Earlier this week, a Florida man and his three adult sons were convicted in a Florida court of selling industrial bleach as a cure for COVID-19 through their online “church.”
This is reminiscent of the criminal proceedings against the 1000+ January 6th insurrectionists, in that a defense case can be made that the then-president of the United States authorized their actions. Yet the judge hearing the case saw no mitigating circumstances. Sentencing is set for October.
As explained here, it appears that the 16 alleged “fake electors” in Michigan are prison-bound, and it’s hard to imagine that there aren’t many dozens, if not hundreds, in essentially identical positions in other swing states who may be on their way to the Big House. (At left we see 11 from Arizona.)
That’s good news.
But here’s something that I find objectionable, from the same notification as the video linked above: “To call for Donald Trump to be convicted, sign here.”
What honest people want is that Trump will receive fair trials in each of the criminal cases against him, that, we believe, are very likely to result in his conviction. No one who understands and respects the law believes there is any merit to Trump’s being tried according to public opinion.
It may sound like a trifling difference, but it’s not.
I understand how the author of the meme here feels, but two points if I may:
1) Even if you live to see your 200th birthday, unless you go live in a cave, you’re going to be hearing Trump’s name, because the former president made a far more horrific impact on the United States than any other single person in its history.
2) I wouldn’t say that hearing his name is a bad thing, as we must never forget how close we came to becoming a banana republic. Nor should we forget that we’re living among tens of millions of hateful morons. Forewarned is forearmed.
This from 18th Century theologian and founder of Methodism John Wesley.
To put it simply, we’ve replaced all these ideas with our love of money. Anything that doesn’t make rich people richer is a non-starter in 21st Century America.
I had to laugh when I saw this.
Of course, being a “vulgar pig” is not a crime, so I suppose the assertion here is actually fairly mild.
Actually, I never assumed that everyone, or even most people, had a basic grasp of science.
What has shocked me is how many people openly reject entire scientific disciplines that fly in the teeth of their political or religious beliefs.
When I was young, nuttiness like this was confined to minute and roundly discredited bits of society. Christian Scientists, for example, refuse medical treatment for disease, on the basis that their faith in Christ will heal them. Again, that was, and continues to be, a negligible part of our total population.
The problem is that now we have tens of millions of anti-vaxxers and climate deniers. We have the believers in the stolen election, and those who hold that education represents an overall harm to our children. And let’s not count out those who believe the stories in the bible are literally true, and that the Earth is 6000 years old, despite all the evidence that we’ve gathered from molecular biology, anthropology, archaeology, paleontology, etc.
I’m not asking that everyone read up on chemistry, physics, and biology, but it sure would be a blessing if the scientifically illiterate could somehow be prevented from ruining our civilization.
As much as I appreciate the sentiments that president hopeful Asa Hutchinson is expressing here, I would respond: If you truly care about rule of law, you need to understand that the 5th Amendment and its presumption of innocence makes it unlawful for you to deprive a person without due process.
From the late poet and writer Eve Merriam: I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, “Mother, what was war?”
Let’s hope that the International Criminal Court have some major success in prosecuting war criminals, as this may create a deterrent for those who would wage aggressive wars and commit dozens of other war crimes.
In the absence of this, the Vladimir Putins of the world will see no reason not to illegally invade their neighbors, torturing and murdering innocent people.
As time passes and temperature records continue to be broken, we will see fewer and fewer people speaking like the frog in this cartoon.
Some will realize that they have been conned by the lies of Big Oil, but most will simply get on board with climate science without knowing precisely why.
Sadly, it really doesn’t matter what the majority of people believe, nor, really, does it matter how they vote. Keep in mind that 91% of voters are demanding mandatory background checks for prospective gun owners, but that issue cannot even be discussed on the floors of Congress.
What will eventually happen is that the forces of pure market economics, e.g., the plummeting costs of solar, wind, energy storage, etc. will overwhelm the fossil fuel industry and make it obsolete. How much damage will have been done in the process is anyone’s guess.
If workers can be replaced with AI, or a variety of other technologies, what’s the incentive for CEOs and their corporations’ investors to keep labor alive? In this less than one-minute video, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich argues that unemployed, suddenly poor people can’t afford to buy the stuff that these corporations produce. He says in summation, “We’re all in this together.”
I’m not sure. What does the impoverishment of a few million American workers mean to multinational corporations, most of whose customers live in far-flung regions around the globe? What they can’t sell here, they’re selling all over Europe and Asia.
My local drug store, a CVS, has laid off its check-out clerks in favor of automated checkout machines. They have 9967 extremely profitable locations and a market cap of $92 billion. If you think they care an iota about their formerly employed Americans who are now living off food stamps, you’re an idiot.
