Posts Tagged ‘VOTER SUPPRESSION’
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In Bureaucracy, Entertainment, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on September 19, 2023 at 12:21 am
On September 5, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years to federal prison for his role in the January 6, 2021 coup attempt.
But before he was hauled away by deputy U.S. marshals, Tarrio, 39, had his beg-a-thon moment with the judge who sentenced him: “On November 3, 2020, something that I never expected happened—my candidate lost. I felt like something was personally stolen from me.
“Every media channel that I turned to told me I was justified.”
Enrique Tarrio
He claimed that he was “not a political zealot” and denied that changing the outcome of the election was his goal on January 6.
Tarrio wasn’t in Washington on January 6. He had been arrested on January 4 in a separate case. Still, he was convicted for organizing the Proud Boys’ role in the riot and for encouraging the violence that interrupted the counting of Electoral College votes.
Wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and escorted by deputy U.S. marshals, he blamed himself and apologized to the officers who were injured during the riot—of which he was a proud instigator.
“Today I stand before you a different man… I wish to reorient my life’s purpose… I want to rejoin my local church and be an active part of helping others. I hope your honor can hear the sincerity. Please show me mercy. Do not take my 40s from me. God bless this entire court.”
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly wasn’t buying it:
“That day broke our previously unbroken tradition of the peaceful transfer of power, which is truly among the most precious things that we had as Americans. That previously unbroken string is now broken. And it’s going to take time and effort to fix it.”
Capitol Police facing off with Stormtrumpers
Kelly was especially disturbed by Tarrio’s comparing the January 6 traitors to the country’s Founding Fathers:
“You apologized here today, but I must say, comparing what Dominic Pezzola [another Proud Boys member who attacked the Capitol Building] did to George Washington—the man who helped encourage the notion of a peaceful, orderly transfer of power—by relinquishing power to let someone else be chosen. It slanders the father of our country.”
Just as Zachary Rehl’s lawyer had found excuses for his client’s treasonous behavior, so, too, did Tarrio’s legal team find excuses for his.
According to them, Tarrio was simply a “misguided patriot” instead of a terrorist, and was simply being a “Keyboard Ninja, saying things he shouldn’t have.”
Tarrio’s pleadings for leniency didn’t stop with himself. He also enlisted the aid of his aunt, godmother, mother, fiancée and younger sister.
His aunt and godmother sent in letters pleading for leniency which were read by defense attorney Nayib Hassan.
“Henry [Tarrio’s birth name] is not a monster like he’s made out to be,” one letter read.
Stormtrumpers inside the Capitol Building
Tarrio’s mother, fiancée, and his younger sister also spoke of Tarrio’s character as they asked for leniency, saying his incarceration has greatly affected his family.
“This mother stands before you today begging you for leniency for Henry,” his mother told Judge Kelly. “We need him home as soon as we can. The Henry that came into the system is not the Henry that’s here today.”
The younger sister cried as she spoke: “He is the glue that keeps us together. The idea of him not being around for all the milestones is hard to bear.”
Apparently, it didn’t occur to Tarrio—when planning the January 6 coup attempt—that there might be consequences for his treason.
Tarrio’s fiancée said the couple wanted to start a family together and asked the judge to consider the “direct effect” a long prison sentence could have on those ambitions: “Henry is a flawed man, as are we all, but he is not blind to it.”
In getting a prison sentence of 22 years, Tarrio proved lucky: The Justice Department had asked for a sentence of 33 years.
Tarrio’s sentencing is the last in a series of historic seditious conspiracy cases brought by the Justice Department after the Capitol Building was attacked.
* * * * *
History teaches us that republics that tolerate treason soon become former republics.
For Republicans, gaining—and retaining—absolute power has become their foremost reason for existence.
It isn’t enough for them to create voter suppression laws to prevent their opponents from voting. They now insist on the right to violently overthrow any Democrat who somehow manages to win the Presidency against them.
Rod Serling’s “Twilight Zone” episode, “Death’s Head Revisited,” reveals how Republicans react when confronted with overwhelming evidence of their evil.
In that episode, a former Nazi SS camp captain returns to the Dachau concentration camp to savor the torments he once inflicted on helpless men and women. To his horror, he’s greeted by the ghosts of those victims.
To one of them—Becker—he says: “That was such a long time ago. Let’s forget about all that—unpleasantness—and move on.”
Thus have Republicans reacted when confronted with overwhelming evidence that President Donald J. Trump, having lost the 2020 Presidential election, incited violence against the Government of the United States.
And just as most of the Original Nazis were forced to confront their past “unpleasantness”-–and were punished for it—today’s Republicans must face punishment for their own.
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In Bureaucracy, Entertainment, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on September 18, 2023 at 12:38 am
“The Germans are always at your throat or at your feet.”
So said former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill after Nazi Germany had destroyed most of Europe and now lay begging for mercy from its former victims.
And what held true for Germans after World War II holds equally true for Fascistic supporters of Donald Trump when they face justice for their crimes.
Nothing better demonstrates this than the reactions of three members of the notorious Proud Boys terrorist group at their sentencing on August 31.
