Not US!

 

Opus, Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed
Please forgive us for using your Opus art, but it seemed so apropos. 

Thinking about the USA today reminds me that sometimes when I look in the mirror the person looking back is not me.

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Fatal - If Left Untreated

 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) reminds me of Naegleria Fowleri ameba, the rare “bugs” that infect victims by entering up the nose to the brain and destroy the brain tissue. In her case, it appears she is trying to become a “novel” variety – the Naegleria Fowleri ameba QAnon conspiracy kind – and infect the brains of her Republican Congressional colleagues.

Her Naegleria Fowleri ameba QAnon conspiracy brain eating bug has threatened to put a bullet in Speaker Pelosi; posted support for executing prominent Democrats in Facebook comments and videos; supported the mob takeover of the Capitol; and proudly supports Mr. Trump’s treason.

Now, this from CNN: “In a video that surfaced Wednesday, Greene is seen harassing Parkland shooting survivor and gun control activist David Hogg outside the Capitol. In the video from March 2019, she calls Hogg a "coward" and said he was "paid to do this," repeating a malicious lie that Hogg's activism was paid for by billionaire philanthropist and Democratic donor George Soros. Survivors of the Parkland shooting and victims' families have called for Greene to resign.”

Maybe, someday, a Republican leader will figure out that Taylor Greene's brain eating ameba will be fatal if left untreated.

.@Fred_Guttenberg slams @RepMTG 👇

"She is a depraved person who ran for Congress on a lie. She called Parkland a lie, Sandy Hook a lie, Las Vegas a lie, and 9/11 a lie. She has no business being in Congress."

Tell Congress to vote to #ExpelGreene here: https://t.co/yXSswl9EfZ pic.twitter.com/WT0zOihi2w

— Democratic Coalition (@TheDemCoalition) January 28, 2021

Treason Most Heinous

 

An angry mob confronted the police as it tried to gain entry into the Capitol, 2 p.m.Credit...Ashley Gilbertson/VII, for The New York Times.

The Capitol Hill insurrection of 6 Jan 2021 was a traitorous act orchestrated and incited by Donald Trump to overthrow our Democratic Republic. Trump’s actions were a heinous treachery, exponentially exceeding the treason of the most hated of all American traitors, Benedict Arnold. 

Donald J. Trump, while President of the United States, incited insurrectionists into the Capitol building for the purpose of overturning the American voters’ will in favor of his desire to continue in power as President. Further, his followers were intent on capturing and murdering members of Congress as well as Vice President Pence. 

They failed — only by mere seconds — the narrowest of margins. 

In the process of following Mr. Trump’s direction, they sacked the Capitol building; murdered one police officer; injured multiple others; and killed at least three of their own rioters.

In comparison, Arnold’s treachery simply involved surrendering West Point, NY, to the British. He too, failed by the narrowest of margins.

Still, to put it into historical perspective, General George Washington called Arnold's treason, “Treason of the blackest dye”, because during the Revolutionary War, “…holding West Point meant preventing the British from controlling the Hudson River and dividing the colonies in two.” George Washington called the fortified site “the most important Post in America.” Loss of West Point could have spelled loss of the revolution.

The consequences of Trump’s treason have yet to play out. His supporters have “drunk the cool aid” and lost all sense of reality. They are adrift in a gaslighted, twisted, “alternative universe” of doublespeak and doublethink, where right is wrong and wrong is right. 

Over the past years they have slowly stewed, like the proverbial frog in the frying pan, in an endless blizzard of lies and fringe-wing propaganda plus a concoction of religious insanity, which they call "Christian", but is in fact totally opposite of the teachings of Jesus Christ. 

For them Trump has become a divine instrument, the voice of God, if not God himself.

Yes, treason most heinous, inflicted on our nation by a man masquerading as president, has wounded us most grievously, if not fatally. Convalescence will require a colossal effort on our part, through a multitude of disciplines, if we are to recover.

