Those who aided and abetted Trump’s lies are equally deserving of "suspension" for events of January 6.

By election day, The Washington Post had recording nearly 30,000 false and misleading statements by Donald Trump since he took office, including over 500 the day before the election. By the end of the year, Trump had told more lies in 2020 alone than he had the previous three years. By December it was almost impossible to keep track of all the lies he was telling minute-by-minute. Among the lies he would tell four days ago were that Mike Pence just needed to show “extreme courage” and order states to do a “redo” of the election, because despite all the states certifying their votes, “The States want to redo their votes.” He made false claims about ballot dumps and more votes than voters; he claimed, for example, that the turnout in Detroit was 139 percent, when in fact it was only 51 percent of registered voters—which indicates that Detroit voting significantly underperformed than the country as a whole. 

Trump also repeatedly insisted that he won by a “landslide” and no one should believe that Joe Biden received 80 million votes—purposefully ignoring the fact that his own vote count was vastly inflated over 2016’s numbers because he also benefited greatly from the voting changes brought on by the pandemic. And probably his biggest lie of the day was that he was going to march with his mostly white supremacist rally attendees in Beer Hall Putsch fashion; instead he just returned to his White House bunker, where it was reported that he watched the ensuing attack on the Capitol Building. 

A poll reported by The Hill didn’t provide much hope for this country; 42 percent actually “approved” of his handling of the insurrection, including 21 percent of Democrats and 38 percent of “independents.” What??? Trump instigated and directed what he wished the insurgents to do for him, and five were killed.  After it had begun he did not even try to put a “handle” on anything until he was forced to by aides, and even then he only made things worse with more lies and telling the rioters how much he “loved” them. This is Trump “handling” the situation, according to a story in the UK’s The Daily Mail with reporting by the AP and Reuters:

Cocooned in a small private dining room next to the Oval Office, Trump watched on cable news as his followers ransacked the Capitol building, but appeared disinterested in the insurrection. Instead, he grew increasingly agitated and raved furiously that his own vice president had not backed his attempt to overthrow the election, insiders say. As the television showed scenes from the Capitol that shocked the nation and the world, increasingly desperate aides pleaded with Trump to intervene, but he resisted and insisted that nothing was wrong, the sources say…”My people are peaceful. My people aren't thugs,”…“He was a total monster today,” an official said of Trump's reaction. “He didn't want to condemn his people.”…

As the violence escalated and Twitter locked Trump's accounts for inciting the insurrection, he reportedly whined that he was unable to tweet, venting fury at aides when he tried to post to the platform but was blocked…a White House official says that the president appeared disengaged and disinterested as scenes emerged that shocked the conscience of the nation. Instead, the official says, most of Trump's attention was consumed by his ire at Pence for defying his demands and acknowledging he did not have the power to unilaterally choose the next president….Aides say they pleaded with Trump to intervene as the situation at the Capitol raged out of control, but that he showed little interest in stopping the insurrection….

At 2.55 pm, one of Trump's supporters was fatally shot in the melee at the Capitol…Trump then reluctantly issued another tweet and taped a video encouraging an end to the violence. The posts came at the insistence of staff and amid mounting criticism from Republican lawmakers urging him to condemn the violence being perpetrated in his name, according to the official. And even as authorities struggled to take control of Capitol Hill after protesters overwhelmed police, Trump continued to level baseless allegations of mass voter fraud and praised his loyalists as 'very special' in the video message…Trump has surrounded himself with an ever-smaller group of loyalists who cater to his whims, including digital director Dan Scavino, personal aide John McEntee, trade adviser Peter Navarro, speechwriter Stephen Miller, and personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, one source said. “It's sad. These are the people around him and egging him on.”

This is not “handling” the situation, let alone a display of leadership during a time of crisis;  we have seen, time and time again, Trump inventing his own “crisis” to get around the law, but when it comes to a real national crisis, he treats it as an annoyance meant to discomfit him personally. Why should we wonder why major social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have suspended his accounts permanently for inciting violence both literally and through endless false claims? However, it should be observed that these actions—which many people thought should have been taken long ago—were only done after a final, outrageous act that had every appearance of a coup attempt. Many Republicans and all through the right-wing media denounced this attempt by “big tech” to silence Trump’s “free speech” rights, but many of these people were as culpable as Trump, promoting his falsehoods which also inspired this act of treason against the Constitution and democracy.

