Utah's head of state, Spencer Cox. is a Republican and a Mormon, who has served his time in the missionary trenches of his church. His inauguration, a year ago, just days before the Jan. 6, U.S. Capitol insurrection, was the beginning of a year of massive misinformation on Covid-19, involving mask and vaccine protocols. The results, distrust between Democrats-Republicans as bad as Israelis and Palestinians. But something else was going on that day unnoticed by most...
“The Constitution is built for vigorous disagreement,” he said. “But it cannot withstand contempt. ... And that’s the problem that has seeped into our system right now. The contempt.”
The key here is judge Griffith's statement, "The Constitution is built for
vigorous disagreement. But it cannot withstand contempt." Here are two definitions of the word, contempt, from Thesaurus.com...
the feeling with which a person regards anything considered mean, vile, or worthless; disdain; scorn.
the state of being despised; dishonor; disgrace.
So, in Griffith's view, that's the way the insurrectionist mob felt about American Democracy on that fateful day, bordering on treason at a time when the United States is as fragile as it has been since, perhaps, the Revolution. Taking this another step, this riot group represents the heart of the Republican Party with the ex-president, Donald Trump, orchestrating the whole affair. After January 6, the GOP can no longer deny its leadership in the destruction of U.S. democracy.
And here's the shocker in my opening statement...
Griffith pointed to surveys that have shown “Republicans and Democrats think so ill of each other that they don’t trust each other at all, and the level of distrust is at the same level that Israelis have for Palestinians.”
“The Constitution won’t survive with this level of contempt,” he said. “It has to be addressed and has to be rooted out.”
I guess the next move is, where will the Gaza Strip be drawn, and how long will it take the GOP to start launching rockets?
There are almost 400 million guns on the streets of America which are responsible for over 40,000 gun violence deaths each year and increasing every year. But that can't even compare with the over 800 thousand deaths annually from Covid-19, now spreading more quickly with the Omicron variant. It isn't known for sure how many of these deaths are caused by anti-vaxxer misinformation, but considering the amount of this propaganda out there on social media, it is probably high. And now Republican lawmakers are pitying these freaks by passing legislation that prevents the health care industry to do its job. Protect the American public from coronavirus. Here is a headline from the Washington Post that should infuriate anyone who believes in science over the disinformation being disseminated: "Anger over mask mandates, other covid rules, spurs states to curb power of public health officials," Can you believe it...curbing the power of truth over death?
WaPo uses an illustration from Columbus, Ohio, and one of its suburbs, where a mixture of mask requirements exist...
"Under a new law in Ohio — one of at least 19 states this year that have restricted state or local authorities from safeguarding public health amid the coronavirus pandemic — Franklin County’s health commissioner Joe Mazzola can no longer intervene. The county health department was stripped of its power to compel people to wear masks even as the omicron variant fuels a fifth coronavirus surge in the United States."
In effect, this law tells Franklin County’s health commissioner Joe Mazzola that he cannot save lives. This is unconscionable, but a regular move by Republicans across the country. The great GOP killing machine in motion. And here's another headline from the New York Times: "Another Christmas of Death and Distress in America’s I.C.U.s." Healthcare workers are putting their lives on the line this holiday season, while at the same time these imbecilic anti-vaxxers spread more propaganda.
How Republicans protect anti-vaxxers...
Here's an example of what's going on from Ronda Stevenson, intensive care unit nurse at Eskenazi Health in Indianapolis for the past seven years...
"Instead of taking holiday vacations this weekend, workers at strained hospitals across the nation are working 16-hour shifts. Some have been on the job every day for weeks. Festive meals have been replaced with protein bars and sports drinks."
It's frightening, since Ohio is only an example of what is going on all around the country with over sixteen states adopting similar laws, and more on the books for 2022. Here is the tragedy of the situation by Amy Goldstein of the WP...
