Update no.1034

 Update from the Sunland

No.1034

1.11.21 – 7.11.21

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

 

            To all,

 

The United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack [1020] continues its work despite all of the obstacles and resistance thrown up by [the person who shall no longer be named], the fBICP, and their minions. An evolving centerpiece of the insurrection is a memorandum purported to be written by conservative attorney John C. Eastman—the same John Eastman who stood on the stage with ‘Rudi’ Giuliani on 6.January and encouraged the Save America March rally [991] to march on the Capitol Building while Congress was in session. In all fairness and full disclosure, the Eastman memo is not signed or dated; those facts alone raise red flags of suspicion in my assessment—plausible deniability. The public source of the memo was the Woodward/Costas book Peril, and Woodward is usually a reliable source. He presumably obtained the memo from a source inside the White House. In his proposed six-step program to overthrow the constitutional election, Eastman utilizes his assessment of a conflict between the 12^thAmendment and his contention of unconstitutionality in the Electoral Count Act of 1887 [PL 49–90; 24 Stat. 373][992]. As I read the Eastman memo, I am reminded that [the person who shall no longer be named] came dreadful close to succeeding with his coup d’état. We can only hope that the House Select Committee successfully concludes their investigation with criminal charges to the Justice Department for prosecution of those who inspired, encouraged, and carried out the insurrection. I also hope they propose legislation to correct the vulnerabilities in our election system that allowed the 6^th January insurrection to come so damn close. And, I emphatically state that our electoral vulnerabilities do NOT include restricting access for citizens to cast their vote, but rather what the fBICP is doing to count the votes. Soviet dictator Josef Stalin famously declared, “I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this—who will count the votes, and how.” The fBICP is taking us down the exact same road.

 

In the aftermath of the off-year elections this week, Representative Abigail Anne Spanberger née Davis of Virginia said, “Nobody elected [Biden] to be FDR - they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos.” I would say spot on. In fact, I said exactly the same (or similar) thing before the 2020 election—unity, calm, and optimism with honesty [981]. While I agree with Spanberger’s sentiment, the difference is Congress, not the Executive.
73^rd Congress              1933-1935       Senate: 58-36; House: 322-102

117^th Congress            2021-2023       Senate: 50-50; House: 221-213

In 1934, FDR enjoyed filibuster-proof majorities in both chambers of Congress. I certainly laud President Biden’s personal effort to pass sweeping infrastructure changes. Unfortunately, I fear the expenditure of energy may have exhausted the capacity of Congress to do anything else, like immigration reform or strengthening the PPACA [432]

 

Late Friday evening, the House of Representatives finally passed H.R.3684 - Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act [1020, 1022] [House: 228-205-0-1(1)]. President Biden held a presser Saturday morning to acknowledge the long-awaited passage of the massive, bi-partisan, infrastructure improvement, funding bill. President Biden expects to sign the bill into law early next week. Most of the House Progressives who had held out demanding both the infrastructure bill and Build Back Better Act be passed together backed off. I am grateful the Progressives finally accepted separate passage, and I sure hope the House AND Senate pass H.R.5376 - Build Back Better Act—the controversial companion social infrastructure bill.

I am historically and naturally fiscally conservative. However, after so many years of Republicans (so-called conservatives) spending Treasury funds like drunken sailors, I fully support the Democrats having their turn at spending money neither party has in the Treasury. I will also say that it is about time that the government attack some of the social issues. I am far more tired and intolerant of the blatant hypocrisy than I am of the national debt. Republicans have ignored the debt when they spend and use the debt as a bludgeon when they don’t like the spending. So, I say pass the Build Back Better Act as soon as possible, and let us get on with things.

 

I was fortunate enough to watch two important documentaries of events surrounding the January 6^th insurrection.

“Four Hours at the Capitol”—an HBO Special program broadcast on 20.October.2021.

“Trumping Democracy – An American Coup” reported by Jake Tapper, CNN Special Report, broadcast 5.November.2021.