Who is to blame for “Millions of Americans sincerely believe the last election was fake”? Yes, people like Tucker Carlson. For two months the likes Carlson, Hannity, Bartiromo, Dobbs and most of the rest of the Fox News crew promoted every conspiracy theory no matter how crackpot or insane, as if it was Trump's "unofficial" Ministry of Propaganda. If Fox News had any shred of pretending to be a credible source of facts, it would have reported Trump’s efforts to overturn the election through falsehoods as “news” items and nothing more. It would have simply reported the courts repeatedly rejecting the Trump’s claims as having no basis in fact, and it would have noted that recounts had found no irregularities. If it had done so, if would have taken the air out of Trump and most of his supporters, reducing him to nothing more than a ridiculous little man. Instead, Fox News repeatedly towed the extremist line of baseless election fraud conspiracies. And because of this, Fox News also has blood on its hands.

There are a lot of people and organizations who could have shown they had a modicum of ethical and moral character, and could have kept Trump under control when he saw he had almost no support for his lack of civility, decency and contempt for facts. Instead, there were those like Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan and Devin Nunes who continuously showed that they are not statesmen, but traitors to the Constitution and democracy; that someone as corrupt as Trump is actually awarding the Medal of Freedom to Jordan and Nunes for their efforts to shield him from his crimes only diminishes them further, not “enhancing” their stature. These are the kind of people who brought civil discourse to a level of uncertainty that people were forced to confront the fact that there has to be a line that ultimately cannot be crossed.

The events of January 6 were the inevitable result of the “freedom of speech” to promote falsehoods and conspiracies without restraint or responsibility by our alleged “leaders.” The fact that it was a president who was ultimately silenced for promoting insurrection and sedition against this country was not just the fault of Trump himself, but everyone else who aided and abetted him. Social media platforms were forced into their actions because of the abject failure of right-wing politicians and media to control Trump’s worst and darkest impulses, refusing to simply tell him the truth. Nearly all of 140 House Republicans—unlike half of the original 14 Republican Senators--were unmoved by the attempted coup by Trump supporters, and they are equally as worthy of censure as he is.

You can't be both "trans" and "queer" at the same time--so "Elliot" Page should be a bit more forthright about "his" meaning

 

Now it is time "to dare the gods.” I was scrolling down the Google news feed on my phone when I came across a story about how British actor Ian McKellen was “dissatisfied” with the way he had not been “sensitive” during an encounter he had with someone years ago.  

“I remember Elliot Page, in one of the X-Men, sat as close as we are now. And I had to speak when they’d finished, and I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Nobody could hear what they were saying. So, I said, ‘Look, if you can’t speak up, would you mind when you’re finished speaking, just dropping your hand so I know when you’ve finished speaking?’ And then they came out [as gay] years later and suddenly you couldn’t stop them talking. You heard everything. And now… they’re Elliot. And I’m so happy for Elliot. And so disappointed in myself that I didn’t detect what their difficulty was with communicating.”

I was like most of those who left comments, wondering if it was a slow news day. But then I thought this Elliot and his friends were being rude, and maybe the reason they were talking so low because they were saying nasty things about other people they didn’t want anybody else to hear. But I thought about it a bit more, and did some investigating, and found out that up until last November 30, this Elliot Page used to called Ellen Page, before putting on some men’s clothes and  announcing to the world that “she” was now a “he.”  

Ellen/Elliot Page was/is an actress/actor who has given a well-regarded performances in movies I have never seen; I checked “his” IMDB listing for “her” films and the only one I’ve seen is Smart People, in which she played a clearly female character. I was aware of the fact that she first became an “item” as the “star” of Juno, in which “Ellen” played a pregnant teen deciding whether or not to keep the child. I have also seen “him” on late night talk shows wearing short skirts, trying to look every inch a sexy “her.” In 2005 she was “outed” as a lesbian, apparently against her wishes, and then was feted for her “courage.”

On December 1 on social media, “Ellen” announced to the world that

“I want to share with you that I am trans, my pronouns are he/they and my name is Elliot. I feel lucky to be writing this. To be here. To have arrived at this place in my life. I feel overwhelming gratitude for the incredible people who have supported me along this journey. I can’t begin to express how remarkable it feels to finally love who I am enough to pursue my authentic self. I’ve been endlessly inspired by so many in the trans community. Thank you for your courage, your generosity and ceaselessly working to make this world a more inclusive and compassionate place. I will offer whatever support I can and continue to strive for a more loving and equal society,”

And that wasn’t all:

I love that I am trans. And I love that I am queer. And the more I hold myself close and fully embrace who I am, the more I dream, the more my heart grows and the more I thrive. To all the trans people who deal with harassment, self-loathing, abuse, and the threat of violence every day: I see you, I love you, and I will do everything I can to change this world for the better.

