Unsightly Mental Blemishes

Governor Kristi Noem (R-SD), who I’ve suggested on at least one occasion should resign in shame, has written a remarkable piece for The Federalist.

No, she neither takes responsibility nor offers to resign.

Rather, she manages to write a piece in which just about every paragraph contains a falsehood (whether she thinks it or not) or glosses a fact. It’s the sort of thing where you can shake your finger at each prevarication or misleading statement, but you’ll end up with a sprained finger. Here’s one that really embodies the problems of the Republican Party these days:

Republicans got our butts kicked in Georgia on Tuesday. A 33-year-old with no accomplishments and a smooth-talking preacher wiped the floor with us. The idea that Georgia, of all places, could elect two communists to the United States Senate was ridiculous.

Communists? That pair? With regards to Pastor Warnock, surely Governor Noem has not forgotten the terrible hatred communist governments traditionally show towards religion, which they rightly see as competitors in the field of country domination. No? You don’t remember?

Go learn some history, Governor.

And how is Ossoff, a guy with a Masters degree from the London School of Economics and an investigative journalist, how is he someone with no accomplishments and a communist? He just beat a sitting Senator. Hell, a free press is another institution hated by communists.

And do you know why? It’s because the communists believed truth was not a factor in being successful. To them, much like President Trump, the truth value of a fact wasn’t important. It only mattered how it played to its, or his, supporters.

But that belief that truth and honesty didn’t matter turned out to be the Soviet’s Achilles’ heal, because they believed it internally as well, and after a while, with their supermarket shelves bare of all but lies, and citizens, for so long loyal yet despairing, finally rising up and peacefully telling their rulers that they were finished. The little lies, the political correctness, the commissars, the listening for what you want to hear rather than truth: those were a major factor in the collapse of the Soviets.

This little missive of Noem’s embodies all that’s wrong with the Republican Party, why their endpoint seems to be coming into view. If, in some alternative universe, they had the guts to ask how to begin to fix themselves, the best approach would be to look back to our parents and grandparents.

Stop the lies. A lie here, a lie there, and soon you don’t know if that important fact is true or not. And everyone’s doing it because you’re doing it. Now you’re so fucked you don’t even understand it. Like fish and water, you don’t realize how deeply you’re in the toxic pool. Dedicate yourself to Truth. Not the Party, not God. Truth and truth only.

Stop the ad hominen. Demonizing your opponent legitimizes any and all urges to hate your fellow Americans for smaller and smaller differences, and each person is a model for everyone around them. I’m an agnostic, but even I know your Bible doesn’t encourage you to engender hate against fellow humans. Or did you get a special edition? Warnock and Ossoff are not communists, and you know it. Show some respect, and maybe you’ll get some respect, if only as an American.

Stop misleading for political advantage. You write about Covid-19:

COVID didn’t crush the economy. Government crushed the economy. And then, just as quickly, government turned around and held itself out as the savior. Frankly, the Treasury Department can’t print money fast enough to keep up with Congress’ Christmas list.

What is so troubling is that by April, we knew that there was a specific vulnerable population that we needed to protect from COVID-19. But we also knew that the vast majority of people would recover from this virus with no serious difficulty. Despite this, very few changed course.

And how many mentions of overwhelmed hospitals and medical systems did I see? None. That is shameful, Governor. You’ve intentionally omitted the key fact in that entire debate, that we’re, in part, trying to avoid destroying our health system, and I think you’ve done that since February. If for no other reason, this is why you should resign in shame.

There’s more I could write about, but I’ll stop addressing the governor now. It’s really, for the informed, skeptical reader, a missive that is a horror in that it misleads, strips context, omits inconvenient facts, and no doubt there are more sins that I’m too sleepy to discern. I’ve just glanced at it again and the gall to quote President Eisenhower’s remarks about mortgaging the future, from a member of the Republican Party, is just stunning – and I just know she’ll recommend lowering taxes as the key to the deficit problem! Such drivel.

So long as “thinkers” such as this governor dominate the Republican Party, they may win elections, but they’ll be failures at governing. They don’t dare go near the truth, because it didn’t help them get elected in the first place. But it’s only adherence to truth, facts, and experts (which, I’ll grant, can be dangerous in this world of charlatans) that makes good governance a possibility.

This is how women in my sorority greet each other. It’s known as the “My eyes are right here, dude!” ditty.

Mesa of Lost Women (1953) … oh … ah … urgh …

Told through a flashback, this is the story of a mad scientist, Dr. Aranya, and his quest to produce humans with regenerative capabilities. He invites a famous scientist (“a specialist!”), Dr. Masterson, to visit, and reveals his experiments on tarantulas have produced specimens that grow to be larger than humans, while his human experiments have produced women who can regrow limbs and appear to have a lifespan of several centuries.

And the habits of spiders.

The results with the men are more problematic.

Masterson, asked to help, is horrified and denounces Dr. Aranya. His timing is poor, as he’s overpowered and becomes yet another subject for experimentation. But he breaks free and escapes, while losing his mind in the process.

