In the past week “we the people” have seen the disparity in America’s CRIMINAL Justice system as Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted on ALL charges in his MURDER trial in Kenosha, Wisconsin while a Black man in Oklahoma, who was on death row via VERY questionable evidence, got his DEATH sentence commuted to “Life in Prison” – at the last moment even though the evidence used to convict him had been recanted long ago AND two BLACK men who were convicted 56 YEARS ago in the murder of Malcolm X again, on the basis of QUESTIONABLE evidence which was long ago recanted, were exonerated, FINALLY – after losing 56 years of their freedom – well, only one of the two men is still alive. These things happened within days of each other and couldn’t show the problem in our Justice system any clearer – as clear as BLACK AND WHITE!
The Rittenhouse situation was no surprise to me – I didn’t watch the entire proceeding, but I saw enough to figure out he was likely to get off. First of all, the JUDGE was – the best way I can put it – WEIRD! Also, it was apparent from the beginning the judge was sympathetic to Rittenhouse – to the point where his phone went off and his ring tone was the rally music of individual 1’s campaign rallies. Rittenhouse was even allowed to pick his own jury out of a “Bingo like” box which I found over the edge. There was more which, to my mind, prejudiced the courtroom in favor of the defense – which is why the acquittal did not surprise me – in fact, I would have been surprised had their been a guilty verdict. (It will be interesting to find out how the jury came to this conclusion)
Rittenhouse, of course, has become the “darling” of the white nationalists in America. The FACT he was photographed having beers with Proud Boys while flashing the white power hand sign should give you a good idea of where we are today. And, of course, there have been photographs of Rittenhouse supporters outside the courtroom this week also feeling comfortable flashing the “white power” hand signal. (You know, the one Stephen Miller was “flashing” on the “Sunday Talk shows” while representing individual 1 a few years back.) And, surprise, surprise none other than alleged child sex trafficker Matt Gaetz wants to give Rittenhouse an internship. OMG – what the hell is going on in America?
Let’s just look at the FACTS. Rittenhouse brought an ILLEGALLY purchased AR-15 to Kenosha along with his back pack which he claimed was a medic kit while he LIED by saying he was an EMT. He SHOT and KILLED two young men – there’s no disputing this. He was packing an ILLEGAL weapon while in Wisconsin under the age of 18 – remarkably, the judge in the case “threw out” the weapons charge – suggesting the AR-15 could be considered a hunting weapon. Yikes!!! And, all of this was on LIVE video. In fact, I happened to be watching coverage of the protests in Kenosha to the SHOOTING of James Blake when Rittenhouse MURDERED the TWO men who were NOT allowed to be referred to as “victims” by the judge. In stead, they were allowed to be called “arsonists, rioters,” etc. adding to the likelihood the jury would consider Rittenhouse’s actions as “self defense.”
I watched in a state of “TV shock” as Rittenhouse shot the first “victim” – there was a group of people so that MURDER wasn’t as obvious to me – then he started to run away and the other “victims” chased after him yelling “he just killed someone.” As they attempted to disarm him, right in the middle of the street, he shot and KILLED one of them and nearly blew off the arm of the second one. It wasn’t clear from what I saw that the guy who got his arm blown off had a gun, but he admitted in court he did have a weapon and pointed it at Rittenhouse – but, by that time TWO people were already DEAD. It’s hard for me to imagine how carrying an illegally obtained weapon into a situation where you’ve NOT been invited and then MURDERING a couple “protestors” is “self defense.”
Of course, listening to people like Lauren Boebert, Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Green, and Paul Gosar argue over who gets to have him as an “intern” and THEN seeing him side by side with individual 1 at Mar a Lago tells you all you need to know. Of course our TWICE IMPEACHED so-called two time popular vote LOSING (ex) president called him “a very fine young man.” You know, “good people on BOTH sides.” Which leads me to my “thoughts for the day:”
As I’ve been saying for MANY years, America is in a fight for the heart and soul of the nation. Of course, I’m nearing the “end of the road” (I’m 74) so I really don’t want to leave this earth with America a full blown fascist state – something unthinkable to me before I realized the full ramification of individual 1’s ASSAULT on our republic. And, as I’ve said here several times now, I believe the most important person, based on our political reality, in stopping this ASSAULT is Merrick Garland. It’s been OBVIOUS for SEVERAL years now that the democrats in our nation, who, I believe, are trying to address the needs of our “MIDDLE” and “lower” class of our people, economically, but their willingness to “fight” on the “battlefield” created by the republican party is almost, well, pathetic.