To me this Ellen/Elliot is actually a self-serving coward and a hypocrite. In the past, being “exposed” as gay or lesbian did open one up to ridicule and abuse, but these days being “outed” is less worthy as a news item than announcing one is a “tran.” “Transgender” is in the news mainly because it refers to someone who is outwardly one sex—including possessing the genitalia of that sex—yet claiming to think and “feel” like the opposite sex. Such people insist that they be allowed to use public restrooms, locker rooms or other gender-specific facilities of their sex of choice. The “Elliot” Wiki page has now been edited to say that “he” had been “assigned” the designation as “female” at birth, apparently without the baby’s personal approval.

In examining all the issues involved here, I must once more say that if there is one thing I hate as much as anything, it is hypocrisy. "Elliot" is completely disingenuous here. “Ellen” had been married to a woman named Emma Porter for the past few years. This was stated to be a same-sex marriage. Now, I’ve done some investigating on the Internet, and I’ve found nothing that suggests that “Elliot” is a hermaphrodite, or had an surgical procedure to install male genitalia—meaning that “Elliot” is still physically a female. It seems that “Elliot” prefers the “stigma” of being “trans” rather than that of “gay” or “lesbian.”

So what is “Elliot” telling us? She says she “loves” being “trans” and “queer.” I’m sorry, but you cannot be both at the same time. It appears that she is saying she was “queer” before, but now she is “trans.” Did "Ellen" actually secretly hate being referred to as gay or lesbian? That she prefers her relationships to be seen as "normal" as in “heterosexual,” since she feels more like a “man” than a “woman,” even though “he” is physically still a woman? Why is she rejecting the term “lesbian”? The same could be said about a man who claims to be a woman, yet chooses to retain the outside physical characteristics of a male. Why doesn’t he just say he is “gay” and prefers other men? Do “trans” people feel “shame” in being referred to as gay or lesbian? Isn’t that an indication of the suppressed, “closeted” prejudices they themselves possess?

Page is being feted by other hypocrites, who remind me of white supremacists who allow a few token minorities to join their club so they can be used to claim that they are not racist. “He” should be seen for what “he” is: someone who wants to create the “illusion” of “normality” based on a lie and his own suppressed prejudices, which all "his" self-gratulatory hyperbole does little to conceal, once people actually sit down and think about it.

The rats may be getting off Trump's sinking ship or going down with him, but that still leaves behind forces that even another Trump may not be able to control

 

Yesterday we saw Donald Trump addressing what was essentially a white supremacist “convention”—exhorting them to march on the Capitol building, and put the fear of the Devil into Democrats and “courage” into the spines of Republicans, to aid in his quixotic quest to remain in office. These people were not “patriots,” they were a vile mob of domestic terrorists joyriding on Trump’s fascist bus. Perhaps it was only “coincidental” that police “guarding” the Capitol were understaffed and unprepared, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that they allowed the mob to just walk through the police line outside the building—which suggested that some of them were in “sympathy” with the mob.

Once the mob gained entry into the Capitol, they did not behave like mature adults with real concerns, but like frat boys in a beer-soaked party. If they were “serious” about their complaints, maybe they would have just gathered together in the rotunda and started chanting “stop the steal”; instead, they just rampaged the halls with Trump and Confederate flags, committed vandalism and theft, and posted pictures of themselves sitting in Nancy Pelosi’s desk. These people didn’t care about maintaining the rule of law and democracy; they just showed us what happens when the rule of law and democracy is undermined by a president who has never respected either—rather seeing both as the “enemy” in his ongoing battle against being viewed as a “loser” in business, politics, and as a human being.

Since then, we have seen some Trump supporters scurrying around like rats on Trump’s sinking ship, and others deciding to get out while the getting out is still good. After the mob had been cleared out, Sen. Lindsay Graham announced that he had tried to be friends with Trump and support him through thick-and-thin, but after the attempted insurrection, he exclaimed “Count me out. Enough is enough.” This is a man who had called Georgia’s secretary of state on Trump’s behalf to “persuade” him to criminally overturn the vote. But apparently it is true that a picture tells a story, or a thousand words. People try to hide behind their silence, or claim words are not the same as deeds, but the actual visual evidence that words do really mean something is a truism that even a sycophantic supporter like Graham could not face. Still, we must give “credit” where credit is due, since there were others, like Senators Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and most of the Republicans in the House, who decided to go down with the ship instead of supporting democracy and the rule of law.

