friday, January 14, 2022

Monday, January 10, 2022

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?

Saturday, January 8, 2022

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.




Friday, January 7, 2022

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."

Thursday, January 6, 2022

 




“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!



"...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!


Wednesday, January 5, 2022

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?

Tuesday, January 4, 2022

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, January 1, 2022