For all those people who believe precedent means something in the United States of America, you are wrong. For all those women who think your state government will protect you from a lifetime reminder of incest or a violent rape, you are also wrong.
I will say this once, only once, and you can either puke your guts out or follow my advice. If you are a woman in this country and no longer want to be a second-class citizen, you need to follow the dogma. The religious right has taken control of the Supreme Court and part of the reason is because of the appointment of Amy Vivian Coney Barrett. She is not an unbiased jurist. The only way you will gain control of your body and mind is to VOTE ALL REPUBLICANS OUT OF OFFICE!
Oh, you might complain that I am being political, but just about everything in this country becomes a political matter sooner or later. Most of the Republicans in office are NOT serving their states and citizens. They’re zealots on a crusade to reestablish male dominance over American women.
You can sit there and say this Supreme Court decision doesn’t affect you, but it does. Alito’s majority opinion declares Roe versus Wade divided the country, when in fact the majority of Americans believe the right to an abortion should be maintained. The Supreme Court has divided the country more than any other institution this year, and their latest decision does further damage.
The Supreme Court consists of a deceptive group of “ELITES” who want to impose their rule on you. By striking down Roe versus Wade, the Supreme Court has signed a document that says women in the USA are three-fifths of a citizen. They want you to SHUT UP and make babies. ALITO, THOMAS, CAVANAUGH, BARRETT, and GORSUCH lied under oath to get seated on the Court and they should be IMPEACHED.
As in The Handmaid’s Tale, it’s time for American women to put on red capes and headdresses, YOU NO LONGER OWN YOUR BODY. Let the vomiting begin. John Lennon got it straight in his song Woman is the Nigger of the World.
Some will say people are being overly emotional, but I think it would be interesting to know how many abortions were paid for by the Congressmen who claim to represent women. It’s a sad day, but also a bad day for America. The legal bombshells that will land in the state courts will tie up the judicial system for years.
Blame Mitch McConnell for his devious tricks that stacked the court with justices who would do the bidding of the “moral” Republicans. To be a bit crude, 165 million women in America just got screwed by the ugliest man in the world. I say WE should stack the court. That body needs to have eleven justices and this should happen RIGHT NOW.
When a woman is raped, some of the conservative males in this country say, “She probably asked for it.” If that turns you off, it was meant to. If you don’t understand women’s feelings and realities, you shouldn’t be making laws that restrict their rights. It’s time to push it. Short of another insurrection, the court must change. If you ever wondered why we needed an Equal Rights Amendment, you now know the exact reason.
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I recently subscribed to a magazine that has led me to some deep thinking. I highly recommend the Skeptical Inquirer; you can learn more about the publication here. Two of its articles immediately caught my attention because they deal with a current and critical aspect of American society.
The first was their cover article, The Social Dynamics of Conspiracy Rumors by Jeffrey Victor. His piece states that we should be using the term “conspiracy rumors” instead of “theories” because that’s exactly what they are. Let’s recall the old demonstration of twenty people in a circle where the moderator whispers a two-sentence story in the ear of the first person. The story is then passed on and heard by each group member. Of course, it gets embellished and changed along the way, and by the time the last person reveals what they heard from the nineteenth group member the story has substantially changed since it was told to the first person. I call the collection of folks in the group “interpreters,” which is the precise role they’re playing.
In 1993, Mr. Victor coined the term Satanic Panic and wrote a book having that name along with the subtitle The Creation of a Contemporary Legend. The book currently retails in hardcover for sixty-six bucks so it must be great, or did I just exploit another contemporary rumor that the more money something costs the better it is?
I don’t want to push us out to the sea of obtusity here, so I’ll move on. Victor’s point is we humans tend to spread rumors. Once we finish talking about the weather, the next step of routine human conversation may be adding perceived value, “Hey, did you know Beverly is having an affair with the boss?” It isn’t a fact, it’s not even a theory, it’s just a question. When asked how the rumor-sharer knows this, they will likely say, “Well, I can’t swear it’s true, it’s just something I know. She’s been so happy lately.”
The conspiracy is hatched prematurely by the rumor mongering and the “could be true,” for many becomes “absolutely accurate.” Think about the recent comment of a county official in New Mexico who refused to certify their local primary election. When asked if he has any proof there was fraud in the process, he said, “I have no proof, I just know it’s true.” There you have the essence of a conspiracy rumor.
Poor Beverly, unknown to anyone else, has just gotten pregnant by her husband of more than fifteen years. She’s not having an affair; she’s ecstatic to have finally been gifted a baby after a decade of trying. Yet a co-worker is all too ready to read into her joy and spread a false and damaging rumor.