First and foremost, any citizen of the United States of America, or any person who appreciates and enjoys freedom anywhere in the world, must watch these two documentaries. Taken with other documentary evidence like the Eastman memorandum noted above, we can see just how close we came to a former president of the United States carrying out a successful coup d’état insurrection against the constitutionally elected government of this once grand republic. It is truly sad, disappointing, and disgusting that we came within one or two patriotic Republicans of the coup being successful. Although I feel some reluctance to do so, I must acknowledge, credit and laud the actions of Vice President Mike Pence as one of those patriotic American citizens. He resisted the enormous pressure applied by [the person who shall no longer be named] and his fBICP minions to subvert the Constitution. From the get-go, the BIG LIE has been sustained by false, baseless, unsubstantiated conspiracy theories perpetrated by the QAnon crowd und ihr Anführer. For the life of me, I do not understand and perhaps I am incapable of appreciating why so many good citizens believe in that man. He was, has been, and remains an egocentric, narcissistic con man snake-oil salesman who contaminated and compromised so many good American citizens, and worse, those same citizens genuinely believe he is the messiah. Sad, very sad! The damage that man and his minions have done in corroding the very fabric of this once grand republic is incalculable, and may have gone beyond the point of no return. He must pay the price for the damage he has done. He deserves solitary confinement in a SuperMax for the rest of his natural life—however much remains.

 

            Comments and contributions from Update no.1033:

Comment to the Blog:

“I have saved somewhere in my ‘library’ files, a series on sex work as told by sex workers and their family and friends. One of these days, I’ll send you a link to that.

“Most of us realize that we would have seen evidence of any widespread voter fraud or ‘irregularities’ in last year’s elections by now if such evidence existed. For the benefit of your other correspondent, I’ll note that my precinct in my last residence, the new location to which that one was moved while I lived there, and my current precinct are all well beyond the bus lines. I doubt that only a few voters are inconvenienced by such manipulations.

“I would not care to face Mitt Romney’s God with Romney’s track record.

“You give no source for your poetic quote. Are you stating a particular person’s viewpoint?”

My response to the Blog:

Yes, absolutely, but the issue is not widespread voter fraud, i.e., voter fraud at a sufficient level to affect the election outcome. {The person who shall no longer be named] and his fBICP acolytes have stood upon their claim that one fraudulent vote is too many. That is why I have tried to articulate not just the paucity of significance in the 0.017% suspect, questionable, or fraudulent voting. To me, this is one of those examples where the cost will vastly exceed any tangible benefit—well beyond the point of diminishing returns. However, just one fraudulent vote attempt gives the fBICP a hypothetical argument, i.e., intellectually one fraudulent vote is too many. The fBICP is chasing a ghost of their own creation in order to implement draconian restrictions in the name of election integrity. Your voting inconvenience has become an obstacle that will prevent others from voting. The fBICP is gambling that the number of Democrats or likely Democratic voters will be prevented from voting is greater than the number of Republican or likely Republican voters who will be discouraged. They are desperate to keep citizens who might be likely to vote against them from voting. Thus, they have restricted the use of absentee or mail-in ballots, restricting polling station hours, early voting days, and as in your case, decreased or moved polling stations to make it far more difficult for citizens to cast their vote.

In an odd way, what the fBICP is doing is understandable; they are desperate to stem the tide against them, and desperate times lead desperate people to do desperate things. So, strangely, they are acting in character. What is surprising and disappointing to me is the paucity of any organized legal resistance. These draconian laws must be challenged in court and struck down for what they are—unconstitutional infringements upon citizen voting rights.

Good point. I will point out that some resistance is better than no resistance or with the likes of Jordan, Gates, Green, Cruz, and Paul, outright support for the myriad transgressions of [the person who shall no longer be named] and his insanity. Something is better than nothing.

You may be giving me more credit than I deserve. I am not sure what is poetic in last week’s Update. If you are referring to my little soliloquy on freedom, those are my words in a contra-reflection of our current predicament. I have been watching several different post-insurrection documentaries, and I continue to be struck by the blatant parochialism of that mob. I suspect those involved truly believed the Constitution does not apply to them, only the words and commands of ihr Anführer, and they are the only ones defending freedom as they perceive the principle and concept. Those words were simply my musings about the fallacy of their beliefs, arguments, and actions.

 . . . with follow-up comment:

“I saw a headline this morning about Virginia gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin already claiming the Democrats ‘cheated.’

“It would make easier reading if you tipped off the change of narrator. That's the poetic part.”

 . . . and my follow-up comment:

Yeah, he has been making more frequent unfounded accusations. As of this morning, he has won. So, does that mean his win is fraudulent. That he benefited from vote cheating? McAuliffe has made no such claim.

I chose the ambiguous first-person perspective to make slightly less confrontational and more stimulative to thinking about what freedom means. Thank you for the clarification.

 

            My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)