What a week! On Tuesday, the U.S. State of Georgia flipped blue and elected two Democratic Senators, the Rev. Raphael Warnock and the 33-year-old documentarian Jon Ossoff, in a special run-off election. The two new Senators effectively create a Democratic majority in the Senate even though the head count is tied 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, as Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (who also won the Georgia vote) will cast the tie-breaking vote. The two new Senators effectively end the reign of obstructionist Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) as Senate Majority Leader, which will allow President-Elect Joe Biden the chance to pass his legislative agenda, appoint cabinet members and judges, etc.
The current so-called "president," Donald Jackass Trump, refused to concede the election and spun unfounded and speculative myths about massive voter fraud and other electoral improprieties. It all boiled over by last Wednesday, the day after Georgia's special election, when he incited a crowd of his most ardent followers to march on the Capital during the ceremonial count of the Electoral votes. The mob broke into the Capital and ransacked and defaced both the Senate chambers and the House of Representatives. Several people died, including at least one Capital policeman and two female Trump supporters. Human feces were smeared on walls. Generally speaking, the police offered little defense of the Capital, even as the Vice President, the Senate and the Congress hid in underground tunnels and other "undisclosed locations" from the rampaging mob.
The blowback from the vandalism, after it finally was brought under control, has been furious. The vandals, who fancied themselves as "patriots" and "liberators" are being arrested as trespassers and vandals, and charges of sedition and treason may follow. Congress is seriously talking about removing Trump from office pursuant to the 25th Amendment, or lacking that, a second impeachment, even though he has only two weeks left in office. More damaging, at least from the point of view of the so-called "president," is the fact that his Twitter account has been permanently suspended as he has repeatedly violated the Terms of Service forbidding incitement of violence. He's been similarly banned from Facebook.
Let that sink in for a minute. The so-called "president" of the United States has openly and blatantly tried to reverse the results of a free and fair election simply because he lost the campaign, and when that failed - he launched over 60 lawsuits and lost all but one (which only allowed observers of recount efforts to stand a few feet closer to the process) - he exhorted an angry mob to overrun the Capital and stop the certification of the Electoral votes.
Sadly, some Republican Senators went along with Trump's delusions, even though they knew full well that his allegations of voter fraud were false. Even as the mob broke down the doors of the Capital, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was making a speech about why the ceremony should be delayed until he had a chance to "investigate" the obviously false charges of voter fraud. These cynical and unscrupulous politicians will be remembered for their treachery, and likely go down in historical shame along with Trump.
At the time of writing this, none of it is a secret and it's all well known of most Americans. I'm recording it now for historical purposes. This web log of my life, now in its 18th year, is my record of the times, and someday someone, maybe me, maybe someone else, will wonder what people were thinking back in 2021 and which side I was on.
For the record, I was with the good guys.
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