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Posts Tagged ‘JANUARY 6 COMMITTEE’

THE NRC: THE SPANISH INQUISITION COMES HOME–PART TWO (END)

In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on June 28, 2024 at 12:10 am

The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a secular, political organization that leads the Republican party of the United States.     

But on February 4, 2022, it acted as the reincarnation of the Spanish Inquisition—a judicial institution which attacked heresy in Spain from 1478 to 1834.

Under its reign of terror, countless “heretical” men and women found themselves sentenced by kangaroo courts to hideous torture and death.

Coat of arms or logo

Seal of the Spanish Inquisition

User:Di (they-them), CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

On February 4, 2022, the RNC’s chair, Ronna Romney McDaniel, “cast out” two fellow Republicans: Representtives Liz Cheney (WY) and Adam Kinzinger (IL).

Their “crime”: Being the only Republicans to serve on the United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, otherwise known as the January 6 Committee.

That censure described the deadly riot, where hundreds of then-President Donald Trump’s disciples stormed the Capitol and forced lawmakers to flee their chambers for safety, as “legitimate political discourse.” 

Ronna McDaniel.jpg

Ronna Romney McDaniel

Part One of this series analyzed the first major paragraph of this censure. Part Two will analyze the remaining six.

“WHEREAS, Winning back the majority in Congress, including the United States House of Representatives, in 2022 must be the primary goal of the House Republican Conference (“Conference”) and requires all Republicans working together to accomplish the same….” 

  • Here, at least, the RNC and its chair, Ronna Romney McDaniel, offered the truth: Gaining absolute power over the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the Federal Government is this party’s “primary goal.”
  • Punishing those who engage in treasonous attacks on Constitutional government is not a priority—so long as the perpetrators are Fascistic Right-wingers.

“WHEREAS, The Conference must not be sabotaged by Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger who have demonstrated, with actions and words, that they support Democrat efforts to destroy President Trump more than they support winning back a Republican majority in 2022….

DESTROYING PRESIDENT TRUMP:

  • It was Trump who tried to destroy Constitutional government by stripping every potential challenger to his authority—or his version of reality—of legitimacy with the public. Had he succeeded, there would have been:
  • No independent press to reveal his failures and crimes.
  • No independent law enforcement agencies to investigate his abuses of office.
  • No independent judiciary to hold him accountable.
  • No candidate—Democrat or Republican—to challenge him for remaining in office in 2020—and thereafter—as “President-for-Life.”

WHEREAS, Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger have engaged in actions in their positions as members of the January 6th Select Committee not befitting Republican of Congress, which include the Committee’s disregard for minority rights, traditional checks and balances, due process, and adherence to other precedent and rules of the U.S. House and which seem intent on advancing a political agenda to buoy the Democrat bleak prospects in the upcoming midterm elections….”

WINNING BACK A REPUBLICAN MAJORITY IN 2022:

  • This, for the RNC, takes precedence over investigating a treasonous plot to overthrow democratic government and establish a one-party (Republican) state, presided over by a lifetime criminal and proven traitor.

Liz Cheney official 116th Congress portrait.jpg

Liz Cheney

Adam Kinzinger - 117th Congress.jpg

Adam Kinzinger

“WHEREAS, Congressional Republicans bear ultimate responsibility for their own success or failure and the RNC supports their efforts by denouncing those who deliberately jeopardize victory in November on which the future of our constitutional republic depends at this critical moment in history….” 

DELIBERATELY JEOPARDIZING VICTORY:

  • Once again, the RNC admits that gaining absolute power for itself takes precedence over investigating and punishing those who sought to overthrow American democracy.

“WHEREAS, Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger purport to be members of the Republican Party….” 

“PURPORT” TO BE REPUBLICANS:

  • Liz Cheney had been a Republican member of the House of Representatives from Wyoming since 2017. She voted in line with Trump’s policies 93% of the time, according to the data journalism site Five Thirty-Eight.
  • Heritage Action, a Right-wing  policy advocacy organization, gave her a “lifetime score” of 80%.
  • Adam Kinzinger had been a Republican member of the House of Representatives from Illinois since 2011.
  • According to Five Thirty-Eight, he voted in support of Trump’s agenda 90% of the time,
  • Thus, the “crime” committed by Cheney and Kinzinger was to investigate the treasonous attempted coup by a lifelong criminal and would-be tyrant.