A year later, he is out on a pass from the insane asylum, under the care of George, a large male nurse. He stops at a tavern, and, in his innocent, dominating way, shoots to death a dancer who is performing. Escaping with George, who doesn’t dare go up against the gun, he and Jan Van Croft, Croft’s manservant, and Croft’s fiancee, Doreen – a gold digger who’s found her sugar daddy – that Masterson has taken hostage drive to the airport, where Croft’s plane – under repair – and pilot, manly but humble Grant, are waiting.

Forced to take off, the plane’s problems means they’re immediately in trouble and are forced to land on the Zarpa Mesa, and soon enough they’re being picked off, one by one, by the men and women who’ve been experimented on by Dr. Aranya.

With a little help from you-know-what.

And, yeah, it’s all cobbled together. The acting ranges from adequate to awful, technically it’s nothing good, special effects are dubious at best, and the accompanying music … must have been provided by a first year music student.

But I’ll admit, the work of one of the experimental subjects, Tarantella (Tandra Quinn) wasn’t awful. Whether she’s a good dancer is a question for a dance expert, but I thought her dancing evoked a spider quite well, and when she wasn’t dancing she had a fixed stare that was unexpectedly effective in context. She had no dialog, which turned out to be true for Quinn throughout her career.

If you’re an Ed Woods completist, then I will sigh and say, This is for you.

But, as my Arts Editor stated, “Boy, did that stank.”

The basis of morality is not God or incomprehensible abstract principles, but that satisfying certain desires, either immediately or at all, leads to societal disorder – and so we punish such behavior.

That sure sounds punchless, doesn’t it? So I’ll let Randall Lane of Forbes, the leading business magazine, explain:

As American democracy rebounds, we need to return to a standard of truth when it comes to how the government communicates with the governed. The easiest way to do that, from where I sit, is to create repercussions for those who don’t follow the civic norms. Trump’s lawyers lie gleefully to the press and public, but those lies, magically, almost never made it into briefs and arguments – contempt, perjury and disbarment keep the professional standards high.

So what’s the parallel in the dark arts of communication? Simple: Don’t let the chronic liars cash in on their dishonesty. Press secretaries like Joe Lockhart, Ari Fleischer and Jay Carney, who left the White House with their reputations in various stages of intact, made millions taking their skills — and credibility — to corporate America. Trump’s liars don’t merit that same golden parachute. Let it be known to the business world: Hire any of Trump’s fellow fabulists above, and Forbes will assume that everything your company or firm talks about is a lie. We’re going to scrutinize, double-check, investigate with the same skepticism we’d approach a Trump tweet. Want to ensure the world’s biggest business media brand approaches you as a potential funnel of disinformation? Then hire away.

Lane correctly intuits that a business world based on deceit and mendacity will self-destruct, probably within a decade.

Trump was, and is, the parasite who plays the rules of morality for advantage: lying, lying about lying, prevaricating, not honoring contracts, all done with absolutely no shame. What would happen if we all did that?

Social disaster.

But the fruits, so tantalizingly within the grasp of the liar, are so tempting. And, hey, look at Mr. Trump, he’s a billionaire and he lies through his ass all the time.

Good for Forbes. Will other influential businesses issue similar statements and implement similar policies?

I hope Kayleigh likes pushing a broom. Because Trump certainly won’t be able to support her when she finds herself short on cash.

The best mothers don’t teach good behaviors, they model good behaviors. So, while I don’t disagree with Christine Emba concerning the response to the role black women took in the past elections, I wish she’d addressed that issue as well:

Stacey Abrams did it.

The former lawmaker and gubernatorial candidate has turned Georgia, once reliably red, to blue. Due in large part to the tireless organizing of Abrams and many other Black women, Georgians helped elect Democrat Joe Biden to the presidency and — after a nail-biting runoff election — will send Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to the Senate.

In response, social media has overflowed with paeans to Black women. A sample: “Black women saved our republic”! “Stacey Abrams is a hero”! “Black women saved our asses. We don’t deserve them.” “THANK YOU BLACK WOMEN.”

Some have suggested that the super-organized Abrams be given the task of vaccine distribution — since, you know, she can (and must want to) do everything. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) posted a picture of a Stacey Abrams prayer candle.

The clamor is meant to be flattering, but it feels more than a little demeaning. [WaPo]

And, sure, it’s true. The proper response is not an outflowing of generic Thanks, we’ll call when we need you again, but Thank you for modeling how an American adult fulfills their civic duty.

Look, my guess is that the overwhelming majority of Americans are really not aware of politics and its many aspects to evaluate: ideologies, competency, past performance, unofficial behaviors (like coded racist rhetoric) of all the major parties. Many get into a rut and just keep on voting for one party or another.

Because we’re so busy, aren’t we?

But the Black community, especially the women, are not modeling VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS. What they’re really saying is the result of their investigation, of fulfilling their civic duty, where they find, on balance, Democratic policies and competencies far outweigh Republican policies and competencies – and the essential exclusionary aspect of the Republican philosophy is profoundly detrimental to the Black community.

And that’s what I really wish Emba had called for. For those outside the Black community that the civic duty isn’t really fulfilled when you drop the marble in the jug, or however voting happens in your district. It also requires sober investigation.