Election fraud is a serious offense in America we must all take seriously. Donald Trump is driven to constantly repeat the lie that the 2020 election was rigged, and massive fraud took place. He does this solely because his adolescent ego cannot allow him to admit he lost. The man will risk going to jail, having people killed and destroying our faith in democratic elections just because he cannot say, “It was a fair and free election and Joe Biden won.” As we have witnessed, his rhetoric led to “self-righteous vigilantism,” causing people to be injured and killed.
I’m sure Mo Brooks, who just lost his primary election runoff in Alabama to Katie Britt and will no longer be on the ticket for the US Senate seat, could very easily say, “The election was rigged,” but what good would that do? Brooks spoke at the Stop the Steal rally on January 6th, 2020 but arrived on Trump’s shit list because he did not fully support Trump’s election lies. Trump first endorsed Brooks then pulled his support, and most experts will say that is precisely why Brooks lost. You see, being loyal to Trump is not a part-time job; you must be all in or not in. It’s like the old mob boss warning, “You are either for me, or you are against me.”
People on the far right and in deeply red states have faith that Trump knows better than they do when it comes to candidates. He could endorse a full-on Nazi or KKK member and they will look around the facts and truth to blindly put the future of the republic in his hands. Why? This brings me to the other article in the Skeptical Inquirer.
That piece concerns a lawsuit the Center for Inquiry (CFI) has brought against Boiron, Inc., one of the largest manufacturers of homeopathic products. You probably know someone who has confidence such medicines actually work and bring them health and happiness. Large drugstore chains such as Walgreens and CVS sell these products and make healthy profits on them, yet scientists claim they have no therapeutic value.
Fake Medicine
The article explains that the CFI investigators and lab techs found one product touted as a cure for nervous agitation in children was nothing more than table sugar diluted in water. You need to know CFI is the parent organization behind the magazine Skeptical Inquirer, but that doesn’t make their claims less true. They are working to get the FDA and the US Department of Health and Human Services to do something about Boiron’s labeling and claims. The CFI believes the company knows there is next to nothing effective about most of what they sell, and even some of what they market, like the Saccharum Officinale mentioned above, could be harmful to those who take it, like kids with diabetes. There are no warnings on the packaging.
Now we arrive at the title of my blog post for this day, Critical Versus Faith-Based Thinking. If these homeopathic fake meds were a vaccine, most Americans would want the FDA and the CDC to verify every aspect of what they will put into our arms or mouths. On the other hand, these potions have been marketed and sold as medicines for so long, we just believe. Why?
The human body is less a mystery than ever before and we should trust and follow the kind of critical thinking that flows from science. Suppose I offered you a six-ounce bottle of a colored liquid to cure lethargy for only twelve dollars. You might be tempted because the bottle is thick and handsome and bears a fancy label with a medical-sounding kind of name and a list of ingredients. If you’re a critical thinker, you will probably check the details on that impressive label to discover one of the ingredients is eight percent dog urine. Would you still want it?
Dr. Oz
I bought a bottle of a vitamin supplement to give me energy and make me lose weight. I thought my doctor had recommended the vitamin and it was also endorsed by TV Doctor Mehmet Oz. After taking it for a few days I learned that my doctor’s portal had been hacked and the recommendations weren’t coming from her, but a nefarious player in this product’s company. Dr. Oz also said he never endorsed the supplement, although he didn’t sue the company. I eventually learned it was nothing but water containing just a bit or red dye and sugar. I threw the bottle away.
Donald Trump is a snake oil salesperson who still has customers giving him money because they simply have faith in what he sells; they don’t read the label. Congress and the January Sixth Select Committee are doing a fantastic job of exposing him and all his criminal activities, but there will be others selling the same sugar water. If you believe a molecule can cure what ails you and God will make it all work, bless you, but what should you do when that one molecule is gone and you’re left with empty promises and nothing gets better? Maybe it’s time to leave the stupidity-inducing conspiracy rumors behind and become more critical about your own safety. Might I remind you that a million people died of Covid-19 and their families know that death is not a rumor.
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Maybe this is supposed to happen every fifty years, just to keep us honest and aware, but the real question is this. What took us so long to become cognizant of the serious things that are happening? During Watergate, many Republicans in the House and Senate stayed loyal to Richard M. Nixon almost to the end. Today, many Republicans would fall on their sword for Donald J. Trump. Why are they so loyal to a criminal?