“WHEREAS, Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger are participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse, and they are both utilizing their past professed political affiliation to mask Democrat abuse of prosecutorial power for partisan purposes, therefore, be it 

“RESOLVED, That the Republican National Committee hereby formally censures Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and shall immediately cease any and all support of them as members of the Republican Party for their behavior which has been destructive to the institution of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Republican Party and our republic, and is inconsistent with the position of the Conference.”   

* * * * * * * * *

The RNC’s action was one worthy of the Spanish Inquisition.

And it serves as a warning to democracy-loving Americans of the fate awaiting them if Republicans’ revenge fantasies become reality.

THE NRC: THE SPANISH INQUISITION COMES HOME–PART ONE (OF TWO)

In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Military, Politics, Social commentary on June 27, 2024 at 12:10 am

On February 4, 2022, the Republican National Committee (RNC) officially endorsed the use of violence on behalf of the party.    

It described the January 6, 2021 attack on the nation’s Capitol—a violent and treasonous attempt to prevent the orderly and legal transition of power from one President to another—as “legitimate political discourse.”  

This is no private opinion of a single Republican—or even a fringe group of Republicans.

The RNC is described on Wikipedia as:

“A U.S. political committee that leads the Republican party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as coordinating fundraising, election strategy, and a ‘party brand.’ It is also responsible for organizing and running the Republican National Convention.” 

Summer Internships at the Republican National Committee – INTA Advising Blog

The endorsement came during an official censure of two of the Committee’s fellow Republicans—Reps. Liz Cheney (WY) and Adam Kinzinger (IL).

Their “crime”: Being the only Republicans to serve on the United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, otherwise known as the January 6 Committee. 

That censure described the deadly riot, where hundreds of then-President Donald Trump’s disciples stormed the Capitol and forced lawmakers to flee their chambers for safety, as “legitimate political discourse.” 

Predictably, the statement opened with a series of grotesque lies: 

“WHEREAS, The Biden Administration and Democrats in Congress have embarked on a systematic effort to replace liberty with socialism; eliminate border security in favor of lawless, open borders; create record inflation designed to steal the American dream from our children and grandchildren; neuter our national defense and a peace through strength foreign policy; replace President ‘Operation Warp Speed’ with incompetence and illegal mandates; and destroy America’s economy with the Green New Deal….” 

To address these lies:

REPLACING LIBERTY WITH SOCIALISM:

  • It was Donald Trump—not Joseph Biden—who said that he and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un “fell in love.”
  • It was Trump—not Biden—who attacked American Intelligence agencies for their unanimous conclusion that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin interfered in the 2016 Presidential election.
  • It was Trump—not Biden—who never once attacked nor even criticized Putin, although he has viciously attacked literally hundreds of others, verbally and on Twitter.

Related image

Donald Trump

ELIMINATING BORDER SECURITY:

  • Attacking Hispanics—both those who are United States citizens and those who wish to become citizens—is a potent weapon for Republicans. It’s the single most galvanizing issue for their base, and the one guaranteed to win and retain Right-wing votes.
  • The Biden administration—like every previous administration—is trying to stem the flow of illegal aliens on the southern border. But it’s a never-ending struggle marked by legal and logistical complications.

CREATE RECORD INFLATION:

  • Biden—like every other President—has few weapons to use in controlling inflation. Much of this has been caused by COVID-19 and the resulting slowdowns and/or shutdowns in employment it has produced.
  • As a capitalist nation, the United States does not often intervene in what is euphemistically called “the free enterprise system”—even though much of that is dominated by predatory corporations.
  • Biden could propose legislation making price-gouging a Federal crime, punishable by a lengthy prison term. But this—modeled on the anti-extortion provisions in the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act—would never gain Republican Congressional support.

NEUTER OUR NATIONAL DEFENSE: 

  • It was Trump—not Biden—who tried to extort a “favor” from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: Investigate presumed 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate Joseph Biden and his son, Hunter, who had had business dealings in Ukraine. 
  • Clearly implied in the call: Produce “dirt” on Biden—or you won’t get the Congressionally authorized $400 million in military aid.
  • It was Trump who repeatedly defended Vladimir Putin while attacking America’s longstanding allies, such as Canada and Great Britain.

