Then Again.....from the middle of the insurrection

The last 4 days have been spent trying to unpack the events of the last week. Lots of readers sent IMs and emails, some calling me Cassandra, others asking how I knew. The better question is why didn't you know?

On November 9th, 2016, a scant 2 days after the election, I posted a special edition: Just So You Know

If minorities are worried, it's for a reason. We've seen this before. 78 years ago today, November 9,1938; there are still living eyewitnesses. It was called Kristallnacht. 

I can imagine why Jews in Germany were thinking this little Austrian paper hanger would be a flash in the governmental pan. But he wasn't and by the time people figured this out, glass was shattered and the borders were closed...except for the one you could pass through on a train heading into Poland. Jews were denied escape routes. President Roosevelt refused entry to the St. Louis; 908 passengers were turned away from the US, Cuba, and Canada. They were sent back to Europe. Many journeys ended in the gas chambers across Europe. 

That was then and this is now. 

Social media provides instant information. We understand what David Duke means when he twits his "people" got Donald Trump elected and his "people" are taking back America.

So let's be real clear about this: 1930 was then and this is now. Donald Trump may be president, but that's not a license to kill, bully, round-up, or terrify. We, the People will not stand idly by while segments of our population are terrorized by roving gangs of white supremacist miscreants. This is still the United States of America and we still have a Constitution. 

Or do we? Wednesday's insurrection was not about looting the Capitol or stealing Nancy Peolosi's mail; it was a full frontal attack on American democracy and the U.S. Constitution.

This meme was posted on Facebook on January 7th, at 12:53 EST. Let's not talk about how incredibly stupid this is, but for a moment, imagine what would have happened had they not been removed from the chambers. Rounded up? Beaten? Executed? Is that what this person wanted to see? I have to think so. The person that posted this was actively advocating for the murder of our Congress. Regardless of people who claimed the storming of the Capitol was "peaceful," had the mob reached a full chamber, the outcome would have been driven by rage. 

On January 8th, 2:15 PM EST, the same person posted a picture of Ashli Babbitt, the vet who was killed inside the Capitol with the status:

The only thing you need to know is she was a domestic terrorist who betrayed her oath.

No flags, no bugles, no salutes.

Expunge her. I’m embarrassed we wore the same badge 

Followed by a photograph of Brian Sicknick, the USCP officer killed by terrorists, with the status:

Now this is a HERO Air Force veteran. PROUD to say we wore the same badge...

All I could think is, "You have been a meme-posting supporter of 'the overturn the election' cabal since the beginning and now you hail this guy as a hero? You fucking hypocrite."

Oh, all the wind-twisting we are getting now. 

To ALL of you who post those memes and bullshit news stories in the name of humor or news:  Sorry folks, you cannot delete all those posts fast enough. You cannot suddenly expect people of reason to forget that you were cheering the insurrection on. Mitch McConnell cannot apologize his way outta this. Mike Pence breaks with Feckless Loser and we're supposed to believe he wasn't lock step with this traitorous SOB? And Melania? Don't even get me started. 

In your hearts, you are ALL still cheering them on. Nazis are Nazis, racists are racist, seditionists are seditionist even if you change your costume. You were pretty clear about how you felt and what you believed. You actions spoke even louder than your psychobabble. 

Former-body-builder-Conan-the-Barbarian-Republican-Gubernator Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered one of the most powerful warnings to We, the People. Arnold knows about this stuff; he grew up in the aftermath of Nazi Austria. He is the son of a Nazi soldier. He called  Wednesday Crystal Day; I think he was spot on. If you haven't seen it, stop now and watch it. 

Guys like Josh Hawley (R. Missouri,) with their closed-fist salutes are still out there. The guy with the Confederate flag marching through the Rotunda is only one of hundreds like him. They still cherish that flag and the slave-society it represented. They are looking for a return to those glory days. And they are going to continue this insurrection because they believe the great Feckless Fraud will be there on the other side to lead them to some kind of victory. They drink the Kool-Aid and swallow the bullshit because they need to believe they are right about something. Anything. Whatever sound bite deflects them from rational reality and into a world where they can blame someone else for their misfortune. 