Their crime: Seditious conspiracy for their role in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 Presidential election.
On January 6, 2021, they launched a violent attack on the nation’s Capitol Building to prevent the counting of Electoral College votes. That count—as they knew—was certain to establish that former Vice President Joseph R. Biden had won the 2020 Presidential election.
Stormtrumpers scaling Capitol Building walls
Which meant an end to Donald Trump’s ambitions to become “President-for-Life.”
Self-described Proud Boys organizer Joe Biggs received a sentence of 17 years.
Biggs sobbed as he was sentenced. He pleaded for leniency to take care of his daughter and cancer-stricken mother: “I wanted to see what would happen. My curiosity got the best of me. I’m not a terrorist. I’m one of the nicest people in the world.”
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly wasn’t having it, saying that American elections must be respected: “You did play a role in riling up the crowd. If you don’t like how an election is being conducted, you can speak out, call, write or meet with election officials. You can engage in peaceful protest. File a lawsuit.’
The judge ruled that Biggs qualified for a terrorism sentencing enhancement because he tore down a fence that stood between police and rioters.
Joe Biggs
Biggs, a veteran who sustained a head injury while deployed in Iraq, worked for Alex Jones’ conspiracy website Infowars.
A second member of the group, former Marine Zachary Rehl, got 15 years in prison.
“I know that I have to be punished and I understand,” said Biggs, who then pleaded: “Please give me the chance, I beg you, to take my daughter to school and pick her up.”
He added: “I know that I messed up that day, but I am not a terrorist.”
Fortunately, the judge did not agree with him.
“The nature of the constitutional moment we were in that day is something that is so sensitive that it deserves a significant sentence,” said Judge Kelly.
“Our Constitution and laws give you so many important rights that Americans have fought and died for and that you yourself put on a uniform to defend. People around the world would give anything for these rights.”
Rehl, 37, of Port Richmond, Philadelphia. described Jan. 6 as a “despicable day” as he read from a prepared statement through tears. With his lawyer, Norman Pattis, consoling him, Rehl told the judge he fell “hook, line, sinker” for politicians spewing lies about the 2020 election, causing him to lose sight over what was truly important in life—his family.
Zachary Rehl
A sobbing Rehl told the judge that he had lost his military pension and much more since his arrest: “For what it’s worth, I stand here today and say that I am done with all of it. I am done with politics; I am done peddling lies for other people who don’t care about me.”
Rehl had a considerably different attitude on January 6, 2021, when he joined the mob that stormed the Capitol Building. Newly surfaced body camera footage shows him pepper-spraying police.
At his trial, confronted with that footage, he said he couldn’t recall attacking police during the attempted coup: “If you believe I did anything wrong that day,” he told the jury, “I really do truly apologize.”
In the days prior to the coup attempt, Rehl advocated “firing squads for the traitors that are trying to steal the election” on social media.
After the riot, Rehl regretted that the mob hadn’t stopped Congress’ certification vote—which correctly documented that former Vice President Joe Biden had won the 2020 Presidential election.
“Looking back, it sucked,” he texted other members of the Philadelphia Proud Boys chapter on January 7. “We should have held the Capitol. Everyone shoulda showed up armed and took the country back the right way.”
Reading that text in court, Judge Kelly was appalled: “I mean, my God. My God.”
The January 6 coup attempt wasn’t Rehl’s first violent outing on Trump’s behalf. In 2018, he led a pro-Trump “We the People” rally outside Independence Hall that provoked violent clashes with anti-Trump demonstrators.
Norman Pattis, Rehl’s attorney, did his best to whitewash his client’s treasonous behavior: “If there’s a direct threat to democracy greater than an insurrection, I’d say it’s a stolen election. They decided to engage in behavior that reflected our highest ideals.”
He compared the Proud Boys’ actions to those of the Founding Fathers who took up arms to fight tyranny.
He said that the 30-year sentence prosecutors sought “will not promote respect for the law. It will create a martyrdom syndrome.”
The judge sentenced Rehl to 15 years’ imprisonment.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Politics, Social commentary on April 28, 2023 at 12:10 am
As Republican Senators in Washington, D.C., prepared to block the creation of a bipartisan investigation into the January 6 insurrection, another event was taking place.
In Dalton, Georgia, Representative Matt Gaetz (R – FL) gave an impassioned speech to a crowd. His topic: The Second Amendment.
“It’s not about hunting. It’s not about recreation. It’s not about sports. The Second Amendment is about maintaining within the citizenry the ability to maintain an armed rebellion against the government, if that becomes necessary. I hope it never does.”
In short: It’s about treason.
On the May 28, 2021 edition of The PBS Newshour, correspondent Lisa Desjardins explained:
“There, you heard—it’s about maintaining an armed insurrection. He said he doesn’t hope that it comes to pass. But this is different than traditional conservative thought about protecting liberty, individuals’ homes.
“This is an obvious statement about making government itself the enemy. I should note, of course, that Representative Gaetz is under federal investigation, over accusations involving prostitution and corruption that he denies.