"These laws — the work of Republican legislators — inhibit health officers’ ability to require masks, promote vaccinations or take other steps, such as closing or limiting the number of patrons in restaurants, bars and other indoor public settings. Often, the measures shift those decisions from health experts to elected officials at a time when such coronavirus-fighting strategies have become politically radioactive."
The piece's author makes it clear that the GOP is responsible for what is going on
with this blog's assumption their goal is to kill off the U.S. population. The Times reports vaccinations have hit a "plateau" with the Omicron variant in full swing during the holidays...
"Around 20 percent of children 5 to 11 years old have gotten a dose of vaccine. And only around one in three fully vaccinated Americans has gotten a booster."
And finally, Sarah Bahr and Mike Baker of the New York Times wrap up the status of the current situation...
"Nearly two years into a pandemic that shows no sign of abating, doctors, nurses and other frontline workers have already faced the emotional toll of mass death in their hospitals. They have endured the frustration of pleading with the public to take precautions only to watch outbreaks unfold as people ignored the call for help. They have suffered the moral distress of not being able to give patients the ideal level of care."
The question is, what will 2022 bring? With 53,121,847 cases and 837,804 deaths already in the U.S., we can only hope it gets better. We also should ask the question, did the anti-vaxxing community completely ignore science courses in high school?
Is it possible we could start a new year with peace in the world, and that also includes the U.S. political arena? This applies to both sides of the aisle.
And it has never been the same. It brought on Fact Checks by several media publications and the well-known Pinocchios from the Washington Post. Fact checking had to work overtime during Donald Trump's time in the White House, but even clearly defeated by Joe Biden, this lunatic continues to rack up the lies. Well over 30,000 to date with some classics by POLITIFACT. It is unreal, as you scroll through these lies that they are attributed to an ex-U.S. President.
"A few weeks ago, Representative Dan Crenshaw, a Texas Republican, falsely claimed that the centerpiece of President Biden’s domestic agenda, a $1.75 trillion bill to battle climate change and extend the nation’s social safety net, would include Medicare for all."
It does not and never has, but the pathetic Republican supporters either don't have the brains to check things like this out or they just don't care. And by the way, Crenshaw used this outright lie to raise money for his candidacy. Emails, that's how he spread his message of deceit, the manner in which many politicians communicate these days. I was working in the junk mail industry when emails were first initiated but this political crap far outdoes the junk emails.
In a New York Times project info on how "to track how widely false and misleading statements were being used to help fill political coffers." Republicans and Democrats are guilty"...
"One Republican, for instance, declared that Democrats wanted to establish a “one-party socialist state,” while a Democrat suggested that the party’s Jan. 6 inquiry was at imminent risk because the G.O.P. 'could force the whole investigation to end early.'”
There was a huge percentage difference between Republican and Democrat misinformation. The former 15%, the latter 2%. Like I said earlier, The GOP invented misinformation. Here's an interesting fact...
"In addition, multiple Republicans often spread the same unfounded claims, whereas Democrats rarely repeated one another’s."
LATEST: Manchinreceived 36 donations from corporations in the last two months after announcing he would not support Build Back Better, and raised close to $260,000 in that time period.
Joe Manchin, the Senator from West Virginia is all of those and more, looking more like Donald Trump every day. Taking them one by one, LIAR: He told Pres. Biden he would back the Build Back Better bill, then backed out. On Fox News. HYPOCRITE: Acting like a Democrat, voting like a Republican. DESERTER; from the Democratic Party, most of all his constituents at home. CORRUPTER: Shares this with daughter, Heather Bresch.
On Sunday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki issued a statement re. Manchin's bail out on the bill designed to benefit Americans in a number of ways, one of the most important decreasing the cost of your medical prescriptions. Of course Manchin would oppose this because of the fiasco with his daughter's pharmaceutical company, Mylan, Inc. which donated at least $200,000 to her father's campaign during five election cycles. Here's the scenario...
