hypocrisy in the land of the free

 Let's talk for a few moments about hypocrites and hypocrisy.  Not so much about the dictionary definition, but simply about those who say one thing, but then act in a completely different manner, thereby saying they really did not mean what they said in the first place.

The idea of hypocrisy is nothing new.  In the past twenty-four hours, however, it has been crystalized with the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  The man for whom the hypocrisy trophy has been named for and long since retired, Mitch McConnell, told us in 2016 that when an opening occurs in the Supreme Court in an election year, the American people deserve their say in who gets appointed.  In that case, Justice Scalia died nine months before election day.  Supposedly, that was insufficient time to allow for a proper nomination to be considered and voted upon in the Senate.  Now, with forty-five days until election day, there is not only sufficient time to vote in a replacement, but it is somehow the duty of the Senate to do so.

The difference?

McConnell now says that in 2016, the American people deserved the chance to have their say because the sitting president was from the opposite party of the senate majority, and that is not the case now.  Putting aside the fact that McConnell never said anything of the sort in 2016, it is worth remembering that when President Obama was sworn in, McConnell outright said his job until Obama was out of office was to ensure that nothing Obama tried to do would pass the Senate.

Nothing.

Zero.

This coming from the man who spent eight years openly and admittedly doing everything he could possibly think of against the sitting president of the United States, the first African American to hold the office to bring him down short of calling him "Boy".

And now, it is okay to hold hearings and confirm a Supreme Court Justice when the opening occurs forty-five days short of election day.  I would have said ok to this if not for the fact that four years ago if we were lectured by this guy about how nine months was to soon before the election.

Hypocrite,

In what could be even worse.  Joni Ernst, she of demon sheep fame, put out a text last night, just minutes after Justice Ginsburg's passing was announced, using her death as a fund raising tool to rally the troops to ensure that a justice would be put on the court who would reverse Roe v. Wade.  Perhaps e even worse was Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, who is running for the Senate, who sent out his condolences, not to Justice Ginsburg and her family, but to the millions of "innocent babies" allegedly murdered with the complicity of Justice Ginsburg during her term on the Court.  As of this writing, he has not apologized, taken down the post, or otherwise sent out any condolence over the death of Justice Ginsburg.  At least Sen. Ernst has tweeted out an appropriate tribute.

This is the sanctity of life crowd.

The All Lives Matter crowd.

The all lives are sacred gifts from God crowd.

The same crowd that believes that a single abortion, even to save the life of the mother, is murder.

And they are also the same crowd that has said nothing to date about the story coming out that doctors at an I.C.E. facility in Georgia have been performing nonconsensual hysterectomies upon detainees seeking asylum here before sending them back to the countries they have been fleeing from.

Not a word.

Not from Doug Collins.  It is apparently murder to abort any child, but nothing at all to perform nonconsensual and medically unnecessary hysterectomies upon women seeking asylum in the United States.  

You wouldn't think that the fact that these women do not vote or that they do not speak English has anything to do with his and his crowd's silence has anything to do with this, do you?  Apparently, all lives are sacred except for the ones you do not care about.

Hypocrites.

Yes, all lives matter.

Unless you are black and demanding rights all whites get without a second thought.

Unless you are protesting police killing black people.  After all, how great is it that some white teenage kid can carry an AR-15 across state lines all by himself, into a state where his mere possession of it is illegal, and then shoot and kill protesters on the street.  And how great is it that a bunch of openly armed white guys in MAGA hats can storm the state capitol in Michigan, openly threatening legislators and forcing the cancellation of session, the very definition of sedition, while unarmed black protestors are thugs, murderers and terrorists.  It is noted that William Barr believes the black protestors are guilty of sedition for peacefully exercising their first amendment rights, while those white guys with AR-15s are heroes.  It is noted that in Washington, unarmed protestors were tear gassed to allow cadet bone spurs to pose with a Bible before a church he does not attend, while yesterday, the police in Michigan simply asked the armed white guys to step back a few feet.

Hypocrites.  The entire lot of them.

This is what we are facing.  A crowd of mostly white guys, who will say and do just about anything to hold onto their power and to suppress any contrary belief.  It has yet to reach the point where they will have their minions out on the street actually shooting us en masse, as opposed to one or two at a time, but it looks like it is getting there.  There have been a number of those far right types who have outright said they will be out on the streets killing us if they do not get the result they want on election day.  And from those All Lives Matter folks?

Nothing.

No statements pleading for sanity and peace.

Nothing.

So...