You have to know that William Barr is only too happy not having to be around  to “explain” why he did nothing while the seat of the nation’s democracy (Trump’s White House certainly isn’t) was under siege by an attempted coup orchestrated by the “boss” he had for two years sought to make more dictatorial and more immune from accountability. Meanwhile, Chad Wolf suddenly remembered that immigrant children in cages were not his only area of “concern” as head of “Homeland Security,” and actually had the gonads to call on Trump to denounce the domestic terrorists he had personally sent out on a search and destroy mission. An hour after this unforgivable act of disloyalty, Trump withdrew Wolf’s nomination as permanent head of the DHS, which was just as well, since a Democratic-controlled Senate is not going to approve him anyways, and because he has been ruled to be illegally holding his position in the first place is the least of the reasons.

Meanwhile, Fox News doesn’t know what direction it wants to go on after the attempt to overthrow democracy by the very people it has provided sustenance to on a daily basis. On “Fox & Friends” MAGA fanatic Pete Hegseth defended the mobsters, claiming that their actions only exposed “what the left has done to this country”—and not, say, Trump. Brian Kilmeade, who the day before was still giving credence to election conspiracies, was today asserting that “Since November 3, or when we got the verdict by November 5, the president’s behavior has been terrible”; naturally he didn’t mention the fact that all of this could have ended very quickly had not he and most of the rest of the Fox News crew been sycophantedly supportive of his election fraud conspiracies for the past two months.

Fox News was also promoting human superspreader Rep. Matt Gaetz's conspiracy theory that antifa had "infiltrated" the rioters and were the real party responsible for the violence. But this was debunked by a facial recognition software company that stated that it had actually identified two neo-Nazis and a QAnon supporter, and by the right-wing newspaper The Washington Examiner, which quoted a right-wing journalist and "expert" on antifa and BLM, who said that antifa was not equipped to coordinate such a mass protest, and there had been no Internet "chatter" about any involvement in the protest. 

An Examiner reporter at the scene also tweeted that “I didn’t see any BLM or antifa all day and I’ve walked through the crowd a few times.” But Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity kept peddling that conspiracy theory, and I know that I am going to be asked "what about that?" in the next letter from my Fox News addict family member.

Then there was Tucker Carlson, hypocritically trying to put a “human” face on the insurrection, putting the focus not on the action of rioters but on the woman who was shot and later died; Carlson didn’t mention that she had been in the military for 14 years, was identified by family members as a pro-Trump fanatic, and this happened because she refused police commands to stop trying to break through a door. If anyone was truly responsible for her death, it was the person who said the following:

Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore and that’s what this is all about. To use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal. Today I will lay out just some of the evidence proving that we won this election, and we won it by a landslide. This was not a close election. I say sometimes jokingly, but there’s no joke about it, I’ve been in two elections. I won them both and the second one, I won much bigger than the first. By the way, does anybody believe that Joe had 80 million votes? Does anybody believe that? He had 80 million computer votes. It’s a disgrace. There’s never been anything like that…Our exciting adventures and boldest endeavors have not yet begun. My fellow Americans for our movement, for our children and for our beloved country and I say this, despite all that’s happened, the best is yet to come…So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, I love Pennsylvania Avenue, and we’re going to the Capitol and we’re going to try and give…But we’re going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones, because the strong ones don’t need any of our help, we’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.

Unfortunately, even the “strong” Republicans were forced to flee this effort to instill “pride and boldness.” Yes, Trump did provide these thugs the “go-ahead” to create havoc, but it is also a fair question to ask in light of what did happen is did Trump unleash forces that even he cannot completely foresee or control. Thus the danger of Trumpism is not just the man himself and his completely irresponsible behavior, but the violent mob mentality that he nurtured and unleashed, and will likely survive him no matter if a prison cell is his next destination. 

