Tag Archives: QAnon

modern problems, politicians, politics, Trump

Impeachment trial #2…

There are many advantages to living in Europe. One of the biggest advantages is that I can watch things affecting the United States from afar. A lot of what I’ve seen regarding the past few years has been pretty heartbreaking. Like, right now, I’m listening to a video of a woman who spoke to CNN about how she “escaped” QAnon when Joe Biden was inaugurated.

This lady was “devastated” when Biden was inaugurated… but now knows she fell into a conspiracy theory.

South Carolina mom, Ashley Vanderbilt, explains that she was raised to do as everyone else said and did. She was told she was a Republican when she was growing up, so she’s always voted “red” without a second thought. I know how she feels. I grew up similarly. My whole family was Republican and I grew up in a Republican community. I didn’t care about politics, so I didn’t follow the news much. It wasn’t until I was older and left the United States that I started changing my political views.

I suspect that Ashley Vanderbilt is a perfectly nice person who was complacent about who was leading the country. But now that Trump is out of office and Biden’s inauguration hasn’t immediately led to a dystopian socialist nightmare, she realizes she was duped. She says she feels “foolish”. I’d say she’s one of the lucky ones. So many people are still mired in Trump foolishness, and they don’t understand that QAnon is a bunch of bullshit. And they see the attack on the Capitol last month as perfectly fine… it’s akin to the Boston Tea Party to them.

I haven’t been following the impeachment trial religiously. It’s hard to do that when you’re six hours ahead. I did, however, watch a video this morning that was shown to Congress as the second impeachment trial against Trump commenced. I don’t understand how any sane, rational person can support what happened. It’s just horrific.

This is just insane.

The sad thing is, many lawmakers will ignore this footage. They will vote against convicting Trump because they don’t want to break away from Republican Party lines. What exactly does Trump have to do before people realize how incredibly toxic he is? How do otherwise decent people excuse this? If you manage to watch this video, you will see and hear people calling police officers “faggots” as they repeatedly say, “Fuck you!” to them and use American flags to break the glass windows of the Capitol building. You will see Ashli Babbitt trying to penetrate the Capitol through a broken window and get shot for her efforts. Is this the kind of future we want? If Trump is excused– and he probably WILL be– we will send a message that a lame duck president can pull this kind of shit and get away with it.

Is this really the kind of world we want to live in? Isn’t worldwide COVID-19 bad enough? Trump must be convicted! But he probably won’t be.

It depresses me that we have so many people in leadership positions who literally don’t care about anything more than their “job security” as politicians. It’s sad to me that Donald Trump can have two bumbling attorneys represent him– two lawyers that Trump is said to be deeply unhappy with, by the way— and they can do a mediocre job of making their points and still win. Why? Because nothing said or shown to some of the people charged with protecting the country is going to sway them from “protecting” Donald Trump for the sake of the hijacked Republican Party (which is nothing like my father’s Republican Party was). I find it deeply disturbing and very sad that he probably won’t be held accountable.

There is a chance I’m wrong. I hope I am wrong. It’s hard to let myself think positively, even though Biden won last year when I didn’t know for sure that he would. You’d think that more people in the United States would see how bad Trump is. But no… I think a lot of them are like Ashley Vanderbilt. Perfectly nice, but uneducated, uninformed, and uninterested… and voting red because that’s what everyone in their families and communities does. If you don’t go with the crowd, they will turn on you.

This isn’t to say that this kind of thing isn’t also a problem on the blue side, either. I’ve seen it and ranted about it more than once. We talk a lot about freedom of speech and freedom of expression, but when it comes down to it, there’s great pressure not to say or think the “wrong” thing. And precious few of us are listening to anyone, anyway.

Sometimes, I wonder if the many people who have died over the past year are the lucky ones. They no longer have to think about this, or worry about what will come in the future. Even the heady news of new COVID-19 vaccines has been more sobering lately, as new mutations of the virus resist the vaccine. I’m wondering what the future holds, and if it’s even worth hanging around for it. Germany is probably going to stay locked down until March 1… and I won’t be the least bit surprised if the lockdown continues through the spring. And even when things open again, will I even care about going out or doing anything? Is this living?

Well… I’m sure more news will come out about the impeachment trial. I do hope it will be successful. Trump’s successor is bound to be more refined and cunning. You can bet he or she is waiting in the wings. We have to do something to set a precedent against his kind being allowed back into power. And we have to focus on making the world a place we want to stay in.

I do find a glimmer of hope when I hear people like Ashley Vanderbilt speak, though. She managed to find her way out of the rabbit hole and join us in reality. There must be more people like her. I sure hope there are.

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politicians, politics, stupid people

Marjorie Taylor Greene… one of many people who have ensured that I won’t be voting Republican anytime soon.

