…can I get a witness? [DOT 14/2/21]

oh, hell no...

14/2/21 SplinterRIP 21

…it’s not exactly news when a thing we all knew was going to happen actually happens…or doesn’t, depending on how you look at it…but sometimes….sometimes the sheer outsize gall of the thing…the incredible (in the most literal sense of the word) hubris required to be so staggeringly mendacious in the face of such overwhelming evidence of there being not a shred of a justifiable foundation for the entirely falsified narrative espoused is so great as to beggar belief…& ladies & gentlemen…this is one of those times

…of course all of that would apply quite easily to the whole bullshit where they voted to acquit the most-impeached-least-qualified-&-utterly-un-presidential-ex-president & thus prevent a vote banning him from running for office in future (AKA the only possible verdict that was going to happen even though it’s diametrically opposed to anything remotely resmbling a process of justice or judgement regarding the man’s behavior & the events in question)…but that may actually take second place in yesterday’s “if there’s a god then where’s the goddamned thunderbolt?” moments

Moments after voting to acquit Donald Trump, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell gave a speech excoriating the former president for a “disgraceful dereliction of duty” and said he holds him responsible for “provoking” the Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol.
[…]
“There’s no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it,” the Kentucky Republican said Saturday. “The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president.”

“And having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories and reckless hyperbole which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet earth,” he continued.

McConnell said the deadly riot was the product of “increasingly wild myths” and “an intensifying crescendo of conspiracy theories orchestrated by an outgoing president who seemed determined to either overturn the voters’ decision, or else torch our institutions on the way out.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/after-acquitting-trump-mcconnell-slams-him-for-a-disgraceful-dereliction-of-duty

…how exactly the fuck else do you suppose we’re meant to describe refusing to accept the articles of impeachment until a date of your own choosing that’s late enough to provide you with the transparent fig-leaf of a claim that because the process didn’t happen sooner you’re obliged to acquit a guilty man as a matter of “principle”?

…the fact that the words deriliction of duty didn’t set his whole damn face on fire & light his waxy-looking ass up like a fucking candle that sank forever more into the firey abyss of perdition is feeling a lot like proof that the aetheists were right all along…or whoever the hell it was that said god is dead, anyway

…which I’m fairly certain was that nihilist dude with the book about being beyond good & evil

…pretty sure this shit wasn’t what he fucking meant, though

…so…fuck it…it’s valentine’s…let’s just call it a no-news day

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21 Comments

  1. I think if a vile scoundrel like Mitch McConnell, of all people, very publicly excoriated me for a “disgraceful dereliction of duty” I might commit seppuku on the spot, but then again I am capable of feeling shame, something that McConnell and Trump are not.

  4. Ughhhhhh McConnell is like a movie villain. So he comes out after the trial and says he’s 100% guilty, but he didn’t vote to convict because it was after the fact? That wasn’t the vote you asshat! The vote about the constitutionality of the trial was over (you failed), and this was a vote on the substance. I don’t think it should be allowed for them to say “oh no I agree that he’s guilty but I voted differently because I was thinking about something else”. That would have a juror thrown out of a trial. Not to mention all the idiots doodling and reading other things while evidence was shown. None of that shit is allowed in a trial. Why do we hold senators to such a low standard??
     
    Also, we got 7 Republican votes in the end, which made this the most bipartisan impeachment ever. Every other impeachment has divided purely on partisan lines. Makes it seem like the system is broken doesn’t it? 

    • Keep in mind that when the constitution was written the notion of political parties in this country hadn’t really taken hold yet. Washington was very much against parties and while he wasn’t an author people tended to follow his example (you know, like a leader should be). So what little party activity there was took place on a much more muted scale until after he declined to run for a third term. They couldn’t conceive of a system where you’d need 2/3 of the Senate controlled by a single party which just happened to be in opposition to the president at a time when said president committed an impeachable offense. 
      now of course if the rules were changed to only allow a simple majority the Republicans would weaponize it the minute they took Congress again. So impeachment is really pointless now. 