This might work as a summation:

No, you cannot vote Democratic or Republican just because of party loyalty, old family habit, or eenie-meenie-minie-mo. Investigate. Don’t take either side’s word for anything about the other. No, Democrats are not socialists, and I don’t care what you heard on a Republican commercial. If you take that self-interested advertisement seriously, you’re shirking your civic duty.

I mean, that this dude was even torn in the least little bit between Biden and Trump was utterly bewildering to me – unless I assume he’s not paying any attention. Not doing his research. Not doing his civic duty. As I explained in detail.

So that’s really one of the most important lessons that should be learned from the Black community’s decisive involvement, from primary to general. Be an adult. Do your entire civic duty. Next time a candidate breaks a record for lying, be aware of it and ask yourself how you can possibly vote for such mendacity.

Because if you can’t defend your decision with something that sounds halfway reasonable, then you’re not doing it right.

Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) compares Kristallnacht to the attempted Insurrection of Wednesday:

My message to my fellow Americans and friends around the world following this week's attack on the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/blOy35LWJ5

— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) January 10, 2021

This Republican carries a certain gravitas as he speaks the truth and draws historical parallels with one of the most shameful, if inevitable, events of the 1930s. This American immigrant, who has his own mother culture that taught him lessons about the terrible effect the lies that led to Kristallnacht had on the generation previous to his, is powerful and condemnatory of such dead-enders as Senators Cruz, Hawley, Hyde-Smith, and other members of the ‘Sedition Caucus,’ not to mention the ultimate failed person, President Trump.

Bravo, Governor Schwarzenegger!

A few days ago, I wrote that cracks were appearing in the Republican front. Legendary GOP marketeer Frank Luntz has more evidence:

… the new reality for Trump is messy. Frank Luntz, a veteran GOP pollster, conducted a focus group the night after the Capitol attack with 12 Trump voters from 11 different states. He said they fell into three camps: those who believe the fact that President-elect Joe Biden won the election and think it’s time Trump move on; those who think it was stolen from Trump but he still should move on; and those who think it was stolen and Trump should continue to fight.

Luntz was flabbergasted by the sharp, even angry tone of the discussion.

“They were very emotional with each other, very harsh with each other,” he said. “This has never happened in a Trump focus group I’ve done. . . . Trump voters are like single moms with kids. They back each other, they empathize with each other, because they know the stresses and strains they each have. Not anymore. These Trump voters are ready to declare war with each other.”

That spells trouble for the president, Luntz concluded. “When you’ve got a unified force, you can speak to them as their general and motivate them to change their behavior,” he added. “But when they have broken down into tribes, it’s impossible to deliver a message that reaches everybody. Trump is much less powerful today than he was 72 hours ago.” [WaPo]

I will be interested in how the various groups that precipitate out of the Party of Trump are categorized. My suspicion is that the first one will be the anti-liberals group, who hate Democrats and liberals and therefore voted and adhered to Trump. Discovering that being a not-liberal doesn’t make anyone competent, admirable, or even patriotic, I’m expecting we’ll be seeing them streaming away soon, if not already, embarrassed but determined in their anti-liberalness.

Other groups we may see giving up on Trump:

• The “democracy sucks” crowd, some of whom are already on their way off the train because Trump abandoned them during the Insurrection push. As fascist wannabes, they don’t read the parts of history that says at some point, they’re the ones up against the wall because they’re a danger to their fascist leaders. After all, they pulled a trigger to kill the former leaders; maybe they’ll do it again. Best to be rid of them, the smart fascist leader says. A few trumped-up – forgive me – charges later, and the “traitors” to the cause of fascism are gone.
• The “He’s me!” crowd. This group consists of people who saw in Trump an incompetent boob who ran his mouth incessantly, but didn’t think so well – just like themselves. So long as he held the Presidency, their approach to life is validated. They are the ones bitterly chanting “But it was rigged!” without evidence, because they see Trump chanting loudly. Their model yells and screams, so do they. When Inauguration Day comes and goes, some of them will give up and reluctantly conclude that maybe crazed chanting doesn’t work. Even invoking Divinities to come down and satisfy their selfish urges doesn’t work.
• The evangelicals, who loved him because their pastors said to. So long as those grifters and conmen continue to see advantage in backing Trump, they’ll stay pro-Trump, but as soon as he is seen as toxic – and that’s true for a vast majority of the country – they’ll turn their backs on him. If they’re smart. Not all grifters of the theological category are smart. Some even believe the crap they drivel out of their mouths.

If you can think of any other categories, let me know.