CNN just aired a four-hour special: “Watergate: Blueprint for a Scandal,” and this well-written and edited story got to most of the important aspects of the Watergate matter and the ensuing downfall of President Nixon. The series was produced and written in part by one of the key figures in the Watergate hearings, John Dean.
The documentary detailed the parallels between Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” and Richard Nixon’s nefarious criminal activities, which surely would have landed him an impeachment conviction and removal from office had he not resigned. After watching the CNN special, I feel Trump’s bold lies about the electoral process are far worse than the things Nixon did.
At the time of Watergate, Americans wanted to get at a single truth. The January 6th committee has accurately divulged what Trump’s gang of liars has been producing, things Kellyanne Conway dubbed “alternative facts.” The success of presenting facts in the Watergate matter is far removed from the situation with Trump.
The documentary’s suggestion that all the branches of government operated properly was colored by some flag-waving. Sure, Congress acted responsibly by doing the “checks and balance” thing, and the Judiciary Branch didn’t fall for Nixon’s diversions and attempts to block evidence from being released. After appointing Archibald Cox as special prosecutor, the Department of Justice was thrown into chaos when Nixon fired him. That shot heard round the world, soon known as the Saturday Night Massacre, not only produced resignations and more firings, but drove a crack in Nixon’s claims of innocence. Even though Nixon appointed the final special prosecutor for the case, the revelation of tape recordings made in the Oval Office led to a court battle. When the tapes were released, it became clear what Nixon knew and when he knew it. Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater met with Nixon and explained he would be convicted in Senate impeachment proceedings, and Nixon resigned the next day.
There are more than 50,000 recorded and proven Donald Trump lies. His terrible activities of trying to get the President of Ukraine to find evidence against his rival Joe Biden did lead to impeachment, but as the headline boldly proclaimed: TRUMP ACQUITTED. After Donald’s demand that his far-right followers come to Washington on January 6, 2021 to protest and disrupt the formal certification of the presidential election, he was once again impeached, and once again acquitted. A lingering feeling of some Republicans and most Democrats is someone should be held accountable for the January 6th Insurrection and attack on Capitol Hill.
Now we have live TV hearings by the Committee on January 6th which are vastly different than the Watergate hearings. The committee’s slick, well-organized presentation is disclosing interesting, factual testimony and I’m sure we’ll learn more. The video tapes in these proceedings are much like the audio tapes in the Watergate matter. The gravitas of the proceedings and lack of partisan grandstanding, which usually takes place in Congressional hearings, makes the material seem real and factual.
American Fascists
Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader in the House of Representatives decided he would have nothing to do with the January 6th committee, thereby giving up any power over the proceedings. Two Republicans, Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, were selected by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to serve on the committee, meaning no one can say it’s a partisan effort. In fact, Liz Cheney’s role as Vice Chair of the committee is demonstrating that being against Donald Trump’s big lie is a conservative viewpoint.
After he voted against convicting Donald Trump during his second impeachment trial, Mitch McConnell said Trump was responsible for the attack on the capital. However, he felt it wasn’t constitutional or legal to impeach a President once he’s left office. McConnell was essentially saying TRUMP LOST THE ELECTION! Shouldn’t that have been enough to push the rank and of his party back in line with the truth?
Due to the proof of his malfeasance, I believe the House and Senate should take a disqualification vote to prevent Trump from running for any office in the future. Sadly, no one in Congress has the balls or the bravery to suggest such a thing. I would if I was there.
As for the hearings, most of the networks focus on whether or not this parade of evidence will change minds. I suggest changing minds is not relevant. The committee simply needs to get the facts on the record and out to the American public, then maybe we can think about legislation that would give our democracy more protection.
After Watergate, the Presidential Records Act (PRA) of 1978 was passed. If you want to read it, you can grab it here. There is no doubt Donald Trump is guilty of violating this law. He and those who aided and abetted him should be brought to justice. Then there’s this, which deserves our attention: 1725. PROTECTION OF GOVERNMENT PROCESSES — OBSTRUCTION OF PENDING PROCEEDING — 18 U.S.C. 1505. It’s clear that Donald Trump and thousands of his followers broke this law.
Trump attempted to get officials in Georgia to change the results of their election so he would win. We have a recording of the phone call when he made that request and 52 U.S. Code § 20511 declares it is illegal if a person “knowingly and willfully deprives, defrauds, or attempts to deprive or defraud the residents of a State of a fair and impartially conducted election process.”
If a court of law can prove that Trump is guilty of this, the penalties are fines and/or imprisonment for not more than five years. I am sure Donald Trump will love his stay in a Georgia prison, for however long he must stay. Now’s the time for us to start cheering, “LOCK HIM UP.”
