Update no.1104

Update from the Sunland

No.1104

6.3.23 – 12.3.23

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

 

To all,

 

Readers may recall the name Mark Finchem. For those who are not so familiar with Arizona politics, he is Mark William Finchem, a far-right (more like alt right) and former member of the Arizona House of Representatives. In the 2022 election, he ran for secretary of State. Finchem is a diehard election denier, conspiracist, and otherwise one of the minion mouthpieces for [the person who shall no longer be named]. He lost the election by a substantial margin, i.e., not even close. Like losing gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and ihr Anführer, Finchem filed a lawsuit without factual evidence or substantiation. The following opinion article illuminates the result.

“Sanctions Mark Finchem must pay for bogus lawsuit are good, but not enough – Opinion: It's difficult to put a price tag on the damage Mark Finchem and others did to Arizona elections. But it should be more than attorney fees.”

by EJ Montini

Arizona Republic

Published 6:24 a.m. MT March 7, 2023

https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/ej-montini/2023/03/07/mark-finchem-should-have-paid-more-bogus-election-lawsuit/69979226007/

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Melissa G. Iyer Julian dismissed the case and ordered Finchem to pay his opponents’ legal fees. 

I agree with Montini. Finchem and his kind should pay additional punitive damages for what they have done. Court costs and attorney fees are hardly sufficient for the damage Finchem and his buddies have perpetrated. As always, something is better than nothing.

 

On Monday, 20.February.2023, Speaker of the House Representative Kevin Owen McCarthy of California unilaterally granted sole access to entertainer Tucker Carlson to the 44,000 hours of surveillance video from the Capitol Building on 6.January.2021. Two weeks later, on 6.March.2023, the faux-news entertainment show—Tucker Carlson Tonight—broadcast Carlson’s opinion. I will not and cannot ascribe findings to what he has done for reasons noted below. Carlson opened his broadcast with the following commentary:

“On Janurary 6^th two years ago, thousands of protesters walked from a Trump rally on the ellipse outside the White House to the U.S. Capitol where the certification of the U.S. presidential election was underway. The protesters were angry. They believed that the election they had just voted in had been unfairly conducted. They were right. In retrospect, it is clear the 2020 election was a grave betrayal of American democracy. Given the facts that have since emerged about that day, no honest person can deny it. Yet, the beneficiaries of that election continue to lie about what is now obvious. The real crime, they will tell you, again and again, is not about what happened on Election Day 2020. The real crime is what happened two months later on January 6^th, when Donald Trump led an insurrection against the duly elected American government. To prove that claim and to divert attention from the details of the presidential election itself, Democrats in Congress impaneled what they called the House Select Committee on the January 6^th Attack. The point of that committee was to prevent Donald Trump from running for president again. In December of last year, committee members voted unanimously to refer Trump to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution. Mission accomplished. But what they did not do was explain what happened inside the Capitol on January 6^th. Three weeks ago, thanks to the new Republican speaker’s office, we gained access to thousands of hours of surveillance video that helped answer that question. The January 6^th Committee had access to this very same tape and watched much of it. But, as we are about to show you, committee members lied about what they saw and then hid the evidence from the public as well as January 6^th criminal defendants and their lawyers. That is unforgiveable. Whatever you think of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, he rectified that crime, and we are grateful that he did it.
[NOTE: Emphasis mine: Annotation color codes assigned as blue = true; orange = erroneously misleading; and red = outright false, untrue. The same color codes are used below.]

After his introductory commentary to set the tone above, Carlson offered a few minutes (out of 44,000 hours) of his selected video clips and offered his crafted comments to fit his storyline—not the truth, just his opinion to paint the picture he wanted. Carlson annotated his selected clips as his rendition of the January 6^th insurrection.

The first thing you notice when viewing the full video record of January 6^th is just how many people entered the Capitol Building that day, hundreds and hundreds, possibly thousands over the course of about two hours. The crowd was enormous. A small percentage of them were hooligans. They committed vandalism. You’ve seen their pictures again and again. But the overwhelming majority weren’t.  They were peaceful, orderly, and neat. These were not insurrectionists. They were sightseers. Footage from inside the Capitol overturns the story you’ve heard about January 6^th. Protesters queue up in neat little lines. They give each other tours outside the Speaker’s office. They take cheerful selfies, and they smile. They are not destroying the Capitol. They obviously revere the Capitol. They are there because they believe the election was stolen from them. They believe in the system. Here is the man you’ve heard referred to as QAnon Shaman outside the Senate chamber. These are not rioters. These are people who wandered over from a political rally.