I was hoping to avoid recent politics today, hence the two reposted book reviews I added this morning. I actually had another idea in mind for this morning that was kind of akin to my current interest in redemption. And yet, this morning, as I read about how Republicans are refusing to support people like Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney, who have publicly supported convicting Trump on his second impeachment, I can’t stop myself from commenting. I never thought I’d support Mitt Romney on anything, but he’s turned out to be a fairly decent person, compared to his fellow Republicans. Ditto for Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who voted with Democrats in spite of heavy pressure from the Republican Party to excuse Donald Trump for his part in riots that went on at the Capitol three weeks ago.

This morning, as I was having a conversation with Bill about redemption and wondering if it’s really worthwhile to apologize for anything, since so many people are hellbent on crucifying others, I realized that I probably won’t forgive the Republicans anytime soon. It’s the party that gave us Donald Trump and, more recently, brand new Representative Marjorie Taylor Greeene, of Georgia. Ms. Taylor Greene was only very recently installed in the federal government, having been elected in November 2020. During that time, she’s made quite an impression.

What the hell is this woman doing in a leadership position?

In 2018 and 2019, Marjorie Taylor Greene, then apparently just a regular QAnon moron, made some shocking statements on social media indicating that she thinks Democratic leaders such as California Representative and Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, ought to be executed. In a January 2019 post, Greene “liked” a comment advocating “a bullet to the head” of Nancy Pelosi. In April 2018, when a poster asked if we could “hang” former president Barack Obama and former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Greene responded:

“Stage is being set. Players are being put in place. We must be patient. This must be done perfectly or liberal judges would let them off.”

Marjorie Taylor Greene has also harassed victims of the Parkland school shooting. She’s all about maintaining her “Second Amendment rights”, sparing no thought or feeling for actual victims of gun violence. David Hogg didn’t respond to Greene’s harassment. She doesn’t warrant a response. She has no compassion, no empathy, and absolutely ZERO business leading people. What a vile, contemptible, shameless person she is. I wonder how she’d feel if she or one of her loved ones were killed or injured by gun violence? Doesn’t it make sense that people like David Hogg, who have truly suffered due to this issue, would want to change the gun laws?

Marjorie Taylor Greene is a despicable person, and yet she’s being rewarded by Republicans for her disgusting violent views.

To add insult to injury, and perhaps the reason that I’m joining the chorus in writing about this woman, is the fact that she evidently thinks journalists shouldn’t be allowed to do their jobs. At a town hall meeting two days ago, reporter Meredith Aldis wanted to ask Greene about the backlash she’s gotten this week due to her poorly considered social media posts of the not too distant past. Greene’s response was to rebuff her, saying “I’m talking to my constituents.” Then, Greene’s staff complained to security that Aldis was “causing a disturbance” and demanded that Aldis leave the public proceedings, which Aldis and other reporters had been invited to attend. A sheriff’s deputy even threatened to arrest Aldis and her crew for trespassing at the town hall meeting.

And finally, when Greene was confronted about her questionable social media posts, she had this lame excuse:

“Over the years, I’ve had teams of people manage my pages. Many posts have been liked. Many posts have been shared. Some did not represent my views. Especially the ones that CNN is about to spread across the internet,”

Nope. It’s YOUR page, Marjorie. It’s YOUR responsibility. If other people are posting things using your name that you don’t agree with, you should do something about it. Otherwise, people are going to conclude that they’re your thoughts and opinions. And based on the video I watched this morning, it’s clear that you’re full of shit. You don’t have any regard for other people and you should be expelled from public office. You are obviously someone who puts your “right” to own a gun over other people’s right to live without fear of being shot. You should be ashamed of yourself, and so should your supporters. Unfortunately, you belong to a party that is contemptible and will not do the right or decent thing to purge itself of corrupt and inept individuals like you.

I watched body cam videos taken on January 6th. They were included in an article by The New York Times about the riots. On those videos, 34 year old Rosanne Boyland, who was there to protest with her friend, Justin Winchell, is shown being trampled by rabid Trump supporters, who were hellbent on beating up police officers trying to control the situation. These folks, who are usually the ones screaming about how blue lives matter and abortion should be outlawed, were beating on the cops and sounded pretty intent on killing and maiming. They had no regard for a fellow supporter who was being mowed down by the crowd. Likewise, four other people were killed on that day. One woman, Ashli Babbitt, was shot as she tried to break into the Capitol. Two others had medical conditions that were triggered by the excitement. And, a police officer also lost his life to the violence, while another committed suicide a couple of days later.

Marjorie Taylor Greene is apparently all for this kind of behavior. She isn’t shocked or horrified by what’s in those videos. If you have access to The New York Times, I highly recommend watching the videos from the body cams. They are absolutely extraordinary. I can’t believe anyone with a shred of decency would be cheering on this kind of behavior. But apparently, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who wears face masks that read “Trump Won”, is all for it. She actively promotes QAnon theories, which have led to this craziness being unleashed in the United States. It’s absolutely appalling. I can’t believe this is the America people want to live in. I sure the hell don’t. Shouldn’t legislators be law abiding and law respecting individuals? I guess not in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s world.

Anyway… I am disgusted and revolted and I just needed to share it. Maybe later, if I’m feeling energetic, I’ll be back to write about something else.

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