Vladimir Putin (2018-03-01) 03 (cropped).jpg

Vladimir Putin

Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

REPLACE “OPERATION WARP SPEED” WITH INCOMPETENCE, ILLEGAL MANDATES:

  • Trump learned how deadly the virus was in January, 2020. But he publicly denied this and attacked mask-wearing and social distancing.
  • He attacked governors who issued stay-at-home orders to contain the virus—and incited his followers to defy those orders.
  • He secretly got vaccinated before leaving office and only reluctantly acknowledged the importance of vaccinations.
  • His legacy of defying science continues to live on in his millions of Stormtrumper followers—who refuse to mask up, social distance and, most importantly, get vaccinated. The vast majority of those now flooding hospital ER and ICU rooms—and graveyards—are unvaccinated. 
  • Biden instead launched a nationwide campaign to persuade Americans to wear masks, socially distance and, above all, get vaccinated. 

DESTROY AMERICA’S ECONOMY WITH A GREEN NEW DEAL: 

  • Despite Right-wing lies to the contrary, global warming is an established fact.
  • If there is to be any chance of halting—let alone reversing—the planet-threatening dangers this brings, it must come through the elimination of fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas.
  • But corporate CEOs—such as West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin—have a vested financial interest in continuing the sale of fossil fuels.
  • And they have the backing of corrupt Right-wing politicians and millions of their voters who refuse to accept science.

BULLIES AND WHINERS

In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on May 1, 2024 at 12:10 am

…A truly great man is ever the same under all circumstances. And if his fortune varies, exalting him at one moment and oppressing him at another, he himself never varies, but always preserves a firm courage, which is so closely interwoven with his character that everyone can readily see that the fickleness of fortune has no power over him.

The conduct of weak men is very different. Made vain and intoxicated by good fortune, they attribute their success to merits which they do not possess. And this makes them odious and insupportable to all around them. And when they have afterwards to meet a reverse of fortune, they quickly fall into the other extreme, and become abject and vile.
—N
iccolo Machiavelli, The Discourses 

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Niccolo Machiavelli

Donald Trump gives daily proof that Niccolo Machiavelli’s warning remains as timely as ever.

Trump constantly brags about how tough he is, and what he will do to his enemies and those of his version of America.

Among his threats: 

  • Threatening to appoint a special prosecutor to target President Joe Biden and his family if he’s reelected.
  • Saying that Mark Miley, the former chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, deserves execution. Miley’s “crime”: Ensuring that war did not erupt between China and the United States during Trump’s last months in office.
  • Repeatedly attacking prosecutors and judges, their families, former officials and political opponents.
  • Calling for the jailing of  former Wyoming Republican Representative Liz Cheney and the other members of the House panel that investigated his inciting a violent mob to attack the United States Capitol. 

Yet when he has been confronted with men and women who can’t be bribed or intimidated, Trump has reacted with rage, frustration—and outbursts of whining self-pity.

Among these:

  • “If I announced that I was not going to run any longer for political office the persecution of Donald Trump would immediately stop,” Trump said at a rally in Prescott Valley, Arizona. “But that is not what I do. I can’t do that, I can’t do that. Can’t do that. Because I love this country and I love you.”   
  • Facing trial for defrauding New York in taxes, Trump addressed Judge Arthur F. Engoron: “What’s happened here, sir, is a fraud on me. They want to make sure that I don’t win again, and this is partially election interference.”
  • “I am a victim,” Trump said in his speech announcing his presidential run. “I will tell you I’m a victim. We will be attacked. We will be slandered. We will be persecuted just as I have been.”
  • Accused of raping and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll, Trump said in a deposition: “She said that I did something to her that never took place. There was no anything. I know nothing about this nutjob. She’s accusing me of rape, a woman that I have no idea who she is.” 