[45POTUS: We will not let them silence your voices.]

After the rally, they walked down Pennsylvania Avenue, where organizers had secured a federal permit to hold a legal rally on the grounds of the Capitol.

[45POTUS: I know that everyone here will be marching over to the Capitol to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.]

Once at the Capitol Building, things began to get chaotic. Capitol Police officers fired tear gas into the crowd. A few at the front of the herd broke windows. Someone opened the doors, and many hundreds of others just walked in. 

[PROTESTER: They’re going to make that the story.]

Of course, they did make it the story. And at the center of it, the single most famous person arrested that day was a Navy veteran from Arizona called Jacob Chansley, often referred to as the QAnon Shaman.

[Others repeating his moniker.]

Jacob Chansley became the face of January 6^th. A dangerous conspiracy theorist dressed in outlandish costume, who led a violent insurrection to overthrow American democracy. For these crimes, Chansley was sentenced to four years in prison, far more time than many violent criminals now receive. What did Jacob Chansley do to receive this punishment? To this day, there is dispute about how Chansley got into the Capitol Building, but according to our review of the surveillance video, it was very clear what happened once he got inside. Virtually every moment of his time inside the Capitol was caught on tape. The tapes show that Capitol Police never stopped Jacob Chansley. They helped him. They acted as his tour guides. Here is video of Chansley in the Senate chamber. Capitol Police officers take him to multiple entrances and even try to open locked doors for him. We counted at least nine officers who were within touching distance of unarmed Jacob Chansley. Not one of even tried to slow him down. Chansley understood that Capitol Police were his allies. Video shows him giving thanks for them in a prayer for them on the floor of the Senate. Watch.

[CHANSLEY: Thank you heavenly father for taking the inspiration needed to these police officers to allow us into the building.]

Contrast the reality of what Jacob Chansley did in the Capitol Building on January 6^th, the indisputable facts recorded on video, some of which has never before been seen, with the depiction of Jacob Chansley you’ve seen in the media for more than two years. He’s a terrorist, they said. He should be killed.

[UNCITED VIDEO of an unidentified man: Shoot him! Shoot him! (unintelligible) If he was dressed like bin Laden, would we have shot him?]

Shoot him! Shoot him! It makes you wonder who were the violent extremists here? Not Jacob Chansley, and the video proves that, but you never would have known that from the media coverage.

[SENATOR GRAHAM: The people sitting in the chairs need to be sitting in a jail cell.]

Chansley is sitting in a jail cell. He’s been there for months. If he was in fact committing such a grave crime, why didn’t the officers who were standing right next him place him under arrest? Until now, no one could even prove that happened, but it did.

Tucker Carlson was not testifying under oath. If he had been, he could be charged with perjury. No, Carlson was offering his opinion. He has a constitutionally protected right to speak freely, say what he chooses, and indeed to lie. He has no obligation to tell the truth . . . beyond the moral responsibility we all face to do so. The responsibility to determine the validity of his words rests upon us alone. If you believe, you believe. It is that simple.

If I had to boil this whole nonsense down to one sentence, I would choose Carlson’s grotesquely false, misleading, and destructive sentence from this whole sordid affair, I would say, “The 2020 election was a grave betrayal of American democracy.” The sentence is a direct product of the BIG LIE. The public disclosures from Dominion v. Fox [DE SupCt Case No. N21C-11-082-EMD (2021)] [1101] provide the best metric to judge Carlson’s hogwash. Carlson says nothing, not a peep, about the violent breeches of the multiple police barricades outside, or the reality that just being inside the Capitol Building, peaceful or not, they violated the law. McCarthy-Carlson did a grave disservice to further breakdown this once grand republic.