It appears that John McCain’s (R-AZ) widow, Cindy McCain, has been censured by the Arizona GOP, although while researching this post, articles at several sources that I’d consider neutral had disappeared (HTTP error 404), so I’m reduced to Twitter references:

Oh how will she ever survive such a thing?!?🙄

And this is THE REAL problem facing the Arizona GOP, my mom! A few days after a domestic terror attack led by maniac Trump supporters. https://t.co/Gmoyq8DeSX

— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) January 9, 2021

With what is a rather off-putting response:

I am a proud lifelong Republican and will continue to support candidates who put country over party and stand for the rule of law. https://t.co/iTVj0pibOm

— Cindy McCain (@cindymccain) January 9, 2021

A far more pungent response is required, such as:

It is truly an honor and a delight to be censured by a group constituted of third-raters who hold such socially destructive attitudes as does the Arizona GOP. At one time an honorable institution, it has been taken over by fringers and social outcasts whose idea of a fair election is to continuously shriek that it was stolen, despite there not being a Court in the land that could take the evidence presented by Trump’s best lawyers, themselves fourth raters, seriously. Until the Arizona GOP no longer reacts to electoral loss by acting as spoiled brats and shrieking lies over and over, I, as a principled conservative, have no desire to be associated with this society of reprehensibles.

Although, as conservative pundit Jennifer Rubin at WaPo puts it today, there may not be much stock left in being a Republican – ever again:

The party isn’t going to change, so it might be time for some Republicans to head for the exits. They might find a whole lot of familiar faces on the way out.

Much like the Whigs, who left the national stage after putting power over principle, the Republicans may be on the way out – not because their principles became obsolete, but because they have none but power, power, power.

Who spat in my coffee?

A Shriek in the Night (1933) is a run of the mill comedy / thriller / horror story concerning the death of a millionaire, who fell from his penthouse apartment to the road below.

Constituting the comedy is the investigative journalists, who not only compete with each other but also impersonate others, such as the journalist who was in the employ of the millionaire as his secretary, and whose attempted report to her employer is intercepted and rerouted by a competing journalist.

Who later … well … it seemed inappropriate between competitors.

I spat in his coffee!

The horror? That’s brought on by the madman at the heart of the mystery, the respected figure who drifts in and out of our focus. Who would have guessed?

But, like many movies of the era, it’s just a bit flat. The characters look somewhat alike, the cops are a little like punching bags, and the audio was a little bit fuzzy. And the mixture of comedy with horror is a little off. They need to feed off each other. Properly done, the comedy accentuates the horror, brings out the throbbing vein in the forehead.

And it’s a happy ending. That may be the most disappointing aspect of all. But it does have Ginger Rogers, so if you’re a completist with regards to her, this’ll be for you.

This blog post title from Right Wing Watch is about as good summary as it gets:

Trump ‘Prayer Warriors’ Ask God To ‘Fight’ Chief Justice John Roberts If He ‘Refuses To Bow To You’

Although the first paragraph helps explain:

Intercessors for America, a pro-Trump network that is closely aligned with White House aide Paula White, published and promoted a blog post Tuesday calling on prayer for Chief Justice John Roberts and asking God to “fight against him however You deem necessary” if Roberts “refuses to bow to you.”

There’s no question that they are part of the dangerous network of organizations dedicated to the overthrow of the United States, and have been for quite awhile. After all, calling upon God to alter the thinking of someone influential is emphatically not an element of democracy.

But what can you do about it?

Outlawing would be neither democratic nor effective. The culture of victimhood, which is the universal tie for these groups, would simply make them stronger.

So the only real option is to ask them just how well those prayers are working, and where they get off in order God about. Intrepid interlocutors might ask why they hate freedom so much, since any invocation of the Divine to change someone’s mind – in this case, violently – is an inarguable violation of freedom.

We are here in the workshop of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, where he is constructing the son of Sherlock Holmes from spare parts and cemetery leftovers.

Arthur & George (2015) is a three part TV series which is a dramatized retelling of an incident from the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in which he was asked to investigate a series of domesticated animal mutilations in the town of Great Wyrley in Great Britain. George Edalji, a young man and son of a parson, who has mixed English and Indian heritage, had been convicted and sentenced to seven years of hard labour for the crimes, although released early. This blot on his record will prevent George from entering in on his preferred career as a solicitor.

And so an appeal to Doyle, who is in mourning for his late wife, and considering marriage to a woman of interest he met during his late wife’s convalescence, to prove this conviction fallacious. It’s a distraction, then a fixation, as he explores the social problems of a so-called half-breed in the backwoods of Great Britain, the toxic culture of young boys, and a few other subcultures. All the while, he’s tracking clues, chasing figures in the night, and wondering about everyone except his trusted manservant, Woodie, who quite frankly caught my attention because of his constant obstructionism. However, social standing is an important part of the Brit society of the time, and is attained through proper behaviors as well as accomplishments.

Well acted and staged, it’s a lot of fun in the British tradition of drama.

Where reason and debate couldn’t reach them, it appears that outright violence is finally proof enough – at least for some.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Friday that Donald Trump should resign the presidency immediately and that if the Republican Party cannot separate itself from Trump, she isn’t certain she has a future with the party.

“I want him to resign. I want him out. He has caused enough damage,” Murkowski, R-Alaska, said during an interview from her small Capitol office, steps away from the Senate chambers that were invaded by pro-Trump rioters on Wednesday.