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Donald Trump

  • At his New York fraud trial in January, Trump whined: “This is a political witch-hunt that was set aside by – should be set aside. We should receive damages for what we’ve gone through, for what they’ve taken this company through.” 
  • Of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is prosecuting him for engaging in years of financial fraud and illegal conduct, Trump said: “We have a situation where I’m an innocent man. I’ve been persecuted by somebody running for office. They want to make sure that I don’t win again, that this is partially election interference. But, in particular, the person in the room right now hates Trump and uses Trump to get elected.”
  • Of Special Counsel Jack Smith, Trump said: “The prosecutor in the case, I will call our case, is a thug. I have named him ‘Deranged Jack Smith….He does political hit jobs. He’s a raging and uncontrolled Trump hater, as is his wife, who happened to be the producer of that Michelle Obama puff piece. This is the guy I’ve got.”
  • Speaking of the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago to recover hundreds of highly classified documents Trump had illegally taken upon leaving the White House, Trump said: “The political persecution of President Donald J. Trump has been going on for years, with the now fully debunked Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, Impeachment Hoax No 1, Impeachment Hoax No 2, and so much more, it just never ends. It is political targeting at the highest level!” 

In his masterwork, The Discourses, published in 1531, Florentine statesman Niccolo Machiavelli laid out his advice for preserving liberties within a republic. Among this was the foregoing description of the difference between great leaders and weak ones. 

Donald Trump likes to portray himself as a courageous leader. But he is “brave” only when facing those far weaker than himself.

He feels most compatible with ruthless dictators—such as Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-Un and Xi Jinping. He envies their life-or-death power over their subjects. And he lusts to possess the same.

He is a coward, who demands total immunity for all his actions—most importantly, his criminal ones. 

No other President—not even Richard Nixon—has ever made such a demand. Or faced prosecution for so many crimes. 

REPUBLICANS: ATTACKING SOCIALISM, SUPPORTING COMMUNISTS

In Bureaucracy, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on February 9, 2023 at 12:10 am

Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), running for reelection in 2022, minced no words in her fundraising email: She opened by attacking “Joe Biden’s Communist Green New Deal.”           

Then, after slandering Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WYO), Adam B. Schiff (D-CA) and Adam Kinzinger (R-ILL), she warned that Never Trumpers were colluding “with Communist Democrats to rig the 2022 and 2024 elections.”

And she attacked the January 6 House Committee—charged with investigating the treasonous attack on the Capitol Building by Donald Trump’s followers—as the “January 6 Witch Hunt Committee.”

According to Greene, President Biden was “crippling American energy production to impose socialism on America.” 

“I know with your help, we can stop communism and save America,” Greene concluded.

Marjorie Taylor Greene 117th Congress portrait.jpeg

Marjorie Taylor Greene

Since the late 1940s, attacking “Communism” and “socialism” has become standard operating procedure for Republicans running for election—and reelection.

Thus, President Donald Trump, addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations, on September 24, 2019: “One of the most serious challenges our countries face is the specter of socialism. It’s the wrecker of nations and the destroyer of societies.” 

He cited Venezuela as an example of the failures of socialism, and denounced its president, Nicolás Maduro, as a “Cuban puppet.”

And Trump warned: “Socialism and communism are about one thing only: Power for the ruling class. Today I repeat a message to the world that I have delivered at home: America will never be a socialist country.”

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Donald Trump

Yet despite such attacks on socialism and communism, many Republicans—including Trump and Greene—have found cause to empathize with infamous Communist dictators.

Trump stands out predominantly as the first American President known to have colluded with a Russian dictator.

This was an open secret—most explicitly advertised by both Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 28, 2019. 

That advertisement came when the two met in Osaka, Japan—their first since the March 22 release of the Mueller Report, which documented Russia’s subversion of the 2016 Presidential election.

An NBC News reporter asked: Would you tell Putin not to meddle in the 2020 Presidential election?

“Yes, of course I will,” replied Trump, grinning. “Don’t meddle in the election, please.”

And he jokingly wagged his finger at Putin: “Don’t meddle in the election.” 

Putin grinned back.

Vladimir Putin 17-11-2021 (cropped).jpg

Vladimir Putin

 Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

Trump’s affinity for Communist dictators didn’t end with Putin. He boasted that, during an exchange of letters with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un, “we fell in love.”

Had a Democrat made such a boast, Republicans would have branded him a Communist traitor.  

