I actually had three things to rant about today, but I ran out of time and space, so I shall have to save the third for another day …

Lies, Denials, and False Equivalencies

The Republicans who are falsely claiming that the attack on Congress and the Capitol on January 6^th was little more than a bunch of tourists are doing this entire nation a disservice.  They are treating us as if we are too damn stupid to have seen and remembered what was right before our eyes.  On a normal tourist day, are five people killed?  On a normal tourist day, are 140 police officers injured?  On a normal tourist day, do the tourists crap on the floors of the Capitol building?  No, no, and no.  We are not that stupid, Mr. Clyde, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Gosar and the rest of you who are trying to pull the wool over our eyes!  Normal tourists do not break down doors with a battering ram to enter the building, nor do they break out windows or climb to the 2^nd story from the outside like deranged Spidermen.  They do not carry guns into the Capitol.  They do not cause some $30 million worth of damage to property that does not belong to them, but rather belongs to We the People … We the People whose hard-earned tax dollars will have to pay to repair the damage.

It is my sincere hope that every single person who entered the Capitol uninvited on that day spend time in prison.  The most serious offenders should spend at least the next 20 years in a cell, giving them ample time to consider their perfidy.  Some claim that those who were just “swept up in the heat of the moment” should not be punished.  I disagree.  If they entered the Capitol, they broke the law.  If they were there, saw the violence, and stayed … they are not law-abiding citizens, not good people, and they must be punished, though granted at a lower level than those who destroyed, maimed, and killed.

Congress is in the process of establishing a ‘bipartisan’ commission to investigate the events of January 6^th and those events that played a role leading up to the day.  A few Republicans are on board with this commission, however, they want to expand the scope of the investigation to include last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests.  WHAT THE SAM HELL does the one have to do with the other?  Nothing, that’s what.  Black Lives Matter has become a scape goat for the Republican Party, a “whaddabout” issue for them to rebut any and all of their own wrongdoings.  If the Republicans in Congress wish to investigate Black Lives Matter protests, they certainly have the right to do so, but under a separate commission from the one that is established to investigate the murderous, treasonous events of January 6^th.

Integrity???  HA HA HA … Don’t Make Me Laugh!

Isn’t it strange to hear Republicans speak of election ‘integrity’, when the very word ‘integrity’ has been erased from their vocabulary?  Honesty and integrity are a thing of the past that Republicans no longer adhere to, yet they claim to be the ones who are so concerned over the fairness and integrity of elections.  Their answer, of course, is to disenfranchise as many of the people who would vote against them as possible, such as Blacks, Hispanics, the poor, working single parents, the elderly, college students, and the disabled.  Get those people off the voter rolls and what’s left?  White dudes.

Trouble with that is that this is NOT a nation of only white dudes.  This is a salad bowl of many cultures and ethnicities, all of whom live and work here, all of whom pay taxes!  We have a right to a voice, too!  There was NO measurable voter fraud in the 2020 election … this has been proven in court cases, re-counts and audits too numerous to count.

Recently a few corporations have spoken out against the voter suppression bills being proposed or passed in nearly every single state, but … a funny thing happened on the way to the forum … they aren’t exactly backing up their words with their actions.  According to an article in Popular Information, a newsletter put out by Judd Legum …

Several large corporations that have recently issued public statements supporting voting rights — including Google, Deloitte, and Citigroup — are also funding and collaborating with a top Republican group advocating for new voter suppression laws. Internal documents obtained by Popular Information and Documented reveal the corporations participated in a “policy working group” on “election integrity” with the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC), a party organization that is actively supporting new voter suppression bills. Participation in the roundtable required a minimum annual contribution of $15,000 to the RSLC.

For example, on March 31, Google’s SVP for Global Affairs, Kent Walker tweeted that the company is “concerned about efforts to restrict voting at a local level” and “strongly support[s] the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.”

A week later, Google’s State Policy Manager, Joe Dooley, was listed as a participant in a private RSLC policy working group led by the organization’s “Election Integrity Committee.” The April 6 presentation, obtained by Popular Information and Documented, details an array of proposals to suppress voting, including purging of voting lists, more stringent voter ID requirements, and targeting of voting centers. The RSLC also opposes any federal action to protect voting rights. The meeting was run by Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill (R), who has embraced Trump’s lies and conspiracies about election fraud. 

Can we say, “talking out of both sides of their collective mouths”?  More and more it seems that we are going to come to blows over this issue, for the people in this country are NOT going to simply sit back and say, “Oh, okay … we’ll give up our rights to vote and let the white dudes decide everything for us while we keep paying them.”  Well … some probably would, but NOT ME!