Does anyone believe that Carlson reviewed all the available surveillance video in two weeks’ time? It would take roughly 400 knowledgeable reviewers to go through that much footage, not counting the organization and collation of their observations.

McCarthy’s action might have been a little more palatable if they had granted the same access to other news outlets—newspaper and television. He did not, which tainted his action from the outset.

Set aside the despicable conduct of Carlson and the outright fallaciousness of his rendition of the insurrection, the worst of this sordid affair is actually McCarthy, who sold his sole to the devil when he promised the far right of the fBICP (MAGA) that he would do what he did. As speaker of the House, he unilaterally directed the release of 44,000 hours of surveillance video from the Capitol Building and grounds to Tucker Carlson . . . and only Carlson . . . not FoxNews, not CNN, not ABC News, only Tucker Carlson, and no other news organizations. McCarthy knew precisely what was going to happen, and he was good with that consequence, but he is speaker. McCarthy deserves what it coming to him. 

This whole Tucker Carlson fiasco is nauseating in the extreme. I will not offer a URL; you can find it if you wish. I am not going to give it more oxygen than I have already. Instead, I shall call out his hypocrisy. Carlson is no different from Alex Jones, Sean Hannity, Steve Bannon. Laura Ingram, and all other alt-right talking heads who spew their bunkum on all of us on a daily basis. Yet, 30% of American citizens suck that gruel up like it was a luxurious delicacy, and worse, they believe. If you have swallowed the snake-oil, you will believe.

Fortunately, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has called out and condemned what Carlson did. Other prominent Republicans have joined McConnell in condemning Carlson’s worthless and destructive presentation.

At the bottom line, Tucker Carlson cannot be trusted to tell the truth. His portrayal of January 6^th is outright fallacious, corrosive, and otherwise destructive. Any “honest person” will acknowledge that the best analysis of what happened on January 6^th so far has come from the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6^th Attack on the United States Capitol (HSCJ6). Judge for yourself.

 

As a product of contemporary times, we have [the person who shall no longer be named] spewing his drivel everywhere as he searches for willing and enthusiastic consumers of his worthless snake-oil elixir. The latest incident came to us in the form of his keynote speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held this year at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Prince George's County, Maryland. He stated:

“In 2016, I declared: I am your voice. Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed: I am your retribution.”

Raw meat for the enthusiastic consumers of his worthless snake-oil elixir. Retribution—a word of specific meaning and importance to his body of believers. I say that only because I assume he knows what the word means and chose that word specifically. To be precise, retribution ≡ punishment inflicted on someone as vengeance for a wrong or criminal act. Any guess what ‘wrong or criminal act’ he is thinking of when he chose the word ‘retribution’?

Further, the man also declared that he would not withdraw his presidential campaign if he is indicted, which appears to be more likely by the day. I know this is not a news flash, but the man has no morality, no sense of propriety, no ethics. To him, the Constitution is for all of us mindless lemmings; it does not apply to him. That said, the Constitution does not and the Founders/Framers did not envision such a scenario—an indicted or convicted felon running for president. I suspect the man will be perfectly comfortable thrusting the nation into another constitutional crisis. I do not know but I strongly suspect the question will come down to who states allow to be placed on the ballot for the 2024 election. I do not believe any state prohibits an indictee or felon from meeting the other requirements to be on the ballot. More than a few consumers of his snake-oil elixir have publicly stated that they will write in the man if he is not listed on their ballot. Write-in candidates take even longer to tally because handwriting must be interpreted  . . . kind of like ‘hanging chads’ in the 2000 election in Florida.

The bottom line of this persistent cockup is we are not done with him yet. His loyal believers would likely write him in on their ballots even if he was convicted and in prison. Such is the nature of the beast we are dealing with today. We must have faith in our Republic, the Constitution, our body of laws, and the judges who must interpret and decide the law. I remain hopeful that saner minds will eventually prevail, and we will eventually be done with him, never to be heard from again.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1103:

“Thanks Cap-quite an edition! You must spend many hours putting this all together.”

My reply:

The reading and research take more time than the writing. I jot down thoughts as I go. Sunday is my Update-day, when most of the writing is done. The Update does take some time to collect, research, and write, but the process keeps me current on political and society questions.