Democrats have been watching, kind of in disbelief, at the disregard for our LAWS coming from republicans at the top of the “ladder” – those in politics, and those who feed these politicians the MONEY. I really hit my “soap box” after GW Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and others were allowed to authorize TORTURE with no consequences after LYING America into two intractable – and incompetently “fought” – “wars.” We literally turned the nation of Iraq almost upside down with the number of Iraqi casualties in the Millions. In my mind, with Iraq’s OIL as the ultimate “target.” I have always felt President Obama’s refusal to allow full investigations of the TORTURE was a critically BAD decision. It simply further emboldened right wing “thugs” who STILL believe democrats don’t have the “stomach” to stop them.
And, they may be correct – but, if they’re going to be stopped it will have to be by AG Garland, who, so far, doesn’t appear to have the “stomach” (either) needed for this task. For example, based on what is happening in the so-called “Select January 6th Committee” in the House – which, by the way, appears to be an ATTEMPT at some semblance of accountability – it appears to me the Justice Department is NOT investigating the INSTIGATORS of the INSURRECTION at the Capitol. If they were, the issue with people refusing to abide by legally enforceable subpoenas wouldn’t be solely an issue with the Committee. There would necessarily be some sort of coordination of what the Committee is doing with the Justice Department aside from depending on them to enforce Committee subpoenas from the likes of Steve Bannon, Mark Meadows, and any of the others who choose jail time over telling the TRUTH about their involvement in the riots.
The ultimate irony here is, likely, the most important member of the Select Committee is none other than Dick Cheney’s daughter Liz. Ms. Cheney very well could be one of the most important people in America should we manage to save our republic from this FASCIST takeover which has been slow moving for years coming from republicans, but put into “high gear” with individual 1 – a pathological LYING narcissistic, racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, demagogue who fully embraces the “Big Lie” theory of Joseph Goebbels and the Third Reich. Sadly, the republican party has come along side our TWICE IMPEACHED so-called two time popular vote LOSING (ex) president more out of FEAR than anything else. He has the undying support of Americans who are either white nationalists/supremacists themselves, or who fall for the BullS@#t coming from the talking heads at Fox “news.”
Republicans FEAR Fox nearly as much as they FEAR individual 1. For example, recently I saw an interview Chris Christie gave on MSNBC with Nicole Wallace – and, to put it mildly, Ms. Wallace did NOT simply throw “softball” questions at Christie. In fact, she asked him to defend what Fox “news” is doing to our republic and his first response was “I don’t watch Fox.” Well, of course, both myself and Ms. Wallace new that was a LIE (for heaven’s sake, Christie is a republican and participated fully in individual 1’s 2020 campaign – and 2016’s as well, for that matter – where LYING is a requirement). Soon after saying that, Christie said, “I don’t watch Tucker” and then referred to Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham as “Sean and Laura” as the “only Fox programs I watch.” OK, there you have it.
Christie was on a “book tour” of his book in which he’s trying claim he’s now on the “high road” and he’s distancing himself from individual 1. Apparently, he sees himself as a competitor for the 2024 republican nomination. Shortly after his interview with Ms. Wallace I saw him on Fox (In a brief moment of weakness for myself) as he was attempting to “have it both ways.” For me, just another typical republican. Fortunately, there are “atypical” republicans out there who realize the gravity of the situation and they could end up being the heroes in all of this – should “we the people” band together and put this republican party “to bed” in the next few elections.
I’ve been an independent voter for the past 53 years, but since the “Newt Gingrich” era I’ve found myself, save for a few instances, ALWAYS voting AGAINST republicans. It appears that will continue even though my republican representative in the House was one of the COURAGEOUS republicans, at least in my mind, who voted FOR IMPEACHMENT #2. However, since that day this representative, Jaimie Herrera-Beutler has shown herself to be “cowering” back into the “pack” and voting with her caucus even though both SHE and I know what she’s supporting is WRONG. For example, she failed to support the vote to censor Paul Gosart, she didn’t support Cheney when she SHOULD have, and she didn’t vote for the so-called Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill knowing it was of critical importance to our community (We have a bridge issue of importance). I just can’t picture myself voting for that!