    • …honestly, I tried to tone it down a little because sunday+valentine’s…but I beyond mad about how this stuff continues to be permissible

      …that he can stand there & say that due to a situation he engineered it’s ok for him to duck the question HE ADMITS DEMANDS THE ANSWER HE DIDN’T FUCKING GIVE in favor of answering one that ALSO DOESN’T WORK THE WAY HE FUCKING CLAIMS IT DOES because no one he’s actually beholden to gives a damn about anything other obstructing anything the dems say should happen is so far removed from the shit senators take an oath about that it ought to be fucking illegal…it just makes my head explode

      …there needs to be consequences for this kind of shit but there never seem to be…& I don’t know what the answer is but I don’t know how much more of it I can take without losing my mind?

    •  
      Oh, and to the surprise of nobody, here’s how those 7 votes broke down:
      Romney:  No brainer, because he voted to convict the first time.
      Collins:  Just got re-elected so won’t have to worry about this shit coming back at her for six years and by then nobody will give a shit.
      Cassidy:  Just got re-elected.
      Sasse:  Just got re-elected.
      Burr:  Not running again.
      Toomey:  Not running again.
      Murkowski:  Up for re-election in two years, so is really the only surprise.
       
      Basically, mostly spinless, chickenshits who figure they’ve got nothing to lose by doing the right thing.
       

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      • I will say for both Collins and Murkowski, they’ve done well pretending to be moderates – it’s what their voters expect. When Collins voted in Kavanaugh, a lot of Mainers were pissed, and supposedly she lost support. But then she won reelection easily, so Maine clearly decided her support of multiple sexist shitheads didn’t matter that much after all. 

    • Uhhh what now? She bailed out rioters? I had to Google to figure out wtf he was talking about, and he must be bitching about how she tweeted support for a bail fund during BLM protests. My god, the false equivalence. The article doesn’t even specify what he’s talking about, it just implies she bailed out the Capitol terrorists. I’m so sick of the Republican line equating the insurrection with BLM protests, but conservatives are eating that shit up. 

    • …I really wish more of this stuff got a response along the lines of “are you actually dumb enough to believe the horseshit you’re spouting or is that you think your audience is?”

      …the false equivalency…the specious reasoning…the whatever-the-antithesis-of-logic-is…the sheer fucking mendacity…I so badly want to see them eat their goddamn words…it’s like that bit from the blues brothers where the guy says “you’re gonna look pretty funny tryin’ to eat corn on the cob…with no fucking teeth”

      …but they just double-down & drag themselves further & further away from anything resembling truth in service of their god-forsaken partisan narrative

      …I’d say this kind of shit can not stand…but it fucking does…time after fucking time…it’s got no foundation to stand on…but it still doesn’t fall down…& that’s hard to take

      • I don’t for one second think Trump will ever see a jail cell, and now I don’t want him too. His creepy MAGAs would use it as a rallying point, and we don’t need that. But charges will get filed. Some cases are already on court dockets, and Trump will have to address them. So he needs lawyers, which cost money, which chips away at his crumbling financial “empire.” 
         
        It’s not even close to what he deserves, but it will hopefully keep him too busy to stir up more shit. 

        • I guess I’d take the minor satisfaction of him being penniless, and that seems reasonably likely. But I’d prefer to see him in prison, and I don’t think that’s an impossible outcome. 

  7. I’ve come all the way around to the realization that after that initial burst of “are you fucking kidding me?”, I need to let the anger go. It eats at my psyche and doesn’t really do anything productive.
    Ultimately these people who abet the crimes are human beings with human reasoning and human motivations. They’re understandable, even if condoning them or reconciliation is impossible. We know whobthey are, what they are, and what motivates them. We know appealing to some nobility is not feasible. Then we act accordingly. That’s all that’s left.

    • …it’s not that doesn’t make sense to me…it’s just that I can tell myself to get over it all I like…but I don’t seem to feel less pissed off?

      …& there never seems to be a break from things that could be viewed as salt in that wound…so it sounds like you might be better at this stuff than I seem to be

  8. I held out hope for conviction until the very end, like a child opening Christmas gifts and holding out hope that what they wanted would be in the very last package, only to be disappointed. But unlike that child “faking it” to appear pleased to their parents, as an adult I can show and speak my displeasure. Every democratic Senate hopeful should use this evidence as their campaign base…

    • Same.
      And dear GAWWWWWD, do I wish the D’s would weaponize  (politically/verbally) this shit, and USE it to make these folks 100% toxic in their home states, the way the R-side does it to Dems over things which are always soooooooo incredibly much less in comparison.🙃

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