“I think he should leave. He said he’s not going to show up. He’s not going to appear at the inauguration. He hasn’t been focused on what is going on with COVID. He’s either been golfing or he’s been inside the Oval Office fuming and throwing every single person who has been loyal and faithful to him under the bus, starting with the vice president. He doesn’t want to stay there. He only wants to stay there for the title. He only wants to stay there for his ego. He needs to get out. He needs to do the good thing, but I don’t think he’s capable of doing a good thing,” she said. [Anchorage Daily News]

Granted, Murkowski has been a leading member, in my mind, of the rational Republican caucus. Perhaps more impressive is this broadside from the National Catholic Reporter:

But also among those with some culpability for yesterday’s failed insurrection are more than a few leaders in our church. Catholic apologists for Trump have blood on their hands.

Many Americans expressed shock as they watched the violent mob smash glass and scale the walls while members of Congress cowered under desks or rushed to secure bunkers.

We were not surprised.

This is the culmination of what this presidency has been about from the beginning — and some Catholics have remained silent, or worse, cheered it along, including some bishops, priests, a few sisters, right-wing Catholic media and too many people in the pro-life movement.

We’re talking to you CatholicVote.org, Attorney General William Barr and other Catholics in the Trump administration, Amy Coney Barrett, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Bill Donohue of the Catholic League, rogue prolifer Abby Johnson. Sadly, the list goes on.

And what about the everyday Catholics — some 50% of them — who voted for Trump this year, after four years of incompetence, racist dog whistles and assaults on democratic norms? Not all were at the “protest” in Washington, but many have supported organizations that fanned the flames. Too many Catholic voters were content to cozy up to Trump in exchange for tax breaks, or Supreme Court judges, or subsidies for Catholic schools.

Waving a finger in shame isn’t really enough though, is it? The moral and intellectual flaws which led to the widespread willingness to vote for Trump – 74 million voters, for God’s sake!^[1] – indicate that either the American Catholic Church has fallen down badly – given its abysmal moral failings when it comes to pedophilia in the ranks, this is no surprise^[2] – or the American penchant for monetizing anything that moves and much that doesn’t, will render them irreparable.

The American Catholic Church had better be preparing plans for clergy reformation for both pedophilia and the support of Trump by the clergy, and then moving on to the butts in the pews. If you lose a few congregants who can’t stand the thought that they were wrong, hey, too bad. Reform the great majority.

Because this country depends on it.

But, given the natural weaknesses of any church, I shan’t be surprised if they fail. The willingness to believe in a Divinity for which there’s no apparent evidence, to throw yourself into a frenzied study of sacred texts which were, nevertheless, penned by humans, does not lead to a rational mind that is sensitive to the difficulties of understanding epistemological issues, much less the challenges of detecting con men, grifters, psychics, quacks, and all that crew – and I say that without any sense of humor! Many scientists are taken in by just such sly and cunning people.

We’re all weak in one way or another, and the wolves in sheeps’ clothing are adept and sensing it and using it as a weapon. It can be a grim world out there.

In any case, expect a number of other organizations to scold their members. I only hope they have more than scolding in mind.

And then there are those who are lost, such as the MAGA-ites who have to decide if they now hate Trump, or if he has one more trick up his sleeve:

¹ A bit of humor that works on a few levels.

² Ditto.

Fast and yet mighty fine:

I’ve mentioned Professor Turchin’s observation of elite internecine wars that occur when societies are falling apart before. Here’s far-right, but slowly moving towards admitting uncomfortable truths, pundit Erick Erickson today:

Like the truth or not, but the truth is that the President of the United States stoked the passions and fanned the flames of a mob that stormed the United States Capitol in a physical attack on the separation of powers designed to disrupt the democratic processes and institutions of our republic. If the Congress will not act because of partisan passions, the partisans and politicians have failed and our system is as broken as those storming the Capitol claimed.

If the first branch of government will not act to remove the President who sent the mob to shut them down, the first branch of government is shutting itself down and rendering itself irrelevant. This is a bigger issue than a single President, but big issues require big moments of leadership and we are now a nation of small spines in our political class. Small spines do not lead, they are led, and they are being led by a mob of malcontents more comfortable wrapped in lies than truth.

That’s remarkably close to Professor Turchin’s description of the fate of so many historical elites, such as the Roman Senators who were slaughtered for opposing the Roman Emperor.

We can know who has frantically wrapped themselves in lies, knowingly or not. Yesterday, WaPo provided comprehensive lists of names of those who chose to tear at the fabric of the United States. A quick search reveals, for local readers, that Minnesota Representatives Fishbach and Hagedorn participated in this shameful drama, even after the salutary lesson of the breaching of the Capitol. In two years will come the opportunity to remove them from public office. That should be the first priority of both the Democrats and the Republicans in Minnesota. And if that necessitates the removal of Trumpist Jennifer Carnahan from her position in the MN GOP, so much the better.

Now is the time to draw back and consider where we’re going. As Erickson notes, the chronic lying of the monetarily motivated right is one factor. So are the Evangelical leaders who prance about on their national stages, pretending they have some mystical connection to the Divine, and encouraging irrationality as a result.

It’s all damaging the country, and I have to wonder if similar bullshit – at least in the case of the religious aspect – occurred during all of those other historical internecine wars.

I don’t like vengeance, but it’s going to become necessary to at least confront the deluded and persuade them that they’ve screwed up and have some owning up to do. And that could be very hard to do.