41 minutes of fear: A video timeline from inside the Capitol siege

Becoming

 

Photo Credit: Mike Theiler / Reuters / The Atlantic

"Just above and behind him (the insurrectionist with the Confederate flag) is a painting of Charles Sumner, the ardent abolitionist senator from Massachusetts, (and) a portrait of John C. Calhoun, partially obscured by the rebel flag, senator from South Carolina and vice president under both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, who wrote in 1837:

'I hold that in the present state of civilization, where two races of different origin, and distinguished by color, and other physical differences, as well as intellectual, are brought together, the relation now existing in the slaveholding States between the two, is, instead of an evil, a good—a positive good.'”

Please go here for Clint Smith's story in The Atlantic about the portraits, the capitol, the rebel flag and the Trump insurrection connection.

America, we have a challenge we must now confront. 

The Trump initiated Capitol Hill Insurrection has forced us to choose to become the USA we pretend to be or remain the white racist society we deny we are.

Only the days ahead will reveal our choice.

What happens after the Capitol attacks? | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), 13 Jan 2021

Congress must vote to impeach and remove Donald Trump.

This isn't a complicated vote. It's a matter of right or wrong.

You're either with the People or you're with that mob.

The Civil War Never ended... Hatreds and Fears

Tears of Gratitude

 

Officer Eugene Goodman alone between rioters and open Senate door.
Photo Credit: New York Times

Officer Eugene Goodman was and remains the right man in the right spot at the right time. He is a hero not just because he chose not to use deadly force, but because he courageously stood alone before a mob of Trumpist-rioters, then risked bodily harm and/or death while summoning-up his intelligence and experience to distract them away from the US Senate chamber’s open door.

Officer Goodman gave others precious seconds to close that open door and remove senators from harm’s way.

“Above and Beyond”... Officer Goodman; you are my hero. Your service in defense of our Constitution brings tears of gratitude to my eyes.  

Hero Officer Led Mob Away To Save Lives During Capitol Riot

TODAY, 11 Jan 2021

Not Soap Enough?

 

Ms. Powell with soap.

Lawsuits for defamation have been threat enough to incent FOX News, Fox Business host Lou Dobbs and Fox News hosts Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro, plus, “fellow right-wing cable channels OANN and Newsmax,” to debunk their false voting machine claims.

Interestingly, even Fox News host, Tucker Carlson, “…criticized Powell on air for failing to provide any evidence to back her claim.”

Still, I’m guessing, of course, but there is probably not enough soap in the world to cleanse away the garbage sown by Ms. Powell and other Trumpists and amplified by right-wing media mega horns.

Yet, some soap in Ms. Powell’s mouth is a good start.

Here's another mouth cleansing... but for a billion times more innocent reason....

Lifebuoy yuck! Ralphie, soap, A Christmas Story - 1983

Walking that Lonesome Valley

 

Finally, someone is calling BS what it is – BS – and seriously taking legal action to stop the propaganda/disinformation tactics which have become the money-making norm for several media organizations, commentators and, of course, Mr. Trump and his lackeys.

“On Monday, electronic voting system company Smartmatic took legal action against Fox News, Newsmax and One America News Network, demanding the outlets retract stories rife with “false and defamatory statements” about its role in the 2020 election.”

As reported in a recent Huffpost article, written by Ryan Grenoble, Antonio Mugica, CEO of Smartmatic said:

“Each outlet published ‘dozens of factually inaccurate statements,’ Smartmatic claimed in the legal notices, all of which could have easily been disproven with a minimal amount of effort.”

“Instead of conducting basic research, however, Smartmatic said the right-wing outlets engaged in what it characterized as a “disinformation campaign” intended to discredit the outcome of the election.”

“They have no evidence to support their attacks on Smartmatic because there is no evidence,” Antonio Mugica, CEO of Smartmatic said in a statement. “This campaign was designed to defame Smartmatic and undermine legitimately conducted elections.”

“Our efforts are more than just about Smartmatic or any other company,” Mugica continued. “This campaign is an attack on election systems and election workers in an effort to depress confidence in future elections and potentially counter the will of the voters, not just here, but in democracies around the world.”

It is way past time for this “Walk that Lonesome Valley” moment and I hope it is one of many more to follow. To begin to move forward our nation must call out and legally compel the propaganda/disinformation perpetrators and facilitators to pay for the damage they have caused to the people of the United States.

Pete Seeger/Arlo Guthrie - You gotta walk that lonesome valley