The Stain of January Sixth

That stain won’t come out – or will it? It certainly shouldn’t.  In a sane world, The events of January 6 would ensure that no Republican wins an elective office for the next several cycles; but alas, the GOP might regain control of both houses of Congress. (This is being written ten days before the 2022 mid-term election).

I’ll say it as clearly as I can: Republicans, and those who support them, are endorsing violent, deadly insurrection, sometimes tacitly, but often openly. There are many reasons the GOP should take a sound beating at the polls, but none rise to the treasonous level of insurrection. What has happened to our once great country? 

BIDEN WON in 2020. There is zero credible evidence saying otherwise. Bill Barr, the Trump appointed top law-enforcement official in the land along with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, ardent Trump defender, both acknowledged at the time that Biden won. Trump launched sixty-two court cases challenging various aspects of the election, many of them presided over by Trump appointed judges. Lawyers and politicians can lie all they like in public, but in a court of law, lying and presenting false evidence can rightfully end a career. Sixty-one cases were thrown out for lack of evidence. Many of Trump's lawyers were censured for wasting the court’s time with flagrantly frivolous cases. Their only purpose was to muddy the waters and cast doubt. 

Mission accomplished, at least among the thick-headed – and it is disheartening how many of the thick-headed are among us. Any thinking person can clearly see that Biden won, fair and square.Those that still think otherwise are either chumps, or seek to gain political advantage by advancing the Big Lie.

 

Let’s briefly revisit the events of January 6, 2021: Members of Trump's own inner circle have testified that he knew full well he lost the election, yet Trump held a rally on the same day that congress was to certify Biden’s victory. He whipped his rabid followers into a frenzy, then commanded them to march to the Capitol and “Fight like hell.” They did just that. The crazed Trump supporters smashed windows and doors; chanted “Hang Mike Pence,” while erecting a gallows; for the first time ever, a Confederate flag flew inside the Capitol; they beat police officers (with an American flag!); and literally shit on the floor of the Congress. (Think about that last one; Trump supporters pulled down their pants, squatted down, and defecated in the very heart of our democracy. The symbolism couldn’t be clearer.)

There were five deaths. Many participants are now rightfully in jail. Trump should be among them. The January sixth insurrection is beyond doubt the most shameful event in US history.

Yet Republicans, cowering at the mere thought of Trump’s wrath, want us all to look the other way.

 

The most frightening aspect of the upcoming election is that dozens of Trump endorsed,  ass-kissing, brazen election-deniers, actually stand a chance to win. Any Republicans who dared speak the truth about Trump and January sixth have been cast aside. Never mind if policy-wise they were staunch conservatives. Sycophants only need apply. Kiss Trump’s ring or be removed.

I wish I had a bright side; our democratic process is perilously close to death. I genuinely fear for the future of our once great republic. Our only hope is that the treasonous GOP will be utterly humiliated at the polls on November 8.

So please vote! Just don’t cast a ballot for the Insurrection party.  

I Did That!

I was filling the tank today, and saw yet another sticker on the pump of President Biden pointing to the price and saying “I did that!” I see them frequently. You probably do as well. They are available on Amazon to wannabe vandals everywhere for just $3.99 per hundred. Ha ha ha! Funny. 

Do these simpletons really think Joe Biden controls gas prices?

I scraped the sticker off the pump and flicked it in the trash – an act I’ve become accustomed to. I consider it a civic good deed.  

This sticker phenomenon fills me with genuine existential dread. Has society sunk this low? Apparently so. Thousands of the willfully-ignorant are applying a stupid sticker to a gas pump as a delusional political statement.  Do any of these knuckleheads stop to think how Biden is controlling gas prices? What about the fact that the price per barrel of crude oil has gone up all over the world? These are the same simpletons always blathering about “freedom.” Freedom includes the free market. But when it comes to gas prices, it’s somehow Biden’s fault. 

They must think Old Joe has a big brushed-metal knob on the Resolute Desk, like something out of Dr. Frankenstein’s lab, marked “Gas Prices.” He cranks it up, while gleefully cackling, “Those pickup truck driving rubes will never vote for me now! Bwa, ha, ha, ha!” 

No single person can be blamed for rising gas prices, but if it’s anyone, think Valdimir Putin. 

Meanwhile, oil company executives are laughing so hard they need a new supply of gold-plated  Depends. They retire as billionaires – so rich their grandchildren will never have to work –  and their most dependent customers, the drivers of gas-guzzling pick-ups, blame the price on poor old Joe. It’s history’s greatest scam. 

I’ll digress a bit here, but THIS IS IMPORTANT, DAMMIT: The scientific community has demonstrated that one percent of the potential renewable energy available to us is enough to power the entire planet. (Don’t believe me? Look it up!) Furthermore, we have the technology to do it, we just lack the political will. One big reason for this is that the oil companies have a stranglehold on the US government. For decades, they have been consciously distracting us from the perils of climate change for the benefit of short-term profit. They are killing us all, and being rewarded with obscene wealth. This will sound extreme, but I really mean it: All oil companies should be taxed, and/or fined out of existence. Their executives should all be jailed. 

For the record, Presidents can’t raise or lower the price of anything, including gas. The best (or worst) they can do is suggest a tax to congress. And that hasn’t happened. Joe Biden didn’t do this!

Can a society endure when it contains so many proudly ignorant members? 

 

With the Flying Spaghetti Monster as my witness, I swear my next car will be electric.