Social media has done a great job of normalizing extremist content. Various platforms have provided the space and privacy needed to plan this attack and ones to come. There is a finely honed, well-oiled network that spread this stuff. You would have to be living under a rock to think otherwise. If you can marshal your friends for a kegger via social media, what do you think the pros are able to do? There is no doubt in my mind that we have yet to see the depth of this movement. Equally not in doubt, is the idea that they don't need Feckless to do this. If he dies, he's a martyr. If he lives, he's a puppet. Someone else is jerking those strings. 

Feckless Loser may have hosted the pre-storming rally, but the attack was well planned in advance by others. Feckless said he was going to march with them....but disappeared. Where did he go? Why didn't the kids march with the gang of thugs to storm the Capitol? What were they afraid of? Mob mentality? Or plausible deniability?The rioters knew where to go and how to get there. (That some police helped them is another matter for another day.) None of this was spontaneous. The Steve Bannons and Steve Millers of that movement are smart, crafty, and vicious.

Now, if you were to ask most of the rabble in that mob why they are storming the Capitol, they would be unlikely to provide a cogent answer. They don't want a social state (but mom depends on Medicare and Social Security.) The election was stolen by voting machines from Panama? Nah, even the hand counts lined up. They don't want Obamacare, but ask them how they pay for health care? 

Of course, there are those in the crowd who know exactly what they are doing and why. You see orthodox Jews in that crowd, vocal supporters of Feckless Loser because they believe he is good for Israel. They are a part of the one-trick-pony mob. They have an agenda that is exclusive; not unlike the Rapture-ites. They cannot see they are acting like Brownshirts. They think they are not Nazis, but they are Nazis in this crowd. They are participating in their own version of Kristallnacht and don't even see it. They have forgotten the meaning of Chillul HaShem, desecration of the Holy Name. Don't even bother trying to reason with them. You can't. 

And everyone reading this knows it ain't over. The FBI is already warning of armed "demonstrations" being planned for state capitol buildings in all 50 states. Domestic terrorists have a secondary goal, and that is to terrorize the rest of us. Right now, I'm seeing little on how to prevent that, but maybe one just has to decide not to be terrorized. Maybe think of them as Boggarts with a bad edge. I'm not positive that would work, but making up one's mind not to be scared has to be a part of this. Defy them all....get a vaccine! 

I do want Feckless Loser stripped of his civil list pensions and perks. I don't wanna play one red cent for additional Secret Service detail for him, his creepy wife, or his disgusting children. They profited off the Secret Service while he was in office, and I think that should be charged as restitution of this government. I never would've blinked an eye on the perks had he NOT encouraged the attack on the Capitol. He deserves nothing but the bill for the cleaning and repairs of the building he destroyed. 

And I hope that New York State has enough on this jackass to lock him up for the rest of his unnatural life. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

If you're gonna attend a riot, at least wear a mask. 

Not only will it help keep the spread of COVID down,

it'll hide your face from the cameras, and make you harder to track down.

Didn't think of that, didja?

It's Not Just What We Say...

Prepping today's episode, I checked how many times I've used either "evolution in action," or "you can't fix stupid." I have used both phases at least 4 times in the last year. Which makes me worried about repeating myself.

But it also indicates that these are ongoing themes for 2020, and in wrapping up the year, both are applicable to our current condition. And if the truthiness be told, we have blasted past evolution in action, and we are rapidly overtaking you can't fix stupid.

Words matter. What we say and how we say it are important. These days, word choices label you whether or not you want to be labeled, much the way clothing does. It telegraphs what's behind the facade. Instant communication is not necessarily your friend, and if you recall listening to Cronkite, Huntley, or Brinkley, you probably recall they used big, grown-up words. We learned lots of vocabulary from them, and more than that, to some extent, we learned how to transmit big ideas. In school, we also learned about debate. Some of us belonged to debate clubs, some only debated in social studies classes. Whatever the venue, we learned about how words matter.

That, however, is changing. Twitter by itself has altered the face of conversation. Our language these days is much more casual, dotted with jargon, acronyms, and regionalisms. We no longer support a standard for American English. And that bleeds into the formal discourse of news on television.