“But we wanted to highlight this clip, because we—the crowd’s reaction, and Representative Gaetz pointedly talking about government as the potential enemy.”
Matt Gaetz
Anyone who still doubts that the Right generally and the followers of Donald Trump in particular aren’t bent on establishing a dictatorship need only consider this.
On May 31, 2021, QAnon hosted a conference called the For God and Country Patriot Roundup in Dallas. The event was attended by conspiracy theorists and peddlers of Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 Presidential election was “stolen” from him by massive vote fraud.
One of Its keynote speakers was retired Army General Michael T. Flynn. Flynn had been Trump’s first national security advisor—until he was forced to resign for lying about his past meetings with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
In December, 2016, Flynn had talked with Kislyak about removing the sanctions placed on Russia by the outgoing Obama administration. The sanctions had been placed in retaliation for Russia’s efforts to manipulate the 2016 Presidential election.
“I want to know why what happened in Myanmar can’t happen here?” a member of the audience, who identified himself as a Marine, asked Flynn.
“No reason, I mean, it should happen here. No reason. That’s right,” Flynn responded.
From his remarks, it was clear that Flynn supported a similar overthrow of the government of the United States.
Later, when this was made clear to him, Flynn denied it.
In a message posted to a Parler account, Flynn claimed that his words had been twisted: “Let me be VERY CLEAR – There is NO reason whatsoever for any coup in America, and I do not and have not at any time called for any action of that sort.”
But Flynn’s behavior in the closing weeks of the Trump administration confirm that he has advocated the use of military force to install—or maintain—a dictatorship.
After losing the 2020 Presidential election to former Vice President Joseph Biden, Trump was desperate to remain in office. Flynn was present at an Oval Office meeting where he suggested that Trump could invoke martial law to overturn the results.
It wasn’t clear whether Trump endorsed the idea, but others in the room forcefully shot it down.
“Flynn’s remarks border on sedition,” said Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA), a retired Navy commander who vice-chairs the House Armed Services Committee, about Flynn’s comments at the QAnon conference.
“There’s certainly conduct unbecoming an officer. Those are both things that can be tried under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and I think that as a retiree of the military, it should certainly be a path that we consider to have consequences for these types of words.”
Elaine Luria
At the same event in Dallas, Flynn also claimed—falsely: “Trump won. He won the popular vote, and he won the Electoral College vote.”
As a matter of fact, Trump won neither.
Biden won 81,268,924 popular votes to Trump’s 74,216,154. And in the Electoral College, Biden won 306 votes to Trump’s 232.
* * * * *
History teaches us that republics that tolerate treason soon become former republics.
For Republicans, gaining—and retaining—absolute power has become their foremost reason for existence.
It isn’t enough for them to create voter suppression laws to prevent their opponents from voting. They now insist on the right to violently overthrow any Democrat who somehow manages to win the Presidency against them.
Rod Serling’s “Twilight Zone” episode, “Death’s Head Revisited,” reveals how Republicans react when confronted with overwhelming evidence of their evil.
In that episode, a former Nazi SS camp captain returns to the Dachau concentration camp to savor the torments he once inflicted on helpless men and women. To his horror, he’s greeted by the ghosts of those victims.
To one of them—Becker—he says: “That was such a long time ago. Let’s forget about all that—unpleasantness—and move on.”
Thus have Republicans reacted when confronted with overwhelming evidence that President Donald J. Trump, having lost the 2020 Presidential election, incited violence against the Government of the United States.
And just as most of the Original Nazis were forced to confront their past “unpleasantness”-–and were punished for it—today’s Republicans must face punishment for their own.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on January 18, 2022 at 12:08 am
President Joe Biden faces opposition not only from Republicans but Right-wing Democrats as well.
One of these is West Virginia United States Senator Joe Manchin.
On June 7, 2021, The PBS Newshour examined perhaps the foremost issue of our democracy: The For the People Act.
Since November 3, 2020, when former President Donald Trump lost the Presidential election, he has spread The Big Lie: That the election was “stolen” from him.
On the basis of that lie, Republicans in 47 states have introduced 361 bills to make it harder to vote.
As of June 21, 2021, 17 states enacted 28 new laws that restrict access to the vote.
Among those states affected: Georgia, Iowa, Arkansas and Utah.
Georgia:
- Bans giving food and water to voters in line;
- Severely restricts mail ballot drop boxes;
- Allows Right-wing groups to challenge the eligibility of an unlimited number of voters; and
- Gives the GOP-controlled legislature sweeping powers over election administration.
Arizona:
- Wants to add new requirements for casting a mail-in ballot and make it harder to receive one.
Florida:
- Intends to ban mail ballot drop boxes.
Michigan:
- Republicans introduced eight bills adding new voter ID requirements for mail voting and forbidding election officials to send out absentee ballot request forms to voters.
Congressional Democrats have countered with the For the People Act. Among its provisions:
- Expand early voting and registration across the country in federal elections;
- Block states from purging their rolls of voters;
- End partisan gerrymandering;
- Force large donors to disclose themselves publicly.