"Manchin’s daughter, Heather Bresch, was the president and chief executive officer of Mylan Inc., a pharmaceutical company that specialized in generic drugs. The company raised the price of a two-pack of EpiPen from around $124 dollars in 2009 to $609 in 2016. Bresch left the company in 2020 after Mylan merged with Upjohn, Pfizer’s generic division, in November 2020, to form Viatris Inc. Bresch began working at the company in 1992, and became CEO in 2012."
serving Chas. Koch's conservative group?" The answer, an unequivocal YES! The White House is bending over backwards to work with Manchin, a Democrat that should understand the value of Build Back Better to the American public, particularly West Virginia needy. Apparently he doesn't, prompting this from Jen Psaki...
"In the meantime, Senator Manchin will have to explain to those families paying $1,000 a month for insulin why they need to keep paying that, instead of $35 for that vital medicine. He will have to explain to the nearly two million women who would get the affordable day care they need to return to work why he opposes a plan to get them the help they need. Maybe Senator Manchin can explain to the millions of children who have been lifted out of poverty, in part due to the Child Tax Credit, why he wants to end a program that is helping achieve this milestone—we cannot."
The fact is, he doesn't care about his constituents, or he would be supporting BBB. West Virginians are desperately in need of what this bill offers. Let's take a look: $400B Pre-school for all 3 and 4-year olds; $200B Child tax credits; $200B 4 weeks of paid family and medical leave; $165 billion on healthcare spending; $150 billion to expand affordable home care; $150 billion for affordable housing; $555 billion to fight climate change.
Yes, a lot of money, but is there anything you see in the above that is not justified by the needs in this country? And how is it paid for...
"Democrats say the spending package will be paid for by tax increases on high earners and corporations, but the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found on Thursday that this will only raise around $1.5 trillion over 10 years—just short of the $1.75 trillion in 10-year spending.
"The CBO findings are at odds with the White House’s pledge to fully pay for the Build Back Better bill, which is now expected to increase the federal budget deficit by $160 billion over the next 10 years."
A pathetic Joe Manchin Says He Won’t Vote For Biden’s Build Back Better Bill...
Like White House Press Sec. Jen Psaki asks in her statement, how will Joe Manchin explain to his West Virginia constituents that he voted down these benefits: child welfare, medical leave and healthcare spending, affordable home care and housing, and a fight against climate change that could save even more lives. The answer, another resounding YES, Democrats are spending but on the right things that will help homelessness, those in poverty and a general shot to the economy.
Contrary to what Manchin says, some aspects of BBB could counter current inflation as reported by NBC...
"The White House and Democratic leaders have rebranded the legislation as an antidote to widespread price hikes, arguing that it would lower the cost of prescription drugs, childcare and overall expenses related to raising families."
Republicans are harping on increased inflation and consumer prices did jump 6.2% last month. Biden and Chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, as well as Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen, are working on the problem. But thanks to the fact that Joe Manchin blew off the Build Back Better bill, Goldman Sachs has issued a gloomy prediction for the economy. Surprise. It always seems to be traced back to the blockhead senator from West Virginia.
And, because of the latter, Manchin has the country on edge, allowing Republicans to plunder our democracy. It is so fragile that this kind of chaos, added to the Covid-19 pandemic, could soon bring on a GOP autocracy, all thanks to Joe Manchin and cohort Krysten Sinema.
And the winner is the dufus, Doug Ducey, not only one of the worst governors in the U.S., but one of the largest covid-19 killing machines. As an example, here's a comparison done by Phoenix newspaper columnist, E. J. Montini. Here's his headline...
"Washington is a state like Arizona – only with 13,000 fewer COVID-19 deaths"
And here is the scenario as the columnist pulls no punches on Arizona's head of state...
"For much of the pandemic that number has not seemed to matter much, if at all, to Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey. Spouting platitudes about the economy has mattered. Acquiescing to the conspiracy theorists and the anti-vaccine kooks in the Republican party has mattered.
"But talking about COVID-19 and the terrible toll it has taken on Arizona, and actually doing something to stop it … those things have not mattered."
