Early this morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home was broken into and her 82-year-old husband was brutally beaten. Speaker Pelosi was in Washington at the time. This past summer, Senator Susan Collins of Maine had windows broken out in her home. Many members of Congress have received hate mail and death threats recently. As I read aloud the story about the attack on Paul Pelosi with my voice cracking and tears threatening to make a trail down my cheeks, I turned to my daughter and said, “This is NOT who we are!!!” And then, after a pause, I thought, but maybe it is now. Maybe the racism and greed and bigotry that have become such a part of this nation since its inception is turning us into monsters.
Senator Collins recently stated that “I wouldn’t be surprised if a senator or House member were killed. What started with abusive phone calls is now translating into active threats of violence and real violence.” Consider these instances …
- In Seattle, a man who had sent an angry email to Representative Pramila Jayapal repeatedly showed up outside the lawmaker’s house, armed with a semiautomatic handgun and shouting threats and profanities.
- In Queens, a man who had traveled across the country waited in a cafe across the street from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s office to confront her, part of a near-constant stream of threats and harassment that has prompted the congresswoman to switch her sleeping location at times and seek protection from a 24-hour security detail.
- In the months since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, which brought lawmakers and the vice president within feet of rioters threatening their lives, Republicans and Democrats have faced stalking, armed visits to their homes, vandalism and assaults.
The man who attacked Paul Pelosi had an online presence that should have thrown up red flags if anybody had been paying attention. He had posted memes and conspiracy theories on Facebook about Covid vaccines, the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
And now, just hours after the attack, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin apparently thought he was being funny when he said at a rally, “Listen, I want to stop for a minute and — listen, Speaker Pelosi’s husband — they had a break in last night in their house and he was assaulted. There’s no room for violence anywhere, but we’re gonna send her back to be with him in California. That’s what we’re gonna go do. That’s what we’re gonna go do.”
It is said that the attacker entered the home screaming, “Where’s Nancy?”, and yet one Fox host claims that perhaps it was a random break-in, not necessarily intended for Speaker Pelosi.
The attacker, who I shall not name, is being charged with attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary and “several other additional felonies,” according to Police Chief William Scott.
A number of lawmakers have said they are ‘horrified’ by the attack on Mr. Pelosi, and outgoing Senator Ben Sasse said, “every single American needs to be lowering the temperature. This is increasingly obvious: Disturbed individuals easily succumb to conspiracy theories and rage — the consequences are bloody and un-American.” While I fully agree with Senator Sasse, I also hold certain members of Congress, as well as a former president and his followers, for inciting the violence that is tearing this nation apart and threatening lives of innocent people.
JUST STOP IT – EVERYONE!!! JUST STOP IT!!! BE BETTER THAN THIS!
Note to Readers: “Paul Pelosi underwent surgery at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital after sustaining a skull fracture and serious injuries to his hands and right arm. The surgery was successful, and he is expected to make a full recovery, said Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Speaker Nancy Pelosi.”
Trump feared that if the Hoover Building were torn down, another hotel might be built in that spot, taking business away from his own hotel. Yes, folks, a government decision for an agency that protects this nation was made based on a personal profit motive by the person sitting in the Oval Office. What a surprise, eh? I suspect there’s even more to it, such as out-of-town visitors to the FBI might stay in Trump’s hotel because it’s close and convenient, and who knows what other monies the hotel gets as a result of being across the street from the FBI.
I suspect it is to the point that no reputable lawyer wants to be any part of Trump’s legal team for fear it would cast a long shadow on their reputation. The lawyers had initially planned to center their strategy on the question of whether the proceedings were constitutional and on the definition of incitement, but Trump was having none of that. Remember, he has always falsely believed that he was far more intelligent than anybody else, so this should come as no surprise.
The Trump children, like their father, are not known for being the brightest bulbs in the pack, but Eric Trump is apparently lacking even basic brain function. Eric, in the early hours of November 3rd, before the polls were even open, made a wager … we’re not sure how much … that his father would score 320 electoral votes!
Great country that we are, there are still shameful moments in our history. Among them: 1857, the Dred Scott case, when the Supreme Court upheld the institution of slavery; 1942, FDR’s Executive Order, which forced the relocation and incarceration of Japanese-Americans; 1950-54, the failure of President Eisenhower and other leading Republicans to repudiate the ugly red-baiting by Sen. Joseph McCarthy. And the list goes on.