“It is something that is obviously very critical right now,” said PBS Newshour Correspondent Lisa Desjardins. “We see rising in this country both sides talking about democracy and voting rights and what’s happening at this moment.
“[West Virginia United States Senator] Joe Manchin…would be the 50th vote that Democrats would have for this in the Senate. They have 49.
Joe Manchin
“And here’s what he said [on] why he opposed it: ‘I believe that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening binds of our democracy. And for that reason, I will vote against the For the People Act.’
“Notable, he did not have any substantive problems with the bill that he raised. Instead, he said, the issue is there are no Republicans on board.”
Manchin thus ignores the reality that Republicans will never be on board.
“This Manchin decision is a body blow to this legislation. It is not dead yet, but it is in real trouble. It’s unclear if, when [New York Senator] Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader [in the Senate] will bring it back up,” said Desjardins.
Many Democrats and political correspondents have speculated about Manchin’s motives for opposing this legislation.
Some believe he’s a Right-winger in Democrats’ clothing. Others think he wants to increase his clout on behalf of his state, West Virginia.
Manchin’s motives, however, are not important. Eliminating his opposition is.
And the man who has the power to do this is President Joe Biden.
All that he needs to do is invite Manchin into the Oval Office for an off-the-record talk, which could open like this:
“Your state has two Coast Guard military bases. By this time next week, it will have only one—because I’m going to close down the other. You can also forget about those highway-repair projects you’re expecting to start. And I’ve been informed we have far too many post offices in West Virginia, considering its small population….”
Suddenly, Manchin would get the clear message: “Biden is the big dog on this block, not me.”
He would also grasp that his constituents would blame him, not Biden, for the resulting chaos and hardships they face from the upcoming closures.
This is precisely how President Lyndon B. Johnson dealt with Congressional members who dared oppose his prized legislation. And it worked.
Joe Biden has spent 44 years in Washington, D.C.—as a United States Senator from Delaware from 1973 to 2009; and then as Vice President from 2009 to 2017.
But he seems to have never read Niccolo Machiavelli’s famous warning in The Prince:
Niccolo Machiavelli
For how we live is so far removed from how we ought to live, that he who abandons what is done for what ought to be done, will rather learn to bring about his own ruin rather than his preservation. A man who wishes to make a profession of goodness in everything must inevitably come to grief among so many who are not good.
And therefore it is necessary for a prince, who wishes to maintain himself, to learn how not to be good, and to use this knowledge and not use it, according to the necessity of the case.
Whatever his motives, Manchin is clearly willing to allow Republicans to suppress the voting rights of millions of non-Fascist Americans.
President Joe Biden now faces a moment of crisis: He can fight his enemies with the same ruthless tactics they routinely use–or face disaster.
Republicans are working to corrupt the democratic process to reinstall a proven criminal and traitor in the Oval Office.
This is no time to “fight” a party of Adolf Hitlers with the appeasement tactics of a Neville Chamberlain.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on January 17, 2022 at 12:12 am
Joseph Robinette Biden is fast approaching the one-year anniversary of his Inauguration as the 46th President of the United States.
At 79, he has spent virtually his entire adult life in politics: As a United States Senator from Delaware (1973 – 2009); as Vice President of the United States (2009 – 2017); and now as President.
Yet for all of his decades of political experience, he seems to have never read the works of the man who has been called “the father of modern politics”—Niccolo Machiavelli.
Or, if he has, he has clearly learned nothing from them.
Consider Machiavelli’s advice for well-intentioned people like Biden in his classic work: The Prince:
“A man who wishes to make a profession of goodness in everything must inevitably come to grief among so many who are not good. And therefore it is necessary for a prince, who wishes to maintain himself, to learn how not to be good, and to use this knowledge and not use it, according to the necessity of the case.”
Niccolo Machiavelli
On November 3, 2020, Biden became President-elect of the United States by winning 81,283,495 votes, or 51.4% of the vote, compared to 74,223,755 votes, or 46.9% of the vote cast for President Donald Trump.
In the Electoral College—which actually determines the winner—the results were even more stunning: 306 votes for Biden, compared with 232 for Trump. It takes 270 votes to be declared the victor.
Yet, on December 8, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Missouri United States Senator Roy Blunt joined House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy in blocking a resolution asserting that Joe Biden was the President-elect of the United States.
Mitch McConnell
And for more than a year since the 2020 Presidential election, the vast majority of Republicans have continued to charge that Biden gained office by massive voter fraud—and thus is an illegitimate President.
Yet Biden continues to refer to his sworn enemies as “my Republican friends.”
As Achilles scornfully tells the soon-to-be-doomed Hector in the 2004 movie, “Troy”: “There can be no pacts between wolves and men.”
Joe Biden
Machiavelli’s advice:
From this arises the question whether it is better to be loved than feared, or feared more than loved. The reply is, that one ought to be both feared and loved, but as it is difficult for the two to go together, it is much safer to be feared than loved.