 

Comment to the Blog:

“People often accuse others of whatever they feel guilty about. With all I’ve been hearing MAGAts say about grooming and about cancel culture, that’s highly relevant. Voter fraud is very convenient for MAGAts to claim, but it would be wise to look closely at those officials making that claim.

“The January 6 insurrection occurred during 45POTUS’s term, but not as part of his official duties.

“Most of our current troubles come back to the Founders’ failure to address money in politics or to create a one-voter, one-vote system.

“That definition of ‘adult cabaret performance’ goes far beyond drag shows. It will cause as much trouble as other similar laws.”

My response to the Blog:

Quite so! “MAGAts” . . . I like it. This whole “woke” and “cancel culture” nonsense is conservative whining about their resistance to change and progress. When DeSantis drivels out his “Florida is where ‘woke’ goes to die” garbage, I hear white supremacy vitriol. The whole thing from book banning, laws against teaching the truth, parental rights, ad infinitum, is just conservatives trying to hang onto the past. Those conservatives are just another obstacle to be overcome in the march of progress. They will not relegate us to the past. We must learn. Our children must learn.

Indeed! As I understand the law, 45POTUS has no claim of even qualified immunity as the instigator of the insurrection; no form of immunity shields criminal conduct. The case law appears quite clear to me. Yet, Special Counsel Smith has not indicted the man. Regardless, as a citizen, he is entitled to challenge an indictment, and we must grind through those inevitable legal challenges, postponing those challenges is not helpful.

Yes, absolutely. The Great Compromise defied the founding principles and created fertile ground for the contemporary turmoil we must deal with. However, it is the conservatives (and their supporters) we must overcome today. The more we trudge through the quagmire of this conservative nonsense, the more I see it as white supremacy offensive no different from the 1920s KKK resurgence. As much as we need viable opposition part(ies), the former GOP continues their descent into oblivion.

Spot on! It is a common trait of those damnable social conservative morality laws. The TN SB0009 law is the antithesis of freedom of choice. It is wrong in every possible way. Further, I will argue that law absolutely does NOT protect children, that damnable law hurts children; it condemns children to the darkness of ignorance. We must be rid of these damn conservatives.

 . . . Round two:

“My reference to ‘cancel culture’ came in the context of accusing others of what you’re doing yourself. What DeSantis and his kind are doing to minorities and LGBTQ+ people is canceling them. Also, it’s an interesting exercise to ask those MAGAts to say what they mean by ‘woke.’

“In the case of 45POTUS, justice delayed is justice denied.

“The MAGAts want to re-create an antebellum nation. The privilege they would then expect only came to very few people at the time, but the MAGAts are ignorant people.

“Morality laws have a terrible history. Think vice squads and the Comstock Act (which is being used today in an attempt to limit abortion medication).”

 . . . my response to round two:

Understood. Exactly! Spot on! The right-wing embrace of white supremacy in all its forms (no matter how subtle they strive to make it) will ultimately seal their fate . . . perhaps not in my lifetime, but eventually.

Exactly, again! While I want Special Counsel Smith to do his job precisely and to the full extent possible, the sooner we get that man into the dock and his prosecution underway the better from my perspective. [The person who shall no longer be named] has done far more damage to this once grand Republic than any bank robber (or murderer for that matter). He deserves the full weight of the law.

Exactly, once again. That is completely what they want to do, which is also why I distill their actions down to white supremacy. They can paint lipstick on a pig to make it pretty, but it is still a pig. And yes, they prefer ignorance over knowledge, which is clearly discernible in virtually all their actions. Thus, if my choice boils down to the darkness of DeSantis or the enlightenment of a brighter vision, I will take the warmth of the “sunlit uplands.”

My, my, 100% on this one. Yes, they do . . . a terrible history. Morality laws, in the main, are a lame attempt of a willful minority to impose their will, their choices, their beliefs, their values on everyone in a foolish effort to validate their choices. Morality laws deny freedom of choice to all citizens. In essence, they say freedom of choice is acceptable as long as the list of choices is only the ones they approve of. We must get the conservatives out of the private lives and the private choices of all citizens including those who they do not agree with.

 

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

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)