Via CNN/Politics:

The US Capitol Police confirmed the death of one of their officers late Thursday from injuries suffered when a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol a day before.

Capitol Police said in a statement that Officer Brian D. Sicknick died at approximately 9:30 p.m. ET Thursday “due to injuries sustained while on-duty.”

Honors to Officer Sicknick.

Amidst the madness of the last couple of days, this took my mind off the pain of the insanity of some of my fellow Americans. If you love Calvin & Hobbes, this series of videos should have you laughing.

I must remember to get back to this when events settle down.

[h/t TF]

I’ve been wondering if both the 25th Amendment and the Impeachment process could be used against President Trump in these last chaotic, vulnerable days of his term, and David Priess and Jack Goldsmith say yes:

Invocation of the 25th Amendment and the impeachment route are not mutually exclusive. The vice president and the majority of the principal officers could prevent the president from exercising the powers of his office by activating Section 4, giving Congress time to impeach, convict, and remove the president—and disqualify him from serving in federal office again.

The real benefit of the 25th amendment is its efficiency. The vice president and the principal officers of the executive departments can make their decision free from parliamentary rules and transmit the results to Capitol Hill within minutes—quickly enough (in theory) to stop Trump from trying to derail the proceedings by firing enough principal executive officers that it becomes practically impossible to know who the relevant executive officers are for 25th Amendment purposes, or whether they can exercise authority under the amendment. [Lawfare, bold mine]

In fact, if the VP and the Cabinet choose to act, the timing becomes favorable for the forces for good:

The president can challenge the declaration. If he does, the vice president and the majority of the principal officers of the executive departments can disagree with the president’s assertion of ability, and they have four days to again declare that he remains unable. The dominant understanding of the 25th Amendment is that the vice president continues as acting president during this four-day period. If the vice president and the majority of the principal officers resubmit their determination of disability, the vice president remains as acting president until Congress “decide[s] the issue.” If Congress within 21 days (measured in various ways) “determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.”

Regardless of the level of madness of his partisans in the House and Senate, he can be frozen out of the President’s chair for the balance of his term.

So the question is whether the VP & Cabinet, now lacking a Transportation Secretary, who resigned today, can and will take this opportunity. CNN is reporting that VP Pence is not responding to Speaker Pelosi’s overtures. It’s possible that Pence thinks he needs to run for his life at this point. The forces of the far-right may be more than talk than walk, but we don’t know that for certain just yet.

This is perhaps one of the best illustrations of Trump’s rank incompetence, from Gabriel Sherman at Vanity Fair:

In recent days, as Trump’s bid to overturn the election became increasingly desperate, he expressed anarchist comments in private, a second Republican close to the White House told me. The Republican said Trump told people that he wanted David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler to lose the Georgia Senate runoff election as a way of punishing them and Mitch McConnell. “Trump told people he is really angry that the senators and McConnell hadn’t stood up for him to challenge the election. He’s happy they lost.” According to the Republican, Trump has said he’ll be the most dominant force in Republican politics if there’s no party leadership.

No doubt Trump thinks he’ll end up with control of a potent political force, the vaunted Republican Party.

He won’t.

He’ll end up with a spent, flaccid political force, ravaged by the moral and political depravity that he, in concert with its toxic team politics tenet, has forced upon it. It’s sort of like the salting of Carthage, but in reverse.

First he defeated the defenders, then he salted the earth, making it infertile, and then he squatted among the ruins, proclaiming, It’s all mine!

See, dude, you just ruined your prize by pissing on it. Oh, there you did it again! And again! Yeah, you never learn. See all those ants running away from it? Yeah, dude, those are ex-Republicans and it’s a flood –

No no no not again dude!

Amazingly, pretending the political situation hasn’t changed a wit despite the riot at the Capitol, an objection was raised to the Pennsylvania votes. Once again, as with Arizona, the motion was rejected by the Senate, this time 92 – 7. Which lets us add one more name to the Earl Landgrebe list of yesterday:

Florida Sen. Rick Scott (R)

His power lust has been obvious for years, but I wonder why he didn’t vote for the rejection of the Arizona electoral votes.

I doubt many people needed to add him to their list of known malevolent entities, he was already there.

While I’ve used the term ‘grift’ in relation to the big megachurch pastors, this article reminds me that you find them anywhere – even, distressingly, in the medical profession:

A physician group that rampantly spread COVID-19 misinformation is back in the spotlight — but this time, sowing doubt about the vaccine.

America’s Frontline Doctors, an organization that claims to provide uncensored, accurate information about the pandemic, became infamous in July after a viral press conference that protested government lockdown restrictions and spread inaccuracies ranging from the ineffectiveness of masks to claims that hydroxychloroquine could “cure” COVID-19.

Now, those same doctors — the majority of which have no experience treating COVID-19 patients — have launched a campaign to warn Americans that they should not be forced to take an “experimental vaccine,” while failing to mention the safety trials and large phase III efficacy trials, along with the fact that no vaccine mandate exists. [MedPage Today]

Just to make it official …

Angela Rasmussen, PhD, a virologist at Georgetown University, stated that there is no such thing as “forcing” anyone to get vaccinated.