And while Trump has slandered literally hundreds of Americans and the leaders of the NATO alliance, he has never once criticized Russian president Vladimir Putin for anything. 

Trump is by no means the only Republican to cuddle up with Communists.

Seven House Republicans—Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA), Matt Gaetz (FL), Andy Biggs (AZ), Lauren Boebert (CO), Dan Bishop (N.C.) and Chip Roy (TX)—voted against stripping Russia of “most favored nation” status after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Nor is admiration of Russia confined to Right-wing politicians. 

Franklin Graham, the son of the late Reverend Billy Graham, praised Putin for a 2013 law that banned “propaganda” promoting “nontraditional” relationships for children.

“Isn’t it sad, though, that America’s own morality has fallen so far that on this issue—protecting children from any homosexual agenda or propaganda—Russia’s standard is higher than our own?” Graham wrote. “In my opinion, Putin is right on these issues.”

Franklin Graham

James Kirchick, an American reporter, foreign correspondent, author, and columnist, has indicted Republicans generally for their fervent embrace of Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

As he wrote in a July 27, 2017 essay, “How the GOP Became the Party of Putin”: 

“For the past four years, I worked at a think tank, the Foreign Policy Initiative, that was bankrolled by Republican donors and regularly criticized the Obama administration….

“What I never expected was that the Republican Party—which once stood for a muscular, moralistic approach to the world, and which helped bring down the Soviet Union—would become a willing accomplice of what the previous Republican presidential nominee rightly called our No. 1 geopolitical foe: Vladimir Putin’s Russia.”

How did this come about?

“Russia’s intelligence operatives are among the world’s best. I believe they made a keen study of the American political scene and realized that, during the Obama years, the conservative movement had become ripe for manipulation. Long gone was its principled opposition to the ‘evil empire.’ 

“What was left was an intellectually and morally desiccated carcass populated by con artists, opportunists, entertainers and grifters operating massively profitable book publishers, radio empires, websites, and a TV network whose stock-in-trade are not ideas but resentments….

Surveying this lamentable scene, why wouldn’t Russia try to ‘turn’ the American right, whose ethical rot necessarily precedes its rank unscrupulousness? 

“Why wouldn’t a ‘religious right’ that embraced a boastfully immoral charlatan like Donald Trump not turn a blind eye toward—or, in the case of [evangelical pastor] Franklin Graham, embrace—an oppressive regime like that ruling Russia?”

For millions, the power of love plays a central part in their lives.

Yet, for other millions, hate serves as a force that gives meaning to their lives. And its power must never be underestimated. 

THE NRC: THE SPANISH INQUISITION COMES HOME–PART TWO (END)

In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on February 16, 2022 at 12:11 am

The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a secular, political organization that leads the Republican party of the United States.

But on February 4, it acted as the reincarnation of the Spanish Inquisition—a judicial institution which attacked heresy in Spain from 1478 to 1834.

Under its reign of terror, countless “heretical” men and women found themselves sentenced by kangaroo courts to hideous torture and death.

Coat of arms or logo

Seal of the Spanish Inquisition

User:Di (they-them), CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

On February 4, the RNC’s chair, Ronna Romney McDaniel, “cast out” two fellow Republicans: Representtives Liz Cheney (WY) and Adam Kinzinger (IL).

Their “crime”: Being the only Republicans to serve on the United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, otherwise known as the January 6 Committee.

That censure described the deadly riot, where hundreds of then-President Donald Trump’s disciples stormed the Capitol and forced lawmakers to flee their chambers for safety, as “legitimate political discourse.” 

Ronna McDaniel.jpg

Ronna Romney McDaniel

Part One of this series analyzed the first major paragraph of this censure. Part Two will analyze the remaining six.

“WHEREAS, Winning back the majority in Congress, including the United States House of Representatives, in 2022 must be the primary goal of the House Republican Conference (“Conference”) and requires all Republicans working together to accomplish the same….” 

  • Here, at least, the RNC and its chair, Ronna Romney McDaniel, offers the truth: Gaining absolute power over the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the Federal Government is this party’s “primary goal.”
  • Punishing those who engage in treasonous attacks on Constitutional government is not a priority—so long as the perpetrators are Fascistic Right-wingers.