Another concern is if the “Trump media” has learned anything from this, and for the most part, the answer is probably a resounding “NO.” It will claim to oppose violence “in all its forms”—but mostly the “liberal” variety—and continue to irresponsibly promote the kind fake “socialist” and racist conspiracies that feed into ignorant fears and paranoia, and lead to actions by such elements as we have just witnessed, and may only be "grounded" for a day for not behaving like good little—what did the tone-deaf Ivanka Trump just call them? “American Patriots”?—but otherwise are still a loved part of the “family.”

Will the storming of the Capitol Building finally open more eyes to the danger of Trumpism?

 

The day of judgment of Donald Trump has arrived, literally. What little self-respect and human decency he and his supporters possessed had already been ripped to shreds by their words and deeds of the past two months, with Trump's refusal to accept his defeat, instead embracing the wildest evidence-free conspiracy theories—many promoted by so called "lawyers" who should be investigated for ethical violations and disbarred from practice—and by partisan fanatics in Congress, the “Trump media,” and as we see now, on the streets. 

It was predictable, of course. Just hours before the House and Senate was supposed to go through the motions of “debating” Trump’s fraudulent election claims, he told a mob that he would never concede, and urged that they make their “anger” heard about an election “stolen” from him. Yet while 150 Republican House members and senators were poised to contest Joe Biden's electors, Trump’s mob was not satisfied to allow the charade to play-out. The alleged moral "superiority" of right-wing protesters was washed away like a twig in the face of a burst dam, as the mob stormed the Capitol Building and forced both Republican and Democratic lawmakers to run for cover.

CNN reported that “The stunning display of insurrection was the first time the US Capitol had been overrun since the British attacked and burned the building in August of 1814, during the War of 1812.” It was noted that Capitol police had in no way prepared itself for the onslaught, in contrast to the brutish behavior of police in Lafayette Square, when police assaulted peaceful protesters just so that Trump could get his  hypocritical photo-op with a bible in hand. It was as inexcusable as it was inevitable. 

Like fascist dictators such as Hitler and Mussolini, Trump called upon his personal "army" of thugs to threaten and intimidate the opposition, fully expecting his party supporters in Congress and in the states to bend to his will. It is insane to believe that in a country with a nearly quarter of a millennium history of democracy, and survived a bloody civil war to maintain it, that a sane man would be allowed to overthrow it simply because he "hates" losing. But we are not talking about a sane man—that should be clear now.

While one suspects that this mob was motivated in part by the adrenaline rush of being a part of a “historical” event orchestrated by those who have no sense of, and take no responsibility for, the damaging escalation of what even Trump supporters in Congress know deep down are lies, it is still more appalling that the actions of the mob are still being despicably “excused” by some as merely the “understandable” reaction of put-upon working class people fearful of the future of the country.

What does that mean? We know what that means, don’t we? It is the same kind of “fear” that the Nazis stoked against Jews, “Bolsheviks” and any other political party or ideology that opposed them. These people hate “liberals” and “socialists” because they dislike having to be forced to “share” the country with blacks, Hispanics and immigrants. This is “their” country, and they are entitled to everything first, because they are the “real” Americans. They don’t understand economics except on the most elemental level, and yet as they complain about not having jobs or making enough money, they nevertheless oppose income “redistribution” in the face of growing wealth disparities between the top one percent and everyone else. They blame the wrong people for their problems, because they accept the lies being told to them,  because when people are consumed by hate, paranoia and ignorance, all they have is lies that they must convince themselves are the truth.

However, it appears that the scenes of chaos that Trump inspired was apparently too much for some, even if—as we have a right to suspect—it only further bloated Trump's megalomania. No doubt a few of his Congressional supporters urged him to call off the mob that was taking everyone associated with Trump into the drink. He finally was persuaded to release a brief video asking the mob to "go home" already well into the nearly five-hour occupation, but he obviously didn’t mean it, because he spent most of his minute providing more incentive to riot, with more election fraud claims, telling them he “knew” their “pain,” claiming even those 81 million who voted against him knew that he had “won” in a “landslide,” and telling his thugs that "We love you. You are very special."

Not everyone was as sanguine about the proceedings. Sen. Mitt Romney was the most direct in his condemnation:

We gather today due to a selfish man’s injured pride and the outrage of his supporters whom he has deliberately misinformed for the past two months and stirred to action this very morning. What happened here today was an insurrection, incited by the President of the United States, Those who choose to continue to support his dangerous gambit by objecting to the results of a legitimate, democratic election will forever be seen as being complicit in an unprecedented attack against our democracy. They will be remembered for their role in this shameful episode in American history. That will be their legacy.