For example, on December 19, 2020, at time mark 11:52, NBC reporter Kelly O'Donnell was in front of the White House to talk about Russia versus China in the hacking blame game:

A new twist inside Trump World. Russian hacking drives an unexpected wedge between President Trump and his Secretary of State...

I damn near fell off my kitchen stool. The rest of her report was rather unremarkable, nothing earth shaking...except for the opening salvo. And that's what got me thinking about the shift in how people are talking about this administration. The gloves are off. 

Even Billy Barr is leaping off the circus train. Today, he said there are no grounds for appointing special counsel to investigate either election fraud or Hunter Biden,  that the processes in place are just fine. Now, this doesn't mean he doesn't think there is fraud on either side of that conversation, just that he's not about to waste even more taxpayer $$s on narishkeit. His actions, however, are  far from praiseworthy; they remind me of a rat deserting a sinking ship....all in cause of self-interest.

From the transcript of the press conference today, December 21st, 2020.

 Speaker 4: (25:20)

On topic here, what are the prospects that the defendant will be brought back to the US to face justice in a court room? Then if I can off topic, do you believe there should be a special counsel appointed to investigate the allegations against Hunter Biden?

Att.Gen. Barr: (25:37)

On your first question, we think that the prospects are very good. Mas’ud is in the custody of the current government of Libya. We have no reason to think that that government is interested in associating itself with this heinous act of terrorism. So we are optimistic that they will turn over to face justice. On the second question, I think to the extent that there’s an investigation, I think that it’s being handled responsibly and professionally, currently within the department. To this point, I have not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel and I have no plan to do so before I leave.Att.Gen. Barr: (30:33)

and then on to election fraud: 

Att. Gen Barr: (29:46) 

As you said, I’ve already commented on fraud. Let me just say that, there are fraud, unfortunately, in most elections, I think we’re too tolerant of it, and I’m sure there was fraud in this election, but I was commenting on-I’m sure there was fraud in this election, but I was commenting on the extent to which we had looked at suggestions or allegations of systemic or broad-based fraud that would affect the outcome of the election. And I already spoke to that, and I stand by that statement.

 Speaker 3: (30:18)

…Even with what you’ve already said… Do you believe there’s enough evidence to warrant a special counsel to investigate that perhaps Sidney Powell or someone else?

Att.Gen. Barr: (30:33)

Well, if I thought a special counsel at this stage was the right tool and it was appropriate, I would name one, but I haven’t and I’m not going to. 

This is interesting. He is not simply breaking with his overlord on these topics, he does it in an almost dismissive manner. In the press conference,  Barr is his usual no-drama self, even-toned, almost boring. But if you listen to him, there is a shade of the absurd in his voice. You know the sound, where the speaker clearly thinks you (et al) are too stupid to live? Add to that the trace, that soupçon of dismissiveness, as in "these aren't the droids you're looking for." The only thing missing was a tiny wave of the fingers.  But the tone is there, and you know Barr is playing that whole room.

Sometimes, I think all that training and years of directing actors paid off in the strangest ways. I watch this stuff on TV and I'm not just hearing words, I'm hearing intonation. I am seeing body language that screams all sorts of stuff, and I am certain I am not the only one of my theater people friends working really hard not to stand on a street corner screaming, 

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? CAN'T YOU SEE WHAT THEY ARE DOING WITH THEIR LIPS? WITH THEIR BODIES? THIS IS TOTALLY BAD THEATER!

And I can just hear the Junior Son clucking, "Thank you, Captain Obvious." In some small way, I am comforted by that snarky thought because I hope to hell he is right, and lots of people are getting the subliminal messages these folks think we're too dense to get.

Or not.

Last Friday, there was a discussion about overturning the election and imposing martial law. This discussion did not take place in some dimly lit bar smelling of urine, or beneath an overpass of the Jersey Pike, or even in the basement of Doc's candy store. Nope. This conversation took place in the Oval Office. 

According to CNN:

But a heated Oval Office meeting Friday in which Trump heard arguments about invoking martial law to stay in office had some Trump officials sounding the alarm to the press. 

Michael Flynn, Trump's pardoned former national security adviser, discussed the martial law plan on right-wing television network Newsmax last week and was invited to the White House Friday. 