“WHEREAS, The Conference must not be sabotaged by Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger who have demonstrated, with actions and words, that they support Democrat efforts to destroy President Trump more than they support winning back a Republican majority in 2022….

DESTROYING PRESIDENT TRUMP:

  • It was Trump who tried to destroy Constitutional government by stripping every potential challenger to his authority—or his version of reality—of legitimacy with the public. Had he succeeded, there would have been:
  • No independent press to reveal his failures and crimes.
  • No independent law enforcement agencies to investigate his abuses of office.
  • No independent judiciary to hold him accountable.
  • No candidate—Democrat or Republican—to challenge him for remaining in office in 2020—and thereafter—as “President-for-Life.”

WHEREAS, Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger have engaged in actions in their positions as members of the January 6th Select Committee not befitting Republican of Congress, which include the Committee’s disregard for minority rights, traditional checks and balances, due process, and adherence to other precedent and rules of the U.S. House and which seem intent on advancing a political agenda to buoy the Democrat bleak prospects in the upcoming midterm elections….”

WINNING BACK A REPUBLICAN MAJORITY IN 2022:

  • This, for the RNC, takes precedence over investigating a treasonous plot to overthrow democratic government and establish a one-party (Republican) state, presided over by a lifetime criminal and proven traitor.

Liz Cheney official 116th Congress portrait.jpg

Liz Cheney

Adam Kinzinger - 117th Congress.jpg

Adam Kinzinger

“WHEREAS, Congressional Republicans bear ultimate responsibility for their own success or failure and the RNC supports their efforts by denouncing those who deliberately jeopardize victory in November on which the future of our constitutional republic depends at this critical moment in history….” 

DELIBERATELY JEOPARDIZING VICTORY:

  • Once again, the RNC admits that gaining absolute power for itself takes precedence over investigating and punishing those who sought to overthrow American democracy.

“WHEREAS, Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger purport to be members of the Republican Party….” 

“PURPORT” TO BE REPUBLICANS:

  • Liz Cheney has been a Republican member of the House of Representatives from Wyoming since 2017. She voted in line with Trump’s policies 93% of the time, according to the data journalism site Five Thirty-Eight.
  • Heritage Action, a Right-wing  policy advocacy organization, gives her a “lifetime score” of 80%.
  • Adam Kinzinger has been a Republican member of the House of Representatives from Illinois since 2011.
  • According to Five Thirty-Eight, he voted in support of Trump’s agenda 90% of the time,
  • Thus, the “crime” committed by Cheney and Kinzinger was to investigate the treasonous attempted coup of a lifelong criminal and would-be tyrant.

“WHEREAS, Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger are participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse, and they are both utilizing their past professed political affiliation to mask Democrat abuse of prosecutorial power for partisan purposes, therefore, be it 

“RESOLVED, That the Republican National Committee hereby formally censures Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and shall immediately cease any and all support of them as members of the Republican Party for their behavior which has been destructive to the institution of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Republican Party and our republic, and is inconsistent with the position of the Conference.”   

* * * * * * * * *

The RNC’s action was one worthy of the Spanish Inquisition.

And it serves as a warning to democracy-loving Americans of the fate awaiting them if Republicans’ revenge fantasies come true.

THE NRC: THE SPANISH INQUISITION COMES HOME–PART ONE (OF TWO)

In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Military, Politics, Social commentary on February 15, 2022 at 12:10 am

On February 4, the Republican National Committee (RNC) officially endorsed the use of violence on behalf of the party.

It described the January 6, 2021 attack on the nation’s Capitol—a violent and treasonous attempt to prevent the orderly and legal transition of power from one President to another—as “legitimate political discourse.”  

This is no private opinion of a single Republican—or even a fringe group of Republicans.

The RNC is described on Wikipedia as:

“A U.S. political committee that leads the Republican party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as coordinating fundraising, election strategy, and a ‘party brand.’ It is also responsible for organizing and running the Republican National Convention.” 

Summer Internships at the Republican National Committee – INTA Advising Blog

The endorsement came during an official censure of two of the Committee’s fellow Republicans—Reps. Liz Cheney (WY) and Adam Kinzinger (IL).

