Rightwing extremists who continue to support the insurrectionists arrested in the aftermath of the attack on the US government at the Capitol on January 6th are organizing a “rally” at the Capitol for tomorrow to protest the arrests, charges, and detention of hundreds of criminals who destroyed property, assaulted police, and attempted to stop the Congress from certifying the Electoral College vote.  To publicize their rally, they’re spreading the hashtag #JusticeforJ6 all over social media.  Ironically, supporters of insurrectionists are calling these criminals “political prisoners”.  Worse, The Former Guy took a break from golf and commentating at cheesy boxing matches to publicly support the insurrectionists and the rally.  Yesterday, still banned from social media, he issued a statement saying:

“Our hearts and minds are with the people being persecuted so unfairly relating to the January 6th protest concerning the Rigged Presidential Election.  In addition to everything else, it has proven conclusively that we are a two-tiered system of justice. In the end, however, JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL!”

So, the guy who incited the riot and attack on the US Capitol is STILL fomenting violence against the US, the country he’s trying to take over again for his own benefit.  The Great Unwashed Brainwashed white supremacists are beyond redemption, believing they are in the right and following a dangerous ideology where they actually the “patriots” when they are actually the problem.  The fact that the police and national guard are being called on to reinstall the perimeter fence around the Capitol with HD cameras and 24 hour patrols should tell normal people everything they need to know about the danger of disinformation and hate.

Trumpists are using #JusticeforJ6 for publicity. I say that’s fine as long as you add #JusticeforJ65to20 to represent the prison sentences they should receive. I’ve got another idea, also; in June, Facebook banned Trump for 2 years with reinstatement conditioned on him changing his behavior.  They should modify the ban by extending it for 2 years from the date of his latest self-serving, anti-government rant.  That should do it.

#JusticeforJ65t020

I burst out laughing at this one, and thought you might enjoy it, too.  Bryan Betancur, a self professed white supremacist and member of the Proud Boys, was arrested by the FBI for his role in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6th.   That’s not news, since a lot of white supremacists have been arrested for their role in the attack where 5 people died and scores injured.  The news is how Betancur was tracked down…he was wearing an ankle monitor stemming from a conviction for burglary.  That’s right folks, this genius participated in insurrection against the federal government while on probation for a felony conviction.  Sheesh.

It gets even better – he’s from Silver Spring Maryland and lied to his probation officer that he was going to DC to…wait for it…pass out Gideon Bibles.  He’s been tracked to the Trump rally at the Ellipse just south of the White House to the Capitol with the rest of the criminals.  He’s now in FBI custody for not only his role in the attack, but also for violating his probation by lying to his probation officer and his continued participation in several white supremacist organizations.

White supremacists, like gun-nuts, are generally not known for their intelligence, but this guy takes the cake.  If stupidity was a violin, this guy would be the Stradivarius of stupidity.

Today was the second time that the US Capitol was assaulted in US history.  The last time was 1812.  Trump, along with his enablers, including Giuliani, Flynn, Gohmert, Hawley, and especially Cruz are DIRECTLY responsible for the violence today.  All of the major social media platforms froze Trump’s accounts today for “repeated and severe violations” of their Civic Integrity policies.  This action, which is way too little, way too late is at least something, but it is NOT enough.  The time is now long past for removal of Trump from office with the 25th Amendment.

There are 14 days now until the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.  We simply can’t trust Trump to preserve our republic for those 14 days, and it’s now time for Pence to lead the cabinet in a vote to immediately remove him from office before he does something REALLY stupid like starting a war or inciting more insurrection.  Do it now.  I mean NOW.

Then, the federal government should pursue, and arrest and charge, every single individual who trespassed into OUR Capitol building and defiled both chambers or our legislative branch.  This nonsense has to stop, and I mean NOW.

I remember, back in the Old Timey Days (2016) when Dems were latté sipping, limp-wristed pantywaists who couldn’t be trusted with national security.  Now they’re an angry mob wanting to destroy America.  Two weeks ago, Americans, lead by victims of sexual assault stood up and said no to Republicans’ attempt to put a clearly unqualified nominees on the Supreme Court.  They were shocked when that pissed off millions of people.  Their response?  Vote for that nominee anyway, then get all sniffy about being called out for it.

So, to be clear: Republicans say that they should be able to bend or break any rule, ram through votes without investigations or protections for the minority, and should be able to pass any law to suppress those not in power.  Period.  They do that because the Dems are feckless sissies deserving of derision.  However, if said sissies dare stand up and say “Wait a Minute,” or try to stop the Repubs, they are then magically transformed into an “angry mob”.