Donald Trump was still in office as the pandemic began its drive across the U.S. Trump initially called it a hoax, perpetuated by Democrats to do harm to his administration. Ducey echoed the then, White House maniac, leading Arizonans to believe there was nothing to worry about. I did a post on April 3, 2020, " Some COVID-19 deaths Republican governors' responsibility," on how Republican governors were reacting to covid-19 as if it were "just a virus," featuring Ducey...
"On March 23, Ducey issued an executive order prohibiting any county, city or town from issuing any order or regulation “restricting persons from leaving their home due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.” Ducey’s order prevented local municipalities from issuing shelter-in-place regulations."
Dufus Ducey does it again...banning lifesaving vaccine mandates...
Now that you have the background, let's do the numbers. Montini concludes the states of Washington and Arizona are similar in many ways relating to the coronavirus pandemic. Population is an example...
A huge difference is the fact that Washington's Gov. Jay Inslee, was considerably
more aggressive in protecting the citizens of his state than Ducey was with the Arizona population. Inslee is a Democrat. Ducey is a Republican. Inslee took heat from his constituents while the dufus did his thing...
"Arizona, which long ago abandoned its citizens to their own devices, Washington still has a number of restrictions aimed at mitigating the spread of COVID-19. Mask requirements. Proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test requirements. It’s a fairly long list and not everyone is happy about it."
Montini asks his readers, citizens of Arizona, to think about that. I ask my readers the same because it is an excellent representation of how Republicans could care less about this country and its people with their only purpose to wreck our democracy.
The first point I want to make here is, Democrats cannot afford to lose the House for several reasons, the primary one most obvious. But there is one other lurking in the background that poses a catastrophic possibility. Ohio Republican representative Jim Jordan could be the new Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. If the GOP wins the House. Here's an idea of those duties...
In addition to its critical role in providing oversight of the Department of Justice and the agencies under the Department's jurisdiction, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Homeland Security, the Judiciary Committee plays an important role in the consideration of nominations and pending legislation.
Do we want this wingnut Jim Jordan in a position to command this kind of authority as one of the most powerful members of Congress? Hell no! And here is why. Jordan had a major role in organizing and perpetuating the Jan. 6, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. And according to CNN...
"We now know that Jordan forwarded to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows a message (sent from a former Department of Defense inspector general) that laid out the supposed Constitutional backing for then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election the following
day."
Jim Jordan was and is a strong supporter of the ex-president Donald Trump and "helped push former President Donald Trump's false narrative that the 2020 election was somehow stolen." Here's what the Ohio Republican actually said...
"I don't know how you can ever convince me that President Trump didn't actually win this thing based on all the things you see." Obviously, this idiot has problems with his vision, or is it his brain? Or both?
He also helped promote the 2020 ballot audit in Arizona which turned out to be a monumental disaster confirming that Arizona Senate President Karen Fann is a certifiable imbecile. She has resigned. Next, CNN is reporting that Jordan's text message to Mark Meadows, Trump former Chief of Staff said...
"that Jordan was actively presenting ways to circumvent the Electoral College process on the eve of Pence formally recognizing that Biden had indeed won."
The piece added this...
"is a very different thing from just throwing out some rhetoric on cable TV suggesting -- without any evidence -- that Trump had in fact won. It's taking concrete steps to obstruct the democratic process by which we transfer power in this country."
But Greg Abbott has done a great job of mucking up the state of Texas with his voting and abortion laws. This lunatic has flown in the face of federal law and the Constitution by barring abortion in his state. Even Chief Justice John Roberts chastised Abbott over legislating against a federal law, Roe v. Wade. There are other GOP governors like Kristi Noem, South Dakota's governor who throws open the doors of her state to Covid-19 super-spreader events.
And the fact that Jim Jordan had an active part of plotting the Jan. 6, insurrection of the U.S. Capitol won't even dampen his chances of becoming the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Rather, it enhances them in the eyes of another Republican maniac who expects to be the Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy. If for no other reason for saving the House to the left, does this country want McCarthy two heartbeats away from the White House? This is a truly horrible thought.