For it may be said of men in general that they are ungrateful, voluble, dissemblers, anxious to avoid danger and covetous of gain; as long as you benefit them, they are entirely yours: they offer you their blood, their goods, their life and their children, when the necessity is remote, but when it approaches, they revolt.
And the prince who has relied solely on their words, without making other preparations, is ruined; for the friendship which is gained by purchase and not through grandeur and nobility of spirit is bought but not secured, and at a pinch is not to be expended in your service.
And men have less scruple in offending one who makes himself loved than one who makes himself feared; for love is held by a chain of obligations which, men being selfish, is broken whenever it serves their purpose; but fear is maintained by a dread of punishment which never fails.
With that in mind, Biden should go directly after McConnell himself.
Option #1: A May 8, 2018 story in The Dallas Morning News spotlights “How Putin’s Oligarchs Funneled Millions into GOP Campaigns.” In 2016, Len Blavatnik gave $1 million to McConnell’s Senate Leadership Fund.
In 2017, Blavatnik gave another $1 million to the fund, and then another $3.5 million to a Political Action Committee associated with McConnell.
A serious investigation by the Justice Department could lead to McConnell’s indictment—for bribery or other campaign finance violations.
Option #2: According to an April 15, 2020 story in Courier: “Here’s How Much McConnell Got From Big Pharma After Nixing a Bill to Lower Drug Prices”:
“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced in September that he would block any consideration of a bill to lower prescription drug costs. By the end of December, he had raked in more than $50,000 in contributions from political action committees and individuals tied to the pharmaceutical industry.”
McConnell could be investigated—and possibly indicted—for bribery.
Even if McConnell escaped prison, such a prosecution would dramatically inform Republicans that a new era of accountability had arrived.
Option #3: As President, Biden could divert Federal projects from McConnell’s Kentucky—and other Republican states.
President Lyndon Johnson successfully employed this tactic to keep Republican—and Democratic—troublemakers in line. Once they saw projects for roads, post offices and other Federal amenities disappearing from their districts, they quickly got the message as to who was in charge.
Option 4: McConnell has blamed Biden for the slowing COVID-19 vaccination rate among Americans.
Biden could attack Republicans for promoting lies about the safety of COVID vaccines—and for opposing mask and vaccine mandates. He could blame the worsening Omicrom epidemic—and its resulting deaths—on anti-vaxxers, thus putting them and their Republican supporters on the defensive.
Above all, Biden should constantly remember: For Republicans, the mathematics of power come down to this: Who/Whom.
Or: Who can do What to Whom?
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on September 16, 2021 at 12:07 am
On June 7, The PBS Newshour examined perhaps the foremost issue of our democracy: The For the People Act.
Since November 3, 2020, when former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 Presidential election, he has spread The Big Lie: That the election was “stolen” from him.
On the basis of that lie, Republicans in 47 states have introduced 361 bills to make it harder to vote.
As of June 21, 2021, 17 states enacted 28 new laws that restrict access to the vote.
Among those states affected: Georgia, Iowa, Arkansas and Utah.
Georgia:
- Bans giving food and water to voters in line;
- Severely restricts mail ballot drop boxes;
- Allows Right-wing groups to challenge the eligibility of an unlimited number of voters; and
- Gives the GOP-controlled legislature sweeping powers over election administration.
Arizona:
- Wants to add new requirements for casting a mail-in ballot and make it harder to receive one.
Florida:
- Intends to ban mail ballot drop boxes.
Michigan:
- Republicans introduced eight bills adding new voter ID requirements for mail voting and forbidding election officials to send out absentee ballot request forms to voters.
Congressional Democrats have countered with the For the People Act. Among its provisions:
- Expand early voting and registration across the country in federal elections;
- Block states from purging their rolls of voters;
- End partisan gerrymandering;
- Force large donors to disclose themselves publicly.
“It is something that is obviously very critical right now,” said PBS Newshour Correspondent Lisa Desjardins. “We see rising in this country both sides talking about democracy and voting rights and what’s happening at this moment.
“[West Virginia United States Senator] Joe Manchin…would be the 50th vote that Democrats would have for this in the Senate. They have 49.
Joe Manchin
“And here’s what he said [on] why he opposed it: ‘I believe that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening binds of our democracy. And for that reason, I will vote against the For the People Act.’
“Notable, he did not have any substantive problems with the bill that he raised. Instead, he said, the issue is there are no Republicans on board. Democrats, of course, have a real problem with that. They say, we think Republicans are going to play games here and block this bill.
“This Manchin decision is a body blow to this legislation. It is not dead yet, but it is in real trouble. It’s unclear if, when [New York Senator] Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader [in the Senate] will bring it back up.”
There has been a great deal of speculation—by Democrats and political correspondents—on Manchin’s motives for opposing this legislation.
Some believe he’s a Right-winger in Democrats’ clothing. Others think he wants to increase his clout on behalf of his state, West Virginia.
Manchin’s motives, however, are not important. Eliminating his opposition is.
And the man who has the power to do this is President Joe Biden.
