YO! Republicans!!! Listen Up …

House Republicans … what a noble bunch of people, eh?  Sexual predators, sex traffickers, liars, conmen, gropers, cheats … the only crime missing among this bunch is mass murder, and frankly I wouldn’t be surprised to find out someday that one of them has done that, too!  The latest is almost comical and involves none other than the ‘man of a thousand lies’, George Santos.  Yesterday, federal prosecutors added ten new charges to the indictment against Santos, including conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, access device fraud, false statements to the Federal Election Commission and falsifying records to obstruct the commission.

Yo, Republicans!!!  Where do you find all these people?  Is there, like, a sludge pond where you can go to dredge out the bottom dwellers when you need new blood?

All the charges against Santos are serious and prove the point that he is highly UNqualified to sit in the U.S. Congress, but instead should be sitting in a prison cell somewhere, and nothing much surprises me when it comes to his crimes and lies, but one charge did cause my jaw to drop.  Turns out that Santos used donors’ credit cards repeatedly and without the donors’ knowledge or consent, putting the money into his own personal accounts and spending it on ‘designer goods’ and to settle personal debt.

He, of course, denies the allegations, claims he will not accept a plea deal, and doubles down on his intention to run for re-election next year.  Good luck with that, Georgie … the people in your district in New York have had enough of your stench.

And then there’s Nancy Mace, representative from South Carolina who apparently thought she wasn’t getting enough attention, so she donned a shirt with a big red ‘A’ on it, such as the one Hester Prynne was forced to wear for adultery in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.  Mace claims she is being “demonized” (so why isn’t she wearing a red ‘D’ for ‘demonized’ … or is she admitting to being an adulterer, too???) for her vote to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week.  Ho hum … {yawn} … don’t you people have anything interesting to say?  Mace’s little stunt is just that … something to gain attention, to put her front and center in the news.  I guess self-promotion is about all they have left, since none of them are doing their jobs, eh?

And speaking of which … when the Continuing Resolution passed and diverted a government shut-down on September 30th, it gave Congress 45 days to draft, debate, and ultimately come to an agreement on the twelve appropriation bills necessary to keep the federal government up and functioning.  One would expect every member of Congress to be working diligently, giving up days off and even sleep, when necessary, to work toward that agreement, right?  We the People have a RIGHT to expect our lawmakers to be working!  But nooooooooooooooo … instead they immediately ousted their leader and since then have been in a pissing match, wasting time, and even today it is unlikely they will have unified behind either Jim (Gym) Jordan or Steve Scalise for Speaker.  Until they elect a new Speaker in the House of Representatives, NOTHING can be accomplished toward passing legislation.  NOTHING.

The clock is ticking, my friends.  We have 37 days left before the government shuts down … just a few days before the Thanksgiving holiday.  The Republicans in Congress are playing games with our time, our money, our lives.  They are far more concerned with keeping their names and faces in the media, campaigning for next year instead of doing the business of this year.  I sincerely hope that NONE of them survive their next re-election bid, for they have committed crimes against this nation, against We the People, and they must be held accountable.

The Scarlet “I”

The year is 2017.  Remember this, as it is important.

Maddi Runkles is a senior this year at a small school in western Maryland.  She has maintained a 4.0 grade point average, played on the soccer team, and was the president of the student council.  She has never been a disciplinary problem.  But Maddi will not be allowed to graduate with her class this month.  Why?  Because, according to school principal David R. Hobbs, Maddi was ‘immoral’.  Maddi, you see, is pregnant.

hester-prynneMaddi attends Heritage Academy in Hagerstown, Maryland, a small Christian school.  When Maddi told the school of her pregnancy in February, they immediately stripped her of her position as student council president and suspended her.  Her father was a member of the Heritage board until his disgust with the treatment of his daughter led to his resignation. He appealed the suspension and Maddi was allowed to return to classes, but not to graduate with her class.  Because she was immoral.  Shades of Hester Prynne …

chillingworthIn a May 22 “Statement from Principal Hobbs” posted on the front page of Heritage Academy’s website, David Hobbs wrote “Let me clarify some facts. Maddi is being disciplined, not because she’s pregnant, but because she was immoral. … A wise man told me that discipline is not the absence of love, but the application of love. We love Maddi Runkles. The best way to love her right now is to hold her accountable for her immorality that began this situation.” Shades of Roger Chillingworth …

According to a statement by Maddi, “We sign a student code at the beginning of each school year that we’ll refrain from drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and pre-marital sex, stuff like that. And other kids at my school have been caught drunk, defacing public property, and other things like that, but they’ve never suffered a punishment as severe as mine…. I decided I wanted to confess what I did and ask for forgiveness from my school, but the other kids who had broken other rules – even when they were caught – they still lied about what they had done. It just seems unfair. I tried to make it right, but was still shot down.”

Maddi-famMaddi says she considered abortion at one point, but her moral opposition to abortion led to her decision to keep the baby. For the past year and a half, the right-wing, evangelical Christians have been protesting loudly against abortion, decrying a worship of the ‘right to life’.  And yet, this so-called ‘Christian’ school condemns this young woman who is guilty of no crime.  She engaged in sex at least once.  Frankly, Roger Chillingworth … er, excuse me, David Hobbs … she did nothing that 95% of your student body over the age of 15 has not done.  And let me ask you, Mr. Hobbs … what if a male student engages in sex … will you ridicule and punish him?

Is it 2017?  Or is it 1642, the year in which Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an affair, is imprisoned and forced to wear a scarlet “A” on her clothing to remind the world that she is an adulteress?

Maddi Runkles has worked hard … you do not achieve a perfect 4.0 by slacking.  In all my years of college, I never went above a 3.82. We are no longer such a backward society that we believe sex should take place only after marriage vows have been spoken.  The far-right Christian evangelicals cannot have their cake and eat it too.  They cannot abandon Roe v Wade, de-fund Planned Parenthood, claim that abortion is a crime, but then fail to support the young women who get pregnant without being married.  The evangelical Christians who voted for Trump on the single issue of abortion should be incensed by young Maddi’s story, should be storming the Heritage Academy with angry protests against the shoddy treatment she has received.  But the masses are silent.  Just as Hester Prynne wore the scarlet A, so will Maddi Runkles wear the scarlet I for immoral, and the world will remain silent.

scarlet letter