My last snarky snippets post failed the snark test … not quite snarky enough. So, you’ll be happy to hear that tonight I am loaded with snark … it is oozing from my pores! Mondays are rather always like that, though … Trump & Co kick back into high gear after the weekend and give Filosofa much fodder for the gristmill. So, sit back and be prepared for … S-N-A-R-K (all caps!).
Ms. Collins is trailing behind her Democratic opponent, Sara Gideon, in the polls by 2.5%. It’s hard to say whether this will give her a boost or bring her even lower, but it is well past time for Susan Collins to retire. She has been in the Senate since 1997, twenty-three years, and while she has done some good things, of late she seems to be more of a Trump bootlicker than not. She was, of course, one of the Republican senators who voted not to convict Trump on the impeachment charges, thereby handing him the keys to the castle, giving him carte blanche to do such things as purge all oversight via the Inspectors General.
This, my friends, are what you and I are paying millions of dollars to protect. WHY???
First, he is the 17th most conservative republican in Congress, leaving no room for negotiation, no compromise whatsoever. Second, he is in the pockets of the NRA, and in February 2018, after the Parkland school shooting, he made a virtual ass of himself when he was questioned by a survivor of the shooting about the more than $3 million he had received in donations from the NRA. Rubio replied, “I will always accept the help of anyone who agrees with my agenda.”
In nearly every poll, McSally trails behind her democratic opponent, former astronaut Mark Kelly by a margin of between 5 and 12 points. Mark Kelly is very popular, and I personally don’t foresee McSally being able to pull a rabbit out of her hat. McSally is a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel, but she uses that almost as a weapon sometimes, a bit too much to suit most people. She lost the 2018 election to democrat Kyrsten Sinema but gained her senate seat later that year after the death of John McCain. I do think this is one the democrats can flip with relative ease.
Turning our sights now to Colorado where Senator Cory Gardner has become so unpopular that his approval rating is a mere 37%. His democratic opponent is almost certain to be former Colorado governor and former presidential candidate, John Hickenlooper. There are few Colorado polls out at this time, but the most reliable one puts Hickenlooper 12 points ahead of Gardner. Another I think can be won by democrats, for even Trump has lost a good bit of his popularity in the state.
By all rights, Susan Collins should be a pariah, an outcast in her home state of Maine. Her democratic opponent, Maine state House Speaker Sara Gideon, is in fact leading in the polls, but by a small margin. Ms. Collins has been in the Senate since 1997 and like some of her fellow senators, namely Mitch McConnell, is the perfect example of the need for term limits. She lost some of her popularity when she referred to then-nominee for the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, as “an exemplary public servant, judge, teacher, coach, husband, and father”, despite credible accusations of sexual misconduct. She then added: “I will vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh.” Then she plunged a bit further during the impeachment trial when, after having said a few months prior that Trump had made “a big mistake” in asking foreign countries for political favours, she turned around and voted not to convict Trump. She claimed she believed that Trump “has learned from this case”. Within days, it became obvious that he hadn’t, and Ms. Collins became the butt of many jokes. Currently, she is polling between 2.5 and 4 points behind Ms. Gideon and given that there are still some 200 days until the election, it is likely that she will say something else that proves her unfitness for her senate seat. We can hope, at any rate.
In North Carolina, the race between republican incumbent Thom Tillis and democrat Cal Cunningham is considered to be a toss-up at this point. Only two polls have rung in, one putting Tillis ahead with a two-point lead, the other in favour of Cunningham by 5 points. One thing that may help Cunningham is that North Carolina’s approval rating for Trump is only in the 43% range, and this may be where the down-ballot comes into play. I’m less certain of this one than I am Arizona, Colorado and Maine, but it is definitely one where anything could happen. Remember, there are 6+ months left …
Senator Jones earned his seat in a special election in 2017 to fill Jeff Sessions’ seat after Sessions became the Attorney General. At that time, Jones ran against the scandal-ridden infamous Roy Moore, racist extraordinaire. While at this time, there are three contenders for the republican nominee, and the primary has been postponed until July, most surveys are showing that any of the three, one being Jeff Sessions himself, could easily beat Jones. I think, realistically, this is one that the democrats will lose, giving them a net 3 new seats, and tying the Senate 50-50.
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