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The real liars are taking over and must be stopped. The people who hold positions in government offices think they can lie and get away with it. They think the public is stupid and that most don’t remember or don’t even care. Following is a case in point.
During the beginning of Covid in 2020, a researcher and data complier for the State of Florida became a whistleblower when she claimed Ron DeSantis’ administration asked her to fudge the state’s Coronavirus numbers to provide cover while the government did all it could to keep Florida open as fully as possible. Her name is Rebekha Jones.
She was harassed, fired, arrested and her computers were confiscated by the State Police in a raid on her house. The authorities claimed she used her home as a private communication system to send messages to the state’s Medical Examiners warning them of these nefarious activities by elected officials. The judges, all Republican appointees, have refused to drop the case against her for one count of “offenses against users of computers, computer systems, computer networks and electronic devices” for some ill purpose. Okay.
Rebekah D. Jones, the woman in this case, is now running against Matt Gaetz for Congress in Pensacola and it seems her political aspirations are being driven by what she experienced while working for the government. She is a bright person who had no reason to lie about what she was doing, and even after they dismissed her she continued to research and publish a Covid data dashboard as a free public service. Graphic below.
The State Inspector General’s report was released on May 18, 2022, and I didn’t take it seriously. The headline read, “A state investigation into allegations that the Florida Department of Health fudged Covid-19 case numbers to support Gov. Ron DeSantis’ effort to reopen the state after a shutdown in April 2020, has found no evidence of wrongdoing.” Since the Covid-19 crisis hit the state and the US, DeSantis has taken full control of Florida’s Department of Health and was able to move out the person running it so he could appoint a department head who is terribly unqualified for the position, given that he is an anti-mask supporter and vaccine doubter. Yes, DeSantis appointed Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, MD, PhD to the position of Florida Surgeon General and Secretary of the Florida Department of Health. Google him if you want to see the corruption in his appointment.
Here are some facts. To date, there have been 6.24 million cases of Covid in Florida, with 74,719 deaths. And while those numbers sink in, consider this headline which just arrived, “Florida botched Covid-19 stats in early months.” Yes, Rebekah, your state’s “official” 2020 counted cases and deaths were fudged.
Here’s a story from the Palm Beach Post, “Florida health officials missed thousands of Covid-19 deaths in 2020, had incomplete information for millions of tests and spent millions of taxpayer dollars on testing that lacked vital data, a state report released has found.”
According to the reporting, the investigation found 3,082 Covid deaths the state Health Department did not include in its official counts. Including those victims would have pushed the state’s reported death toll up 18% higher.
On top of it, Florida investigators “found no evidence” related to the email incident that officials said had triggered the raid at Ms. Jones residence. They had alleged that a chat message was sent to a planning group on an emergency alert platform, urging people to speak out publicly about Florida’s coronavirus strategies. Wow, thinned skinned DeSantis is now confirmed.
A majority of Florida’s 5.5 million-plus Covid test results — 51.5% — lacked information about the race of those tested. About 59% lacked ethnicity information. Hispanic people compose the largest slice of Florida’s population. Boy, that sounds a bit racist, doesn’t it?
By mid-May 2020, 25% of Hispanics and 20% of Blacks tested positive for the virus, compared with about 11% of whites. The Palm Beach Post discovered this after examining nearly 200,000 test results in which individuals reported their race or ethnicity. The Health Department never released those test statistics. Only 38% of a sample of 2,600 tests conducted by three unnamed state-contracted labs returned results.
The reporter who authored the article for the West Palm Post, Christopher Persaud, reached out to me with a succinct but fact-filled review of the whole Rebekha Jones matter: “The State Auditor examined Health Department data. The Health Department internally examined Rebekah Jones’s claims. The state Inspector General is examining Jones’s claim she was wrongfully fired. The State Department of Law Enforcement has charged Jones with hacking a state communications channel. They’re still investigating. I don’t think the case has gone to trial yet. So, the charges remain.” The fact is that the Sunshine State is not very transparent, and it’s challenging to just get statements from the people in power.
I draw a simple conclusion from all this. Florida’s Governor will lie about anything to make himself look good, and worse, will use his power against anyone who disagrees with him. He spent more energy on fighting Rebekah D. Jones than conquering Covid. If anything, his policies based on his uninformed opinions and advice from unqualified people actually killed people. It’s bad enough the pollution in Florida water is killing fish, but the wannabe king in Tallahassee is killing people.
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