DOJ headline few are reporting, damn it!

This excellent DOJ description of the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, the one the RNC called “Legitimate Political Discourse” and FOX and friends characterized as a “meek, respectful tourist visit protected by the First Amendment” should be on the front page of every newspaper in the country and all over the internet. It is from the recent DOJ sentencing memo (pp 73-75) for several leDers of the riot convicted of seditious conspiracy, violence against police and other crimes involved in the successful, violent, successful disruption of the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021 to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s election as president. Here is part of the statement of facts:

The attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6 was a criminal offense unparalleled in American history.

A. Nature and Circumstances of the Offense and Need for the Sentence Imposed to Reflect the Seriousness of the Offense and Promote Respect for the Law

These defendants each played a role in an unprecedented conspiracy to oppose the transfer of presidential power. As the Court noted after the second trial verdict, the seriousness of these offenses cannot be overstated. For over two-hundred years, since President George Washington first voluntarily relinquished his executive power back to the people and set in motion a tradition that has formed the bedrock of our democracy, the American people have chosen their president through free and fair elections. Not force. To justify their actions, the conspirators called the outcome they disagreed with “tyranny” that would lead to an apocalyptic end of the country. They sowed doubt in others, riled up and recruited them to travel to D.C., and led them in an attack on the Capitol by giving the riot leaders, in the form of so-called Oath Keepers. Their oaths of service were not to the country, but to themselves.

The attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6 was a criminal offense unparalleled in American history. It represented a grave threat to our democratic norms; indeed, it was one of the only times in our history when the building was literally occupied by hostile forces. By its very nature, the attack defies comparison to other events. Every defendant here joined a conspiracy that contributed to this unprecedented attack on our democracy.


Moreover, opposing the transfer of presidential power and attacking the U.S. Capitol building and grounds constitutes an attack on the rule of law. Leading up to January 6, the defendants and their co-conspirators believed their view of the Constitution trumped all others and anointed themselves the “Guardians” of their “Republic.”

These defendants attempted to silence millions of Americans who had placed their vote for a different candidate, to ignore the variety of legal and judicial mechanisms that lawfully scrutinized the electoral process leading up to and on January 6, and to shatter the democratic system of governance enshrined in our laws and in our Constitution. And when they did not get what they wanted, they acted by together attacking the very people and place at the very time when those laws were in action.

At its essence, these defendants’ crimes are the antithesis of respect for the law. “The violence and destruction of property at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 showed a blatant and appalling disregard for our institutions of government and the orderly administration of the democratic process.” As with
the nature and circumstances of the offense, this factor supports a lengthy sentence of incarceration. A lesser sentence could encourage further abuses not only by these defendants, but by others who disagree with the next elections in our country’s local, state, and federal governments. See Gall, 552 U.S. at 54 (it is a “legitimate concern that a lenient sentence for a serious offense threatens to promote disrespect for the law”)

(citations removed, except for last one.)

source

The solution to our billionaire infestation

Give them swords and shields, unleash wild beasts among them, and let the truly greatest one among them emerge victorious.  I’d pay $500 to sit in the worst seat in the stadium for that show. 

In the end, we’d know who is truly the most noble genius among this class of incomparably noble geniuses.  And nobody would own the Supreme Court any more, or be able to unleash a crippling terrorist attack on the world economy from inside the lunatic fringe in one chamber of Congress, or insist on maintaining a poverty minimum wage of $7.25/hr. unchanged in decades of inflation, while manipulating the least  critical of faithful, white Christians to believe they are doing these things on behalf of Jesus Christ, their lord and savior, and the sacred unborn.

WOW, bad for MAGA!

First, ABC News, there is nothing “so-called” about these fake electors. They submitted fake certifications that they were the real electors and they all voted for Trumpie, claiming that Trumpie had won the electoral votes of Georgia, presumably by one ballot, that 11780 votes Trumpie was looking for. The real electors cast their legally certified electoral ballots for the actual winner of the election in Georgia, Joe Biden, who won by 11,779 votes. The Trump “electors” were fake electors, you corporate asswipes.

Second, ten of these MAGA fraudsters were represented by the same attorney, paid by one of the PACs that Trumpie’s minions send money to. That lawyer did not tell any of her ten clients about the immunity deals from Fulton County DA Fani Willis. Willis took that lawyer to court for her failure to inform them of her offer. Eight of the ten so-called MAGA assholes accepted her immunity deal soon after being informed of the offers. Yow!

You go, Sister Willis, most of the country, and the world, is rooting hard for you.

Quick note on narcissism

I had little knowledge of the essence of narcissism until very recently.  Narcissists must believe they are always right, and great, and perfect and handsome and everything else, because the alternative is unimaginably hellish.  To be wrong is not simply to be human, the narcissist feels it as humiliating, a sign of utter worthlessness and complete unworthiness to be loved. 

Until I understood the merciless pressure that causes someone to see the world as a zero sum war zone, I could not grasp why a minor conflict with people who have long loved each other, seemingly so simple to resolve, was actually insoluble, why everything I did to make it better made it worse. 

I also learned that narcissism may sometimes only be revealed during conflict. As long as things are nice, everything is beautiful.  When there is conflict, oy. Any conflict with a narcissist, no matter how otherwise easy to resolve, is a deadly battle that must be fought to the death.

Pain meds and personality changes

I had my left knee replaced fifteen days ago in a procedure so traumatic, apparently, that the anesthesiologist administers a drug that induces amnesia to erase the entire process as though it never happened (except for waking up with a new knee and a lot of pain). They gave me oxycodone and tylenol for the pain.

Oxycodone (and the entire mass murdering, philanthropic Sackler family should all go to actual hell — editor’s note) works to significantly dampen much of the pain about 70% of the time. The other 30% of the time it just addles your brain, dredges up your lowest impulses while making you irritable and subject to tantrums; it literally turns you into Rush Limbaugh (who was famously, and criminally, addicted to it).

Two nights after my surgery, as the pain continued to burn full blast in my knee, after a full, maximum dose, I found myself angrily rattling some papers in front of an imaginary microphone improvising a fast-paced racist, misogynistic, homophobic tirade in a kind of growly pirate voice. Through my haze I could see that it was terrifying poor Sekhnet, my loving caretaker. Why anyone would become addicted to this drug is a mystery to me, unless you are a Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded genius with talent on loan from God Himself, I suppose.

I called the surgeon’s PA the next day and told her this. She laughed at the Limbaugh bit (I wasn’t laughing, I had a paper in my hand, about to start rattling) and prescribed an alternative opioid, dilaudid, generic name hydromorphone. I didn’t find it quite as effective against the pain, at least not at first, but eventually switched over to it. I was thankful to no longer feel like Rush Limbaugh, and found, to my surprise, that it was a relief feeling like the MyPillow Guy…