Getting back to Mr. Garland. Because the democrats ONLY have 50 Senators in their “razor thing” Senate majority and because two of them are Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin there are obstacles the democrats likely WONT be able to accomplish legislatively. To me, Ms. Sinema is more despicable than Manchin – Manchin, for heaven’s sake comes from West Virginia so you would kind of expect some of what he’s doing, but not Sinema. Figuring out her motivations will likely happen AFTER she loses a bid for re-election in 2024 (unless she becomes a republican and Arizona’s new election laws make it impossible for a democrat to win) – because she’s apparently receiving a lot of corporate “funding” designed to keep her from agreeing to key democratic agenda items – like, for example, voting rights legislation which will require a “carve out” of the filibuster to get passed.
So, if there’s going to be accountability for individual 1 and the others who planned, paid for, and INSTIGATED the INSURRECTION of January 6th, 2021 it’s going to have to come from the Justice Department. It appears to me, at this point in time, that Mr. Garland believes prosecuting the “stooges” who stormed the Capitol is sufficient – leaving the instigators to get off “scott free” so as not to rile up their “base” any more that necessary. The cowardice of the Justice Department to – AT LEAST – be investigating those who INSTIGATED the INSURRECTION which, of course, would HAVE to include individual 1 – is simply reinforcing the belief among republicans that they can violate our existing laws with IMPUNITY. And, this belief has filtered down to those who are part of the right wing militias – armed to the teeth and believing our government is AFRAID to deal with them. Here’s the deal, at some point this will have to happen and the longer Mr. Garland waits the worse the situation will get. Mark my words!
Individual 1 is already planning his “return” and state legislatures run by republicans, all across the country, are “jiggering” the system so that either democrats can’t win, or, if they do, the state legislature can overturn the election results. In their case it’s “heads I win, tails you lose.” Will “we the people” stand up to this? Can we protect our republic without violence? On that one I sincerely doubt it because, it appears, these right wing “militias” have permeated almost every state in the union threatening public servants across the board – election officials, public health officials, school board members, teachers, doctors, nurses, etc. etc. And, in my mind, there are ALREADY laws on the “books” to put a stop to all this, but are our elected officials willing to enforce them. I don’t believe, for example, “free speech” allows someone to threaten someone else with violence. I don’t believe authorities have to wait for the violence to be carried out to act. One reason, I believe, so many people don’t respect our laws is because many of them are not being enforced.
In my “first life” – when I was in college in the 1960’s I clearly remember studying a philosopher named “Hobbes,” who said, “Don’t pass a law you will be unable to enforce” – or words to that effect. I’m reminded of his “words” consistently in our land with is supposedly governed by “laws and not men.” Individual 1 and his CULT followers are set on PROVING the fallacy of our constitution – which is no better than “we the people’s” belief in it.
Final Thought: A year or so ago I read “Rising out of Hatred” by Eli Saslow about Derek Black’s transformation from a white nationalist/supremacist – the son of Don Black and Godson of David Duke, both former “Grand Wizards” of the KKK. Don Black runs the white supremacist website “Stormfront” which is a portal for many of America’s RACISTS. After reading that book I did a little research I SHOULD have done long ago and it brought me from Don Black and Duke right to the “base” of individual 1 and the role Tucker Carlson plays in the attempt to turn America into a right wing RACIST/fascist apartheid society. In fact, in a recent interview with Derek Black, I read how those who support the KKK regularly RECORD Carlson’s TV shows so they can watch them multiple times.
So, it shouldn’t come as any surprise the David Duke is now, on his podcast – think of who his audience might be – saying individual 1 and Carlson are both basing their success on his ideas which didn’t work for him when he was running for office. This revelation (I don’t listen to his podcasts so I read his quote elsewhere) simply supports the concern of “progressives” toward much of what I’ve been RANTING about now for a number of years. I read, early on in individual 1’s reign, how both Black Sr. and Duke were excited they had a candidate to take their beliefs “into the mainstream.” The “you know what” is hitting the fan!