“This would be funny if it’s not the same pathetic, cynical, thirsty, self-serving grifting that intentionally sown doubt in public health expertise and resulted in 300,000 dead Americans,” Rasmussen wrote on Twitter.

In my experience, most medical personnel are in their profession because they want to be useful and contribute positively to other people’s lives. But, as Dr. Rasmussen notes, for a few, a pathetic few, they are grifters, selling snake oil for the sake of lining their pockets.

I’m sure a few are simply mislead – they don’t understand the difficulties of discerning successful medications from mere coincidence: they may have treated three patients with hydroxychloroquine and, through luck, seen them get better. Placebo effect? Just recovered? They can’t believe it.

But at this juncture, they should know better. At this point, they’re just grifters.

Folks, be careful of the scams out there. This is just one of many.

The talent at The Lincoln Project wins again:

We made this pre-election, thinking that we’d never have to release it.

After the events of today, we decided to post, #Bloodlines pic.twitter.com/LM2rLn5lql

— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) January 7, 2021

They’ve done some highly effective videos.

Before the riots broke out, 12 electoral votes were counted before Rep Gosar (R-AZ) and Senator Cruz (R-TX) objected o the Arizona votes.

Then the riot occurred.

The debate on Arizona has since resumed and then terminated with the voting. The results of the Senate vote on whether to accept Arizona’s votes are now available, and they have been accepted by a 93-6 (one of Georgia’s Senate seats, that of apparently former Senator Perdue, is officially empty), and here are the empty-headed few who continue to believe in President Trump:

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO)
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS)
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS)
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA)
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL)

Those are your Earl Landgrebe dead-enders, who oughta be pushing mops at a kindergarten rather than voting in Congress.

Remember them.

Humor may seem inappropriate at this time of national peril, but as someone who often jokes when in the Emergency Room, much like my sister, I can’t help but laugh at German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s tweet:

I can assure you that my departure from office is going to be very boring.

— Angela Merkel (@Queen_Europe) January 6, 2021

Well, OK, I don’t joke during kidney stones.

Well, we all know – or should know – about the chaos in Washington, DC, today, as the Proud Boys and other Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol, killed a woman, and tried to intimidate Congress into giving Trump his frantic desires.

To their credit, it appears Congress will dispense with the rampant idiocy of objecting to electoral votes and finish confirming Biden as the Presidential Election victor.

While horrifying and even discouraging, it’s not particularly surprising. Any sufficiently large society will have its malcontents, those who have the will to power and prestige, but not the skills, talents, and temperament. They are the bitter barstool blowhards, the young racists (and they come in all colors), the literal nutcases (see Jim Jones and his cult).

But who supports them?

That has been demonstrated in living color over the last four years. Politely called low information voters, evangelical voters, and less politely right-fringe voters and, hearkening back to a happier time, denizens of the right-wing fever swamps^[1], former Rep Joe Walsh (R-IL), who ran for the 2020 GOP (yes, GOP) Presidential nomination, had this observation:

Then came Monday night: I went to a caucus and gave a speech to about 3,000 Iowa Republicans. I’ve never been to a MAGA rally, but it sure felt like one. The president’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, spoke first and underscored the Trump bottom line: Perfect phone call; Democrats bad; keep America great. Crowd goes wild. I then got up to make my pitch, and — as you may have seen — it didn’t go well. I got booed for saying that our party needed to do some soul-searching. I said the party is going to be a party of old white men unless we become more inclusive. More boos. I said we shouldn’t be okay with a president who lies all the time. I said we need a president who’s decent, not cruel. I said, you might enjoy Trump’s mean tweets, but most people don’t. I said we must be better than a president who makes every day about himself. Boos. And more boos. One woman yelled that she loves the president’s tweets. The crowd cheered her.

Not to belabor the point, but how do we produce a better electorate? I’m not talking about political brainwashing; I’m talking about producing people who are informed, not ill-informed.

Some of this is impossible, of course. There will always be idiots. Maybe I’m one of them, even though I try not to be.

Let’s start with an old, repealed Federal Communications Commission regulation, the Fairness Doctrine:

The fairness doctrine of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), introduced in 1949, was a policy that required the holders of broadcast licenses to both present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was—in the FCC’s view—honest, equitable, and balanced. The FCC eliminated the policy in 1987 and removed the rule that implemented the policy from the Federal Register in August 2011. [Wikipedia]

Reimplementing this policy across both television and cable news sources would at least give the electorate a chance to see both sides of real issues.

But, having been to an evangelical church or two over the years, it’s worth also talking about the Johnson Amendment. This amendment bribed churches with tax free status if they agreed not to endorse or oppose political candidates. This law has been the subject of a number of runarounds, from “voters’ guides” to defunding the IRS so it can’t go after churches that break the law.

And the evangelical churches hate it. I recall reading about Southern Baptist Convention pastors’ distaste for the law thirty years ago, feeling that they’re being discriminated against.

But let’s combine this regulation (Fairness Doctrine) and law (Johnson Amendment) into a law that states if endorsements or oppositions are made by churches, not only are they no longer eligible for the tax exemption, but they must also give equal time to the other side – at the pulpit.