Joe Biden
All that he needs to do is invite Manchin into the Oval Office for an off-the-record talk, which could open like this:
“Your state has two Coast Guard military bases. By this time next week, it will have only one—because I’m going to close down the other. You can also forget about those highway-repair projects you’re expecting to start. And I’ve been informed we have far too many post offices in West Virginia, considering its small population….”
Suddenly, Manchin will get the clear message: “Biden is the big dog on this block, not me.”
He will also grasp that his constituents will blame him, not Biden, for the resulting chaos and hardships they face from the upcoming closures.
This is precisely how President Lyndon B. Johnson dealt with Congressional members who dared oppose his prized legislation. And it worked.
Joe Biden has spent 44 years in Washington, D.C.—as a United States Senator from Delaware from 1973 to 2009; and then as Vice President from 2009 to 2017.
But he seems to have never read Niccolo Machiavelli’s famous warning in The Prince:
Niccolo Machiavelli
For how we live is so far removed from how we ought to live, that he who abandons what is done for what ought to be done, will rather learn to bring about his own ruin rather than his preservation. A man who wishes to make a profession of goodness in everything must inevitably come to grief among so many who are not good.
And therefore it is necessary for a prince, who wishes to maintain himself, to learn how not to be good, and to use this knowledge and not use it, according to the necessity of the case.
Whatever his motives, Manchin is clearly willing to allow Republicans to suppress the voting rights of millions of non-Fascist Americans.
During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, saying it was better to temporarily suspend some liberties than to lose the Union to a treasonous Confederate victory.
President Joe Biden now faces a similar moment of crisis.
Republicans are working to corrupt the democratic process to reinstall a proven criminal and traitor in the Oval Office. This is no time to “fight” a party of Adolf Hitlers with the appeasement tactics of a Neville Chamberlain.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Politics, Social commentary on August 5, 2021 at 12:10 am
As Republican Senators in Washington, D.C., prepared to block the creation of a bipartisan investigation into the January 6 insurrection, another event was taking place.
In Dalton, Georgia, Representative Matt Gaetz (R – FL) gave an impassioned speech to a crowd. His topic: The Second Amendment.
“It’s not about hunting. It’s not about recreation. It’s not about sports. The Second Amendment is about maintaining within the citizenry the ability to maintain an armed rebellion against the government, if that becomes necessary. I hope it never does.”
In short: It’s about treason.
On the May 28 edition of The PBS Newshour, correspondent Lisa Desjardins explained:
“There, you heard—it’s about maintaining an armed insurrection. He said he doesn’t hope that it comes to pass. But this is different than traditional conservative thought about protecting liberty, individuals’ homes.
“This is an obvious statement about making government itself the enemy. I should note, of course, that Representative Gaetz is under federal investigation, over accusations involving prostitution and corruption that he denies.
“But we wanted to highlight this clip, because we—the crowd’s reaction, and Representative Gaetz pointedly talking about government as the potential enemy.”
Matt Gaetz
Anyone who still doubts that the Right generally and the followers of Donald Trump in particular aren’t bent on establishing a dictatorship need only consider this.
On May 31, QAnon hosted a conference called the For God and Country Patriot Roundup in Dallas. The event was attended by conspiracy theorists and peddlers of Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 Presidential election was “stolen” from him by massive vote fraud.
One of Its keynote speakers was retired Army General Michael T. Flynn. Flynn had been Trump’s first national security advisor—until he was forced to resign for lying about his past meetings with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
In December, 2016, Flynn had talked with Kislyak about removing the sanctions placed on Russia by the outgoing Obama administration. The sanctions had been placed in retaliation for Russia’s efforts to manipulate the 2016 Presidential election.
“I want to know why what happened in Myanmar can’t happen here?” a member of the audience, who identified himself as a Marine, asked Flynn.
“No reason, I mean, it should happen here. No reason. That’s right,” Flynn responded.
From his remarks, it was clear that Flynn supported a similar overthrow of the government of the United States.
Later, when this was made clear to him, Flynn denied it.
In a message posted to a Parler account, Flynn claimed that his words had been twisted: “Let me be VERY CLEAR – There is NO reason whatsoever for any coup in America, and I do not and have not at any time called for any action of that sort.”
But Flynn’s behavior in the closing weeks of the Trump administration confirm that he has advocated the use of military force to install—or maintain—a dictatorship.
After losing the 2020 Presidential election to former Vice President Joseph Biden, Trump was desperate to remain in office. Flynn was present at an Oval Office meeting where he suggested that Trump could invoke martial law to overturn the results.
It wasn’t clear whether Trump endorsed the idea, but others in the room forcefully shot it down.
“Flynn’s remarks border on sedition,” said Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA), a retired Navy commander who vice-chairs the House Armed Services Committee, about Flynn’s comments at the QAnon conference.
“There’s certainly conduct unbecoming an officer. Those are both things that can be tried under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and I think that as a retiree of the military, it should certainly be a path that we consider to have consequences for these types of words.”
Elaine Luria
At the same event in Dallas, Flynn also claimed—falsely: “Trump won. He won the popular vote, and he won the Electoral College vote.”
As a matter of fact, Trump won neither.