Their “crime”: Being the only Republicans to serve on the United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, otherwise known as the January 6 Committee. 

That censure described the deadly riot, where hundreds of then-President Donald Trump’s disciples stormed the Capitol and forced lawmakers to flee their chambers for safety, as “legitimate political discourse.” 

Predictably, the statement opened with a series of grotesque lies: 

“WHEREAS, The Biden Administration and Democrats in Congress have embarked on a systematic effort to replace liberty with socialism; eliminate border security in favor of lawless, open borders; create record inflation designed to steal the American dream from our children and grandchildren; neuter our national defense and a peace through strength foreign policy; replace President ‘Operation Warp Speed’ with incompetence and illegal mandates; and destroy America’s economy with the Green New Deal….” 

To address these lies:

REPLACING LIBERTY WITH SOCIALISM:

  • It was Donald Trump—not Joseph Biden—who said that he and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un “fell in love.”
  • It was Trump—not Biden—who attacked American Intelligence agencies for their unanimous conclusion that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin interfered in the 2016 Presidential election.
  • It was Trump—not Biden—who never once attacked nor even criticized Putin, although he has viciously attacked literally hundreds of others, verbally and on Twitter.

Related image

Donald Trump

ELIMINATING BORDER SECURITY:

  • Attacking Hispanics—both those who are United States citizens and those who wish to become citizens—is a potent weapon for Republicans. It’s the single most galvanizing issue for their base, and the one guaranteed to win and retain Right-wing votes.
  • The Biden administration—like every previous administration—is trying to stem the flow of illegal aliens on the southern border. But it’s a never-ending struggle marked by legal and logistical complications.

CREATE RECORD INFLATION:

  • Biden—like every other President—has few weapons to use in controlling inflation. Much of this is now being caused by COVID-19 and the resulting slowdowns and/or shutdowns in employment it has produced.
  • As a capitalist nation, the United States does not often intervene in what is euphemistically called “the free enterprise system”—even though much of that is dominated by predatory corporations.
  • Biden could propose legislation making price-gouging a Federal crime, punishable by a lengthy prison term. But this—modeled on the anti-extortion provisions in the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act—would never gain Republican Congressional support.

NEUTER OUR NATIONAL DEFENSE: 

  • It was Trump—not Biden—who tried to extort a “favor” from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: Investigate presumed 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate Joseph Biden and his son, Hunter, who had had business dealings in Ukraine. 
  • Clearly implied in the call: Produce “dirt” on Biden—or you won’t get the Congressionally authorized $400 million in military aid.
  • It was Trump who repeatedly defended Vladimir Putin while attacking America’s longstanding allies, such as Canada and Great Britain.

Vladimir Putin (2018-03-01) 03 (cropped).jpg

Vladimir Putin

Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

REPLACE “OPERATION WARP SPEED” WITH INCOMPETENCE, ILLEGAL MANDATES:

  • Trump learned how deadly the virus was in January, 2020. But he publicly denied this and attacked mask-wearing and social distancing.
  • He attacked governors who issued stay-at-home orders to contain the virus—and incited his followers to defy those orders.
  • He secretly got vaccinated before leaving office and has only reluctantly acknowledged the importance of vaccinations.
  • His legacy of defying science continues to live on in his millions of Stormtrumper followers—who refuse to mask up, social distance and, most importantly, get vaccinated. The vast majority of those now flooding hospital ER and ICU rooms—and graveyards—are unvaccinated. 
  • Biden instead launched a nationwide campaign to persuade Americans to wear masks, socially distance and, above all, get vaccinated. 

DESTROY AMERICA’S ECONOMY WITH A GREEN NEW DEAL: 

  • Despite Right-wing lies to the contrary, global warming is an established fact.
  • If there is to be any chance of halting—let alone reversing—the planet-threatening dangers this brings, it must come through the elimination of fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas.
  • But corporate CEOs—such as West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin—have a vested financial interest in continuing the sale of fossil fuels.
  • And they have the backing of corrupt Right-wing politicians and millions of their voters who refuse to accept science.