Trump dismissed reports of the martial law discussion as 'fake news' in a tweet Sunday, but two people familiar with the matter told CNN that the the plan was argued in the Oval Office Friday -- although it remains unclear if Trump endorsed the idea.  

Nevertheless, even the mention of martial law may fan the flames of many supporters clinging to the belief the election result was fraudulent. That could incite violence to bring the idea into fruition.

I am not the only one using words like coup d'etat. I used it here in the WP Speaks on May 1, 2017, in an episode called The Decline...  I used it again on July 31st, 2017 in Fast, Faster, Fasting With a Side of Razzle-Dazzle, and then I held off. I got a lot of email about saying we were heading into coup country, so I backed off and watched. My instincts did not change, in fact they became more acute. I used it exactly a year ago this week: Happy Whatever to All. And then last week. 

There has only been one quasi-successful coup, albeit short lived, in this country, and that one began on December 20th, 1860, the day South Carolina seceded from the Union. Ultimately that coup d'etat failed, and the Union was re-established with the surrender at Appomattox on April 9th, 1865.

Approximately one half of this country isn't quite sure this election is valid. These are the people who, when the MAGA-Maniacs come forward, will decide whether or not we are going to have a unified nation. If they side with the angry mob, there will be a civil war, probably a very bloody one.  Do you need the military to have a coup? The short answer is no. At this writing, do we know where the military stands? No. Will they side with the Constitution or the President? No one is talking.

The real fun is gonna start on January 21st. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

MASK UP, STAY HOME 

until they tell your it's your turn to get a frickin' vaccine.

If you are still an anti-vaxxer after this, you need your head examined. 

I'm Not A Loser: Coup, Coup, Ca'joup

Over the course of time, several readers have objected to my using the word feckless in describing the theoretically most powerful man on the political planet.  I will address that concern now.

From the Merriam-Webster dictionary

Definition of FECKLESS

1

: WEAK, INEFFECTIVE

2

: WORTHLESS, IRRESPONSIBLE

Originally, feckless usually preceded the word Leader but more recently it precedes the word Loser for obvious reasons. And frankly, it is the right word to describe the current occupant of the White House. I was so hoping to retire the word in November, but alas, I find it remains part of my daily vocabulary. 

But I may be wrong about Feckless Loser. Feckless Loser has done something no other POTUS has done before him: he has enabled the start of a coup d'etat. In the event that you know the term but are unsure of its exact meaning:

coup d'etat

plural coups d'état or coups d'etat\ ˌkü-​(ˌ)dā-​ˈtä  , ˈkü-​(ˌ)dā-​ˌtä , -​də-​ \ also coup d'états or coup d'etats

Definition of coup d'état

: a sudden decisive exercise of force in politicsespecially : the violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group

Now, this is the thing about a coup d'etat: it is never sudden and it is not always violent. A coup doesn't just  happen. A successful coup is carefully planned with exactitude and precision. The groundwork is often laid well in advance by those who are planning to overthrow a government. There are coups and attempted coups (like the ones of Arab Spring) that were sudden and ultimately failed because once they had control of the government, the overthrowers didn't know what to do or how to run a government. That's not what's happening here.

With Feckless Loser at the helm of this sinking GOP ship, he continues to refuse to concede an election that he lost both in popular and electoral votes. His idiocracy minions are dispatched to throw dust into the eyes of We, the People. The recent performance of Giuliani and that caricature, Mellissa Carone, is not nearly as mystifying as some would like to think. It's intention. It's designed to distract. 

Mellissa Carone reminds me of someone. It took me a while and a few video clips to figure out who, but I did. The look is familiar enough, even with the difference in hair color. The updo and the glasses help. But it was the tenor of the voice. This is a star witness? Really? No one in their right mind would parade this woman in front of a panel of lawmakers as a star witness UNLESS there was some other reason. A distraction? A red herring? An attempt to make We, the People, believe this is some kind of ruse, because no one, after listening to Mellissa Carone, would believe she was doing anything but bad acting. Her claims to be a cyber-security analyst are pretty flimsy. You can check her Facebook or Linked In profiles. Either way, she's nothing more than a distraction, a misdirection.