Biden won 81,268,924 popular votes to Trump’s 74,216,154. And in the Electoral College, Biden won 306 votes to Trump’s 232.
* * * * *
History teaches us that republics that tolerate treason soon become former republics.
For Republicans, gaining—and retaining—absolute power has become their foremost reason for existence.
It isn’t enough for them to create voter suppression laws to prevent their opponents from voting. They now insist on the right to violently overthrow any Democrat who somehow manages to win the Presidency against them.
Rod Serling’s “Twilight Zone” episode, “Death’s Head Revisited,” reveals how Republicans react when confronted with overwhelming evidence of their evil.
In that episode, a former Nazi concentration camp captain returns to Dachau, to savor the torments he once inflicted on helpless men and women. To his horror, he’s greeted by the ghosts of those victims.
To one of them—Becker—he says: “That was such a long time ago. Let’s forget about all that—unpleasantness—and move on.”
Thus have Republicans reacted when confronted with overwhelming evidence that President Donald J. Trump, having lost the 2020 Presidential election, incited violence against the Government of the United States.
And just as most of the Original Nazis were forced to confront their past “unpleasantness”—and were punished for it—today’s Republicans must face punishment for their own.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Social commentary on June 10, 2021 at 12:15 am
On June 7, The PBS Newshour examined perhaps the foremost issue of our democracy: The For the People Act.
Since November 3, when former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 Presidential election, he has spread The Big Lie: That the election was “stolen” from him.
On the basis of that lie, in the first three months of this year Republicans in 47 states have introduced 361 bills to make it harder to vote.
Five restrictive bills have already been signed into law—in Georgia, Iowa, Arkansas, and Utah.
The Georgia law:
- Bans giving food and water to voters in line;
- Severely restricts mail ballot drop boxes;
- Allows Right-wing groups to challenge the eligibility of an unlimited number of voters; and
- Gives the GOP-controlled legislature sweeping powers over election administration.
Other states include:
- Arizona wants to add new requirements for casting a mail-in ballot and make it harder to receive one.
- Florida intends to ban mail ballot drop boxes.
- Michigan Republicans introduced eight bills adding new voter ID requirements for mail voting and forbidding election officials to send out absentee ballot request forms to voters.
Congressional Democrats have countered with the For the People Act. Among its provisions:
- Expand early voting and registration across the country in federal elections;
- Block states from purging their rolls of voters;
- End partisan gerrymandering;
- Force large donors to disclose themselves publicly.
“It is something that is obviously very critical right now,” said PBS Newshour Correspondent Lisa Lisa Desjardins. “We see rising in this country both sides talking about democracy and voting rights and what’s happening at this moment.
“[West Virginia United States Senator] Joe Manchin…would be the 50th vote that Democrats would have for this in the Senate. They have 49.
Joe Manchin
“And here’s what he said [on] why he opposed it: ‘I believe that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening binds of our democracy. And for that reason, I will vote against the For the People Act.’
“Notable, he did not have any substantive problems with the bill that he raised. Instead, he said, the issue is there are no Republicans on board. Democrats, of course, have a real problem with that. They say, we think Republicans are going to play games here and block this bill.
“This Manchin decision is a body blow to this legislation. It is not dead yet, but it is in real trouble. It’s unclear if, when [New York Senator] Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader [in the Senate] will bring it back up.”
There has been a great deal of speculation—by Democrats and political correspondents—on Manchin’s motives for opposing this legislation.
Some believe he’s a Right-winger in Democrats’ clothing. Others think he wants to increase his clout on behalf of his state, West Virginia.
Manchin’s motives, however, are not important. Eliminating his opposition is.
And the man who has the power to do this is President Joe Biden.
Joe Biden
All that he needs to do is invite Manchin into the Oval Office for an off-the-record talk, which could open like this:
“Your state has two Coast Guard military bases. By this time next week, it will have only one—because I’m going to close down the other. You can also forget about those highway-repair projects you’re expecting to start. And I’ve been informed we have far too many post offices in West Virginia, considering its small population….”
Suddenly, Manchin will get the clear message: “I’m the big dog on this block, not you.”
He will also grasp that his constituents will blame him, not Biden, for the resulting chaos and hardships they face from the upcoming closures.
This is precisely how President Lyndon B. Johnson dealt with Congressional members who dared oppose his prized legislation. And it worked.
Joe Biden has spent 44 years in Washington, D.C.—as a United States Senator from Delaware from 1973 to 2009; and then as Vice President from 2009 to 2017.
But he seems to have never read Niccolo Machiavelli’s famous warning in The Prince:
Niccolo Machiavelli
For how we live is so far removed from how we ought to live, that he who abandons what is done for what ought to be done, will rather learn to bring about his own ruin rather than his preservation. A man who wishes to make a profession of goodness in everything must inevitably come to grief among so many who are not good.
And therefore it is necessary for a prince, who wishes to maintain himself, to learn how not to be good, and to use this knowledge and not use it, according to the necessity of the case.
Whatever his motives, Manchin is clearly willing to allow Republicans to suppress the voting rights of millions of non-Fascist Americans.