Trump’s incentivizing the mob also caught the attention of the world; UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted "Disgraceful scenes in U.S. Congress. The United States stands for democracy around the world and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power."

I’m sure that there are Republicans who, though they will not admit it, feel that while the defeats orchestrated by Trump’s outrageous, self-serving behavior which aided in the loss of both Georgia Senate seats to Democrats in the runoff elections are a short-term set-back, they were a needed correction for the long-term survival of the party that threatens to  be taken over by a fascist element that could lead to only one of two things: the end of constitutional democracy, or reduce the party that still bears the Republican name to a powerless fringe group.

The loss of control of the Senate and the actions of Trump’s mob should open the eyes of many to the truly dangerous nature of Trumpism; but whether the greater part of Republicans  have the “courage” to face this reality is another question, given the many partisan fanatics inspired by Trump who seem still to wish to follow in his footsteps. With the usual suspects on Fox News poised to warn their viewers of a “dangerous” new world of “socialism” that will “destroy this country,” we may still not have seen the end of what Trump has wrought. 

Tucker Carlson wasted no time in soft-pedalling the actions of the mob he and his cohorts also helped to inflame, instead lighting another fire by making the wildly inflammatory claim that the incident will be used to "strip us of our basic freedom."

As if we don’t have enough problems in this world…

 

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver opened the 117^th Congress by asking his God for “strength” in healing partisan divisions, “Amen, and Awomen.” Besides being a forlorn hope, this obvious attempt to play along with the "inclusive" game was a bit forced and too much on the obsequious side—particularly since the word “Amen” is not even “masculine” or “feminine.” It is a “good” thing that the English language is so “versatile,” since these silly word games would play havoc on the Romance languages.

But that was just the opening salvo. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi pushed through the U.S. House of Representatives a “code of conduct” change in its written rules, changing “gendered language” in favor of “gender-inclusive” wording, although the changes do not penalize members for actually having the audacity to use “gendered language” on the floor—although the wording may be “edited” in the “inclusive” way in the official minutes. The Rules Committee unveiled the changes on Friday, and by Monday it was approved by a strictly party-line vote, allegedly to “promote diversity and inclusion,” instead of confusion and reading incomprehension.

Ok, so in the name of promoting “gender inclusion,” the new rules changes are as follows:

In clause 1(c)(9) of rule X, strike ‘‘seamen’’ and insert ‘‘seafarers’’.

Well, OK, that may be petty but otherwise not a big deal, except that these two words don’t exactly mean the same thing. A seaman is someone whose occupation is performed on ship and at sea; a “seafarer” is someone who is more likely to be a traveler who happens to be on a ship strictly as a mode of transportation, and not as part of a skilled occupation.

In clause 4(a)(1)(B) of rule X, strike ‘Chairman’’ and insert ‘‘Chair’’.

This is not a big deal either, since the terms are interchangeable—although “chair” sounds more like an inanimate object and not a term of respect for the person holding the position.

Then we really get into the “heart” of what really disturbs the gender politicians:

In clause 8(c)(3) of rule XXIII, strike ‘‘father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, step-mother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, step-sister, half brother, half sister, grandson, or grand- daughter’’ and insert ‘‘parent, child, sibling, parent’s sibling, first cousin, sibling’s child, spouse, parent-in-law, child-in-law, sibling-in-law, stepparent, step-child, stepsibling, half-sibling, or grandchild’’.

The gender “inclusion” crew has it all covered there, don’t they? Frankly, it sounds more like everyone and no one is included all at once. It is not exactly clear what is to replace these terms. “He” or “she”? Well, if we are going to go this far, why not go all the way?

In clause 10(b) of rule XXIII—strike ‘‘submit his or her resignation’’ and insert ‘‘resign’’; strike ‘‘he or she serves’’ and insert ‘‘such Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner serves’’; and strike ‘‘he or she holds’’ and insert ‘‘such Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner holds’’. In clause 15(d)(2) of rule XXIII, strike ‘‘father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, husband, wife, father-in-law, or mother-in-law’’ and insert ‘‘parent, child, sibling, spouse, or parent-in-law’’. In clause 4 of rule XXVII, strike ‘‘himself or herself’’ and insert ‘‘themself’’.