For the record, here’s what the Kavanaugh protests looked like:

And here’s what an actual angry mob looks like:

Hey, GOP, y’all need to make up your minds.  Oh, and go buy a mirror, hang it on the wall, and look into it.  There you will see your angry mob.

Papa John’s CEO, John Schnatter, is a serious jerk and has never hesitated to show it.  The problem is that when you own a major consumer products company and you take strong political stands, you’re going to piss off at least half of your customers.  Schnatter has now learned that lesson, stepping down after touching off a firestorm by ranting about NFL players protesting police brutality during the national anthem at the beginning of football games.  In 2009 and 2010 he took strong positions against Obamacare, saying he was going to cut employees salaries and raise prices in response to being required to provide health insurance to his employees.  He’s made no bones about how much he hates President Obama and any Democrat.

Welp, Democrats eat pizza, and inexplicably, they had been eating Papa John’s pizza, which is some of the worst on the market. They stopped. After Papa John’s sales started sliding over the political firestorm, other pizza companies, more inclusive of political views, started piling on Schnatter.  White supremacists came to Schnatter’s defense, naming Papa John’s the “pizza of the alt-right”, help that the company clearly didn’t need or want.  The board got enough of it and cut him loose as chief executive.  He still owns 25% of the stock, but I suspect that percentage is going to go down in short order.

Literally.  LOL.

As a guy, I probably shouldn’t be wading into this subject, but, hey…I’ve got an opinion on it, so here goes.

Today, in yet another HUGE step backwards, Trump announced he’s rolling back a key rule of the Affordable Care Act requiring employers to cover contraception costs for their female employees.  The new rule gives employers the “option” to not provide coverage, but doesn’t actually repeal the rule, which the administration knows would be hugely unpopular.  The anti-choice knuckledraggers are rejoicing the move, even though unintended pregnancies and abortion have dropped after the ACA to their lowest levels since abortion became legal in 1973.  This move is stupid, like most other decisions Trump has made, will drive costs up for women’s healthcare by hundreds of millions of dollars per yer, AND will cause unintended pregnancies to once again start climbing.

So what’s going on here?  Why, in the 21st century, would anyone want to force women to bear children by making contraception harder to get, and abortion services almost impossible to receive.  I understand (even though I don’t agree with) the long standing teachings of the Catholic Church, even though actually being a non-practicing Catholic, I know for a fact that clergy all over the world looks the other way when it comes to the whole no contraception thing.  But why would others so vehemently oppose one of the most empowering methods for women to control their own bodies?

Well, I finally learned the reason just recently, and I can’t believe it took this long for me.  The reason that conservatives hate birth control?  Race.  If you keep birth control services away from well-off white women they’ll start making babies as fast as those poor, dark skinned women.  Yep, as shocking as that sounds, this is a theory born of white supremacists that has now permeated conservative politics to the point that normal people have been brainwashed to believe that women controlling ANY aspect of their own bodily functions especially when they make babies should not be allowed.

Hear me out – Just recently, the New York Times published the story of a young Swedish student who went undercover and penetrated several white supremacist organizations in Europe and the US, even videoing conversations with their leaders.  The one thing that becomes clear in these videos is that these people are weird and scary.  I’m mean REALLY weird and scary.  They dress in goofy khaki shirts and shorts with ties like the Hitler youth used to wear, but spout the same dark ideology as their hero, Hitler.  And they talk continuously of mainstreaming their ideas of separating all the races from one another so each race lives in its own “ethno society”.  One of these weirdos is an American recluse named Greg Johnson who runs Counter Currents Publishing,  that spreads racist hate and drivel.  In a particular video shot undercover, he described how he would organize these societies.  He says the first thing he would do is ban all “voluntary birth control”.  Explaining further, he says,

“Voluntary birth control means that people who are far sighted and responsible restrict their fertility, and people who are impulsive and stupid don’t.  That’s dysgenic on the face of it, so you can’t leave birth control up to the individual.”

He went on to talk about giving women a free year of education for each child they bear, and advocates for sterilization of those convicted of serious crimes.  It goes on and on.  The video is embedded in the NYT article I linked to, and I highly recommend you listen the entire thing even though it, and indeed the entire article, is chilling.  This warped thinking has now actually been mainstreamed far enough to be picked up by conservatives in the US, and it comes straight from ethno fascist ideology that we thought had been stamped out when we destroyed the Nazis in 1945.  But it’s back, and it’s back with a vengeance, aided today by evil toads like Steve Bannon, and useful idiots like Donald Trump.

Learning this little factoid helped me understand what was until recently one of those weird beliefs of conservatives that I never could get.  I have to tell you, this is about as scary as it gets to this old guy.