During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, saying it was better to temporarily suspend some liberties than to lose the Union to a treasonous Confederate victory.
President Joe Biden now faces a similar moment of crisis.
Republicans are working to corrupt the democratic process to reinstall a proven criminal and traitor in the Oval Office. This is no time to “fight” a party of Adolf Hitlers with the appeasement tactics of a Neville Chamberlain.
Bureaucracybuster's Blog 
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FROM “PROUD BOYS” TO “PRISON BITCHES”: PART TWO (END)
In Bureaucracy, Entertainment, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on September 19, 2023 at 12:21 amOn September 5, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years to federal prison for his role in the January 6, 2021 coup attempt.
But before he was hauled away by deputy U.S. marshals, Tarrio, 39, had his beg-a-thon moment with the judge who sentenced him: “On November 3, 2020, something that I never expected happened—my candidate lost. I felt like something was personally stolen from me.
“Every media channel that I turned to told me I was justified.”
Enrique Tarrio
He claimed that he was “not a political zealot” and denied that changing the outcome of the election was his goal on January 6.
Tarrio wasn’t in Washington on January 6. He had been arrested on January 4 in a separate case. Still, he was convicted for organizing the Proud Boys’ role in the riot and for encouraging the violence that interrupted the counting of Electoral College votes.
Wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and escorted by deputy U.S. marshals, he blamed himself and apologized to the officers who were injured during the riot—of which he was a proud instigator.
“Today I stand before you a different man… I wish to reorient my life’s purpose… I want to rejoin my local church and be an active part of helping others. I hope your honor can hear the sincerity. Please show me mercy. Do not take my 40s from me. God bless this entire court.”
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly wasn’t buying it:
“That day broke our previously unbroken tradition of the peaceful transfer of power, which is truly among the most precious things that we had as Americans. That previously unbroken string is now broken. And it’s going to take time and effort to fix it.”
Capitol Police facing off with Stormtrumpers
Kelly was especially disturbed by Tarrio’s comparing the January 6 traitors to the country’s Founding Fathers:
“You apologized here today, but I must say, comparing what Dominic Pezzola [another Proud Boys member who attacked the Capitol Building] did to George Washington—the man who helped encourage the notion of a peaceful, orderly transfer of power—by relinquishing power to let someone else be chosen. It slanders the father of our country.”
Just as Zachary Rehl’s lawyer had found excuses for his client’s treasonous behavior, so, too, did Tarrio’s legal team find excuses for his.
According to them, Tarrio was simply a “misguided patriot” instead of a terrorist, and was simply being a “Keyboard Ninja, saying things he shouldn’t have.”
Tarrio’s pleadings for leniency didn’t stop with himself. He also enlisted the aid of his aunt, godmother, mother, fiancée and younger sister.
His aunt and godmother sent in letters pleading for leniency which were read by defense attorney Nayib Hassan.
“Henry [Tarrio’s birth name] is not a monster like he’s made out to be,” one letter read.
Stormtrumpers inside the Capitol Building
Tarrio’s mother, fiancée, and his younger sister also spoke of Tarrio’s character as they asked for leniency, saying his incarceration has greatly affected his family.
“This mother stands before you today begging you for leniency for Henry,” his mother told Judge Kelly. “We need him home as soon as we can. The Henry that came into the system is not the Henry that’s here today.”
The younger sister cried as she spoke: “He is the glue that keeps us together. The idea of him not being around for all the milestones is hard to bear.”
Apparently, it didn’t occur to Tarrio—when planning the January 6 coup attempt—that there might be consequences for his treason.
Tarrio’s fiancée said the couple wanted to start a family together and asked the judge to consider the “direct effect” a long prison sentence could have on those ambitions: “Henry is a flawed man, as are we all, but he is not blind to it.”
In getting a prison sentence of 22 years, Tarrio proved lucky: The Justice Department had asked for a sentence of 33 years.
Tarrio’s sentencing is the last in a series of historic seditious conspiracy cases brought by the Justice Department after the Capitol Building was attacked.
* * * * *
History teaches us that republics that tolerate treason soon become former republics.
For Republicans, gaining—and retaining—absolute power has become their foremost reason for existence.
It isn’t enough for them to create voter suppression laws to prevent their opponents from voting. They now insist on the right to violently overthrow any Democrat who somehow manages to win the Presidency against them.
Rod Serling’s “Twilight Zone” episode, “Death’s Head Revisited,” reveals how Republicans react when confronted with overwhelming evidence of their evil.
In that episode, a former Nazi SS camp captain returns to the Dachau concentration camp to savor the torments he once inflicted on helpless men and women. To his horror, he’s greeted by the ghosts of those victims.
To one of them—Becker—he says: “That was such a long time ago. Let’s forget about all that—unpleasantness—and move on.”
Thus have Republicans reacted when confronted with overwhelming evidence that President Donald J. Trump, having lost the 2020 Presidential election, incited violence against the Government of the United States.
And just as most of the Original Nazis were forced to confront their past “unpleasantness”-–and were punished for it—today’s Republicans must face punishment for their own.
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