Maybe it is just me, but these “changes” just don’t “roll off the tongue” very well, let alone do a good job at tidying-up the terms for the sake of comprehensibility. It’s even worse than the gender politician insisting on saying the awkward “women and men” instead of “men and women,” or “sister and brother” when “brother and sister” just sounds better. After all, nobody has a problem with saying “mother and father” because it just rolls off better. And what about the term “sisterhood”? Unlike the term “brotherhood” which has always had universal connotations, “sisterhood” implies something exclusionary and discriminatory, and we can find other terms of similar condition. This is as much if not more about self-conceit and egotism as it is about feeling “excluded” and “diminished” by simple words.

Of course this could all be treated as “comedy relief” in the midst of perhaps the worst constitutional crisis in the country’s history since the Civil War. But alas it is “serious” business for people who apparently have too much time on their hands. And gender-neutral wording, while it may assuage the tender egos of certain people, doesn’t address ongoing prejudices, bigotries and attempts to silence and dehumanize certain “ethnic” groups that Donald Trump and his familiar Steven Miller have inspired, and which semantic games do nothing to stop.  I provide the following evidence for your edification; note that the "ethnic" group that constitutes the largest minority group in this country either has no corporeal value, or is assumed to have no opinion worth hearing, using the term "race" as a means of exclusion:

This Trump dog and pony show can only lead to one thing: both his and his supporters disgrace

 

I am fairly certain, to one degree or another, that most people are getting sick and tired of the dog and pony show being led by Donald Trump, his pathetic Republican sycophants and the "Trump media," yet it goes on—and on, and on. I don’t understand why the legitimate news media just doesn’t focus on why this is really going on here: Trump is either afraid of going to jail once he loses the protections of the office, or he will be revealed to be such a charlatan that even if he doesn’t go to jail for financial and tax fraud, his “brand” will be tarnished to the point of ending his “political” career, and he will be what he hates the most: a loser. And who wants to attach there political fortunes to a loser?

Of course Trump only has himself to blame. For one thing, he refused to release his financial and tax statements as other presidential candidates have done in the past. He has been fighting like a rabid animal in the courts to prevent the release of those records, and obviously is acting as if he has something to hide. Trump also faces defamation lawsuits from two women who claim he sexually assaulted them. Naturally his supporters will say these are all politically motivated, but the truth is that Trump has gone so far out of his way to burn every bridge and make himself so unlikeable to so many people that it is no longer enough to say that he is  corrupt, a cheat and an incompetent businessman and let it go at that. For once he should actually pay a real penalty for his crimes, rather than others having to pay it for him.

Despite all of this, there are many Republicans who have been weighing what is more important: fanning the far-right radicalism that Trump has inspired, or their own reputations. Given that morality and ethics has nothing to do with it, it seems the former more than the latter. There will be a cost if Trump’s political “brand” ultimately becomes sullied by criminal and civil judgments, but Republicans are seemingly betting on the hypocrisies and self-deceptions of the core Republican voter, the ones who easily allow themselves to be taken in by the “show”—which has become little differentiated from a WWF event, where everything is fake, but the Trump audience still thrills to the bombastic hyperbole, headlocks, power slams and backbreakers.

Even Republicans who claim to “accept” that Biden is president-elect, like Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, still must “prove” their “loyalty” to Der Fuehrer by insisting that even at this late date some kind of investigation be conducted into false election claims and conspiracies, and only in those heavily Democratic districts in swing states that Trump lost; if that isn’t trying to steal the election on extremely narrow grounds, I don’t know what is. Speaking to Jake Tapper on CNN this past Sunday, DeWine repeatedly refused to admit the fraudulent nature of the claims being made to undermine democracy by Trump and those purveying the most ludicrous conspiracy theories.

DeWine further undermined his own credibility by pointing out that Republican judges had repeatedly thrown out baseless claims of fraud, yet he still insisted that “the people”—meaning the far-right fanatical core of Trump voters—would not accept the election result without yet another “recount” of votes, despite several recounts already having been performed in Georgia, and in the two heavily Democratic counties in Wisconsin. The hypocritical nature of this should  be apparent when we remember that in an attempt to find a way to “win” the popular vote in 2016, Trump’s own partisan election commission decommissioned without finding any evidence of fraud. Yet we must insure that the most self-debasing Trump fanatics must be "satisfied"--which of course will never happen so long as Trump continues to debase the office he still holds for a few more weeks.