That should cause some heartburn.

Insofar as legal changes go, that’s what comes right to mind for me. I look forward to seeing if any other governmental remedies for curing us of barstool blowhards are successfully proposed and implemented.

But I think much of the rest of this rests with the free press. They must be willing to step up and point out lies – and label them as lies – regardless of the political affiliation of the publication and the candidate, party, or other entity intent on spreading lies.

And, of course, the hardest part: persuading the electorate to stop patronizing web sites of dubious worth for their news and opinions. If you didn’t know about the call last weekend between President Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger, and how much of corruption it stunk, it’s time to change your news sources. You’re way, way out of touch.

Look: I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. If you’re getting your news from some free, marginal site that depends on clicks and ads for its revenue – it’s just like cotton candy. It may make you happy, but all that sugar doesn’t do a damn good thing for you.

But if you’re getting your news from a source that has a history of excellence, that does not make you happy, and that even charges you for the privilege of reading or watching it, then maybe you’re on the right track. I subscribe (that’s a technical term for paying money for the news, in case you’re too young to recognize the term) to The Washington Post (informally known as WaPo). Why? Because I love hearing about the madness of the Republican Party, the Covid-19 pandemic, our disastrous response to the pandemic, or climate change?

No.

But the fact that I’m not happy means I’ve not made the sloppy intellectual mistake of satisfying my emotional urges. It means I have the discipline to seek out truth, to not be taken in by the con men and grifters who lead the megachurches and tele-churches, to face facts and not believe fictions that make me happy.

And not wallow about in victimhood.

If you’ve been getting your news and opinion from Fox News, OANN, NewsMax, The Epoch Times, or one of many others, I wish you the dedication to discard those addictions and step up to a better source of news.

In light of what happened today, that’s your duty. Come join the rest of us. We’re waiting for you.

¹ The undiplomatic epithet distributed by Hillary Clinton, who also came up with the term deplorables. It’s beginning to look like she’s been accurate all along.

Erick Erickson, as it happens, is located on the ground in Georgia. Yesterday, he predicted a Perdue victory, while the other race would be too close to call – based on what he was hearing up close and personal.

This seemed quite reasonable to me.

Late last night, though, with disaster beginning to peek over the hill for Republicans …

Over three-quarters of Republicans who voted said they think the November election was stolen. The President’s campaign actually went on the air in Georgia in the last few days to tell Republicans that November was stolen. The Georgia Republican Party Chairman has been all over TV and the internet telling voters the November election was stolen.

Turns out Republican voters took it all seriously, which I could not conceive would be so.

Erickson’s mistake is to think there are Republican voters, full stop. There are not. There are the standard Republican voters – many who rejected Trump – and there are the Trump Party voters. They may be counted as Republicans, but that’s the mistake of thinking Trump is, or was, a Republican. He’s not. His allegiance is to himself, not to the Party or its tenets. His voters know that.

And that means the speculation that, without Trump on the ballot, Trump voters might not show up, is turning out to be true.

Trump is a meteor. He attracts crowds wherever he goes, because he espouses positions which appeal to a certain part of the electorate. But, once he passes, they disappear from the elections. And, like any meteor encountering atmosphere, he’s decaying. His popularity within his own subculture is very slowly decaying; but within the Republican Party, who embraced him because he claimed to be Republican, it’ll continue to decay faster.

I expected two Republican victories from these runoff elections – close, perhaps, but not all that close. Instead, Warnock is projected to win, and Ossoff has a small lead. My suspicion is that enough Republican voters, turned off by Perdue and Loeffler’s allegiance to Trump, didn’t show up, or even voted Democratic. And the Trump contingent, convinced by their Leader’s incessant whining about non-existent cheating, chose not to come out.

And that leads to the toxicity of the Republican Party / Trump Party alliance. The old line Republican Party began disappearing back in the time of Gingrich – at least! – and, with the arrival of Ryan and his generation, came to the peak of ideological purity.

Their failure, which came from the team politics tenet of the Party, led to Trump. He promised results in line with conservative and far-right ideologies. But he’s a pathological narcissist, possibly the worst we’ve ever seen on the American political stage. A rare beastie, Republican politicos continually missed their predictions concerning his behavior, but found themselves constricted by their tenet of team politics to trundle along behind. Thus we have Senator Collins (R-ME), for example, proclaiming that President Trump had learned his lesson, following his impeachment.

She was so, so wrong.

As I wrote yesterday, we’re seeing the Republican Party fragmenting, although it may be more accurate to say that the moral depravity of the Republican Party has been exposed by the infiltration of the Trump voters, and those decent members of the Republican Party are now ex-members.

And I expect these two entities, a crippled Republican Party and a Trump Party, or “barstool blowhards” as I call them, to continue to flame out and diminish. The team politics tenet will serve to keep the Republican Party alive, much to the horror of true conservatives; but what is the fate of the Trump Party if he vamooses for a country without extradition, or dies (he’s quite old, after all)? Don Trump, Jr., is no Donald Trump, Sr.

We live in interesting times.