VOTE. VOTE. VOTE.

Send the hypocrites home.

Fight on.

Thank you Mr. President

One of the lasting moments from the Watergate investigation was when Howard Baker asked "What did the President know, and when did he know it?"  Howard Baker was a republican senator from Tennessee.

We now know what cadet bone spurs knew about the nature of the virus and when he knew it.  We also know that he deliberately downplayed the virus for months, allegedly to avoid a panic.

Ok.  He did not want a panic over the virus.

Apparently, he did not want a panic over the lack of testing, the lack of PPP, the lack of a coordinated, let alone a coherent plan of dealing with the virus, creating a vaccine and respect for science and the scientific process either.

So right now: 

1.  I am not panicking over the fact that we are closing in on two hundred thousand dead people and counting, perhaps because I am not one of them, most of them are old or disadvantaged minorities, of whom I am not one.

2.  I am not panicking over the fact that during this summer, when violence is allegedly increasing exponentially on his watch, fanned by his exhorting his supporters to defend their second amendment rights as a way of dealing with the virus, perhaps because I have not been shot -- although there was what appears to be an unrelated shooting that occurred a couple of blocks away about a month ago.

3.  I am not panicking over the fact that I have not worked since March and have no clue present clue if I will ever work again, perhaps because I have been much more fortunate than most and have investments to fall back on -- not to mention state unemployment benefits, if not federal assistance, the lack of which I am sure is what is getting those poor multinational corporations over the top in their time of need.

4.    I am not panicking over sending my children to schools that have been ordered to open without a national coordinated or coherent plan to safeguard the children and the teachers, perhaps because I no longer have school age children and my wife, a lifelong public school teacher is happily retired.

5.  I am not panicking over the fact that while there is still food on the shelves in the stores, there appears to be just a little bit less just about every time I go shopping, perhaps because my wife and I had a nice dinner last night.

No, I am not panicking.

Not a bit.

Thank you Mr. President.

Thank you for keeping us all in the dark, while you knew first what was about to happen and then what was happening while it was happening, but did nothing to stop it other than slapping a travel ban on Chinese citizens.

Thank you for ignoring the fact that the virus was coming into this country from places other than China.

Thank you for letting us know you were blaming China for the entire thing, even after the virus sneaked into this country and you did nothing.

Thank for for not panicking us when the virus did sneak into the country in spite of the fact that you knew it was coming and did nothing to stop it.

Thank you for putting forth that very brave and well made up face every day and setting the example for the rest of us by not wearing a mask, so that your very expensive make up job would not be smeared.  I feel much better knowing you looked better, even if the rest of us were getting sick and dying.

Thank you for making sure the rest of your gang did not let us in on your little secret, lest we all panic.

As for this last one, I am eternally grateful for your sycophants, who can keep a secret, apparently with the best of them.  So....

Thank you to the Vice-President, the head of your coronavirus task force, who has told us over and over again what a great job you are doing, and how you are the best thing to ever happen to the universe.  

Thank you for replacing anyone on the task force who was even temporarily willing to tell the truth with somebody who was only willing to praise you, and had no experience or qualifications to deal with epidemiology.  I for one am happy to hear daily from a radiologist, instead of an epidemiologist or infectious disease specialist.  Facts make me panic.

Thank you to those who know, who know what you knew and when you knew it, but said nothing.  I am particularly grateful to the director of national intelligence, Robert O'Brien, who told you in January what was coming, but never told the rest of us.  It allowed my wife and I to go on a couple of vacations in January and February without panicking.

Thank you for all you red state governors who kept us from panicking by opening up restaurants, bars, gyms, schools, hiding all that panicky public health data, and generally reminding us every day that the guy in the oval office is the greatest human ever born.

I am particularly thankful to Mitch McConnell for not saying anything, and then leaving town without addressing any relief package for the rest of us, thereby sparing me of the job of figuring out how to spend my disaster relief and unemployment checks, thereby ensuring that I do not panic when it comes time to paying my bills.

There are so many more to thank, but not enough space in the universe to do so, so thank you to all cadet bone spurs supporters for letting us know how panicky we would be if only we had something rational in the oval office.

So thank you to everyone for keeping my mind free and clear of anything I cannot handle.

And oh...

Once cadet bone spurs is out of office, whenever that may be, please don't come forward at that time, especially if you hold public office now, to tell me you knew and tried to stop him, because then, if you wanted to spend the rest of your career in your cushy little entitled position, it will be your turn to panic when you see the reaction of the rest of us.