RONALD REAGAN’S WARNING COMES HOME

In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on February 14, 2022 at 12:10 am

On February 16, 1981, President Ronald Reagan issued a stark warning about the lethal morality of the men who ran the Soviet Union:

“The only morality they recognize is what will further their cause, meaning they reserve unto themselves the right to commit any crime, to lie, to cheat.”

Forty-one years later, were he alive, he could give the same warning—about the men and women who run the Republican party.

Ronald Reagan

But since he isn’t alive to do so, other Republicans have unintentionally done so for him.

One is House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA).

On January 10, he vowed that, if Republicans capture the House of Representatives in November, he will remove three prominent Democrats—Eric Swalwell (CA), Adam Schiff (CA) and Ilhan Omar (MN)—from important committee assignments.

Kevin McCarthy, official photo, 116th Congress.jpg

Kevin McCarthy

McCarthy made his threat after House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi removed two Republican members of Congress—Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA) and Paul Gosar (AZ)—from their committees.

Greene and Gosar had made a series of inflammatory comments that demonstrated their general unfitness for office.

Gosar had posted an anime video online that showed him attacking President Joe Biden with a sword and appearing to murder his colleague, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY).

Greene had supported the QAnon lie that Democrats are tied to a child sex ring; made anti-Semitic comments; and blamed California wildfires on Jewish space lasers.  

“The Democrats have created a new thing where they’re picking and choosing who could be on committee. Never in the history have you had the majority tell the minority who could be on committee,” McCarthy told the Right-wing Breitbart News.

A second Republican threat-maker: Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich.

On January 23, he threatened imprisonment for members of the January 6 Committee investigating the attempted coup at the Capitol Building in 2021.

“You’re gonna have a Republican majority in the House, a Republican majority in the Senate [in January, 2023, following the November 8 elections]. And all these people who’ve been so tough and so mean and so nasty are going to be delivered subpoenas for every document, every conversation, every tweet, every email.” 

Newt Gingrich

Significantly, he made that prediction on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures. Fox is the network dedicated to advancing Republicans’ increasingly Fascistic agenda.

Accusing the Committee of being  a “lynch mob” that is “pursuing innocent people,” Gingrich added:

“I think when you have a Republican Congress, this is all going to come crashing down. The wolves are gonna find out they’re now sheep, and they’re the ones who are, in fact, I think, going to face a real risk of going to jail for the kind of laws that they’re breaking.”

Gingrich did not specify which laws he believes the committee has broken.

Gingrich accused the January 6 Committee of acting like “a lynch mob.” But he he neglected to note that among those being investigated are people who literally built a gallows to hang then-Vice President Mike Pence—and probably House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

As if these warnings weren’t enough, the Republican National Committee (RNC) issued its own on February 4.

Summer Internships at the Republican National Committee – INTA Advising Blog

It came during an official censure of two of their fellow Republicans—Representatives Liz Cheney (WY) and Adam Kinzinger (IL).

Their “crime”: Being the only Republicans to serve on the United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, otherwise known as the January 6 Committee. 

That censure described the deadly riot, where hundreds of then-President Donald Trump’s disciples stormed the Capitol and forced lawmakers to flee their chambers for safety, as “legitimate political discourse.” 

Specifically:

“WHEREAS, Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger are participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse, and they are both utilizing their past professed political affiliation to mask Democrat abuse of prosecutorial power for partisan purposes, therefore, be it 

“RESOLVED, That the Republican National Committee hereby formally censures Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and shall immediately cease any and all support of them as members of the Republican Party for their behavior which has been destructive to the institution of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Republican Party and our republic, and is inconsistent with the position of the Conference.”

Thus, according to the RNC, a violent and treasonous attempt to prevent the orderly and legal transition of power from one President to another has become “legitimate political discourse.”  

This is no private opinion of a single Republican—or even a fringe group of Republicans. It bears the official stamp of the Republican National Committee.

The RNC is described on Wikipedia as:

“A U.S. political committee that leads the Republican party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as coordinating fundraising, election strategy, and a ‘party brand.’ It is also responsible for organizing and running the Republican National Convention.” 

It counts as no less than the official Republican endorsement of violence on behalf of their party.

Or, as Ronald Reagan put it: “The only morality they recognize is what will further their cause, meaning they reserve unto themselves the right to commit any crime, to lie, to cheat.”