On Thursday we got a stark reminder that farcical fascism is still fascism.
Yes, Jeffrey Clark was a clownish Iago; the theories about Italian satellites were certifiably insane; Trump’s election lies were absurd and easily debunked; and the smoking guns are right there in plain sight.
But even so, it was a damned close run thing.
The President of the United States was moments away from installing a seditionist crony as the nation’s top law enforcement officer and using the Department of Justice to execute his coup.
The line held. Thank God.
But that line was thin, and it might not be there the next time around.
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) June 14, 2022
It is so ironic that Donald Trump ran for president as an isolationist, who wanted to build walls around America. He seems to have built a wall around himself, isolating him from just about anyone with any sense. As Liz Cheney points out, Trump disregarded his campaign managers, his own lawyers, even his Attorney General, Vice President, and many others. But it is even worse, as he has thrown his own beloved daughter Ivanka under the bus, accusing her of perjury.
George W. Bush just admitted that he is a war criminal.
Note how after Dubya corrects himself, he doubles down and says “Iraq, too” and laughs.
Will anyone be held accountable for our war in Iraq? We will never know how many deaths were due to that war, but estimates go as high as a million people.
Saturday Night Live takes on the Supreme Court. When Donald Trump said “Make America Great Again” I didn’t realize that he wanted to take us back to the 13th century! The USA didn’t exist then, so I guess he wants to eradicate our country.
Today, Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) responded to the leaked document from the Supreme Court, saying that if accurate, it was “inconsistent” with promises that were made to her by Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch that were made in order to get her confirmation vote.
At the time, Collins told CNN that she was assured that the nominees would not overturn the Supreme Court’s precedents protecting abortion access in the U.S.
Let me get this straight. How long has Collins been a member of the Republican Party? And she believed them? Remember, Donald Trump repeatedly announced that he would focus on appointing justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade.
Mallory McMorrow is a Democratic state senator in Michigan, who brilliantly stood up to right-wing hatred today. I hope everyone watches the (under 5 minute) video of her in the Michigan senate.
Senator Lana Theis accused me by name of grooming and sexualizing children in an attempt to marginalize me for standing up against her marginalizing the LGBTQ community…in a fundraising email, for herself.
Even James Carville, who recently, and famously complained about Democratic wokeness, had strong praise for McMorrow, saying “Enormously effective piece of communication. There’s really no comeback to it.”
I swear, you can’t possibly make shit like this up. According to The Guardian, Florida has rejected “54 math textbooks because they contain ‘prohibited topics’ including Critical Race Theory” (CRT).
Last year, Florida banned the teaching of CRT in public schools. In response, many people pointed out that CRT has never been taught in any public schools (it has only been a subject in some universities). In order to justify their actions they are making up examples of CRT and banning some textbooks.
But math textbooks? Why would any math textbook have anything about race in it? Maybe a computer textbook talking about “race conditions”, or a physics textbook talking about “black body radiation”, but those don’t have anything to do with CRT.
In the novel 1984, George Orwell coined the term doublethink, which requires people to accept two conflicting beliefs as truth, despite them contradicting each other, their own memory, or even their reality. In the book, people accept doublethink due to peer pressure, to “fit in”, or to be accepted as a loyal Party Member. Sound familiar?
In order to be a member of the Republican Party, politicians have to accept the doublethink that Trump won the 2020 election, and that evil Democrats are forcing schools to teach CRT. Any contradiction with the party line is akin to blasphemy, and will get the politician instant social disapproval, or even primaried. Even if they know it is a lie, they have to repeat the lie over and over.
Obama gave a speech today at the White House, the first time he has been back there since he was president. The occasion was celebrating the passage of the ACA (also known as Obamacare). But he threw in a few jokes just for fun.
It seems like Donald Trump’s main purpose in life now is to repeatedly claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him (in particular by evil Democrats). But here’s more evidence of the hypocrisy of that. It turns out that one of Trump’s former aides, Matt Mowers, voted twice during the Republican primaries in 2016 that resulted in the nomination of Trump as the Republican candidate for president. He voted once in New Hampshire, and then later again in New Jersey. Ironically, when he voted in New Hampshire, he was working for former governor of New Jersey Chris Christie’s presidential campaign.
Mowers is now running for Congress in New Hampshire, trying to unseat one of those pesky, election stealing Democratic Congresspersons.
I usually take a very dim view when celebrities try to stick their noses and personal views into politics, especially celebrities who are famous mainly because they are actors. But two separate things happened today that totally surprised me.
The first was Arnold Schwarzenegger posting a video to Twitter (and other social media channels). Yes, I realize that Schwarzenegger is mainly famous as an actor, but he was also the Republican governor of California, which might give him credibility to speak about politics, but the main reason he was elected was because he was a celebrity actor, and in the end he wasn’t a particularly good politician.
But he did something amazing today, posting a personal and heartfelt message to the people and soldiers of Russia to help stop the war against Ukraine. Many people in Russia love him, and grew up watching his movies. I’d like to think that this might be able to cut through Putin’s propaganda. Maybe only a little, but every bit helps.
Many reposts of this video have shortened it, but the whole thing is only 9 minutes long and is definitely worth it:
The second thing that happened today is in some ways the opposite of the first. [Spoiler alert!] Today was the season finale of Star Trek: Discovery, and (once again) they have saved the galaxy. At the end, they greet the President of United Earth, who is played by politician Stacey Abrams, an amazing advocate for voting rights and currently running for governor of Georgia. It turns out that Abrams is not just a politician (who is widely credited with flipping Georgia for the Democrats in the 2020 election), she is an avid Star Trek fan, has written several novels, and acted in and directed plays in high school and college. She has also talked extensively about how Star Trek has shaped her perspective. Who better to play the leader of a United Earth?
Here’s the entire scene with Abrams:
Someone out there should start making T-shirts and buttons saying “Stacey Abrams for President of United Earth” — let’s get to it!