DeWine also ignored Tapper’s reminder of evidence of voter suppression in Democratic districts in Ohio in the 2004 presidential election, claiming that Ohio had one of the “best” systems for counting only “legal” votes in the country. But the reality is that Republican states do everything they can to suppress legal voting, typically through faulty record-keeping systems that seem inherently designed to  “malfunction” or be so labyrinthine as to be deliberately self-defeating. Furthermore, it is only the few heavily Democratic districts which are deemed “suspicious,” not the many smaller rural and boondock districts that always seem to vote 95 percent Republican.

DeWine and other Republicans seem not the least bit embarrassed by the Washington Post’s reporting of a phone call Trump made to Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which Trump pleaded with him to “find” another 11,780 votes, one more than the margin Biden won the state. Trump insisted that there was “no way” he had lost the state, winning by “hundreds of thousands” of votes by “his” count. Being forced to listen to a laundry list of false claims or easily explained actions, Raffensperger repeatedly told Trump that his information was “wrong,” and that he shouldn’t believe every conspiracy theory on social media. Trump responded to this with “Oh this isn’t social media. This is Trump media. It’s not social media. It’s really not. It’s not social media. I don’t care about social media. I couldn’t care less.” Today, Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling felt compelled to conduct a press conference debunking all of Trump's claims.

Of course we need not ask what the hell Trump is talking about when he refers to “Trump media”—4chan, QAnon, Newsmax and the like. The never say quit, never surrender sycophants at Fox News are also at it again. Gayle Trotter defended Trump’s impeachment-level deed, calling him a “fighter” and blabbering about the mythical “far-left” agenda that seems to turn some people into jellified fear freaks—especially nonsensical given the very real fascist agenda of Trump and Stephen Miller. Even though Jeanine Pirro had been forced to air the same retraction of voter fraud claims that Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo had to, this past weekend she had Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro on her show claiming that Vice President Mike Pence had the “authority” to call for a special counsel to investigate fake vote fraud claims and delay Joe Biden’s inauguration.

The Constitution allows no such action, but as usual this is yet another absurd act of desperation that serves absolutely no purpose save to delay the inevitable: that Biden will be president on January 20, that the 150 Republican senators and House members supporting Trump’s attempt to overturn democracy will be forever stained with disgrace and infamy, and that Trump cannot further delay the reckoning for his crimes much longer.

Rodgers makes case for MVP as Packers clinch the NFC top seed in win over Bears

 

Aaron Rodgers made his case for league MVP as the Packers put away the Bears with two late touchdowns in a 35-16 victory that clinched the top seed in the NFC playoffs. Assisted by Davante Adams' team record 115 catches despite missing two games, Rodgers’ finished with a team record 70.7 pass completion percentage and 48 touchdown passes, and his passer rating of 121.5 is the second-best in NFL history, behind his own NFL record of 122.5.  He might even have done better—or worse, depending on the “breaks”; Marquez Valdes-Scantling, after catching a 72-yard touchdown pass in the first half, dropped another long ball that he had in his hands just yards from the end zone in the third quarter, which seemed to have spooked Rodgers, since he proceeded to throw two bad passes that should have been intercepted. But he recovered in the fourth quarter, completing 8 of 9 and a score after completing all ten of his passes—three for scores—in the first half.

Although the Packers dominated the final score, they didn’t “control” the game by any stretch; the Bears ran 30 more plays and had the ball for 11 more minutes, but they just didn’t do enough when they had the ball, settling for field goals, turning the ball over three times, once on downs. The Packers didn’t run the ball much in this game—only 79 yards—thanks to two short field touchdowns and the 72-yard pass play. The poor play in the third quarter was concerning, but the Bears were not a good enough to team to take advantage. Mitchell Trubisky completed almost 80 percent of his 42 passes, but for no touchdowns and one interception.

The Packers finished as the only 13-win team in the NFC, and Matt LaFleur’s 26 wins in his first two seasons are tied for the most by a first-time head coach in NFL history. The team for the most part certainly has played like it has been on the same page as compared to last season, when it seemed the Packers just had more than their share of good fortune, particularly in turnover ratio. As the number one seed in the playoff, the Packers in the 7-team playoff scenario will be the only team in the conference with a bye. Whether that is “good” or not is a matter of opinion, remembering 2011, but this time at least Rodgers will not have two weeks off to get rusty. This will also be the first time since 2011 that the Packers will play at home if they do make it to the NFC Championship Game, and this being a better team than last year’s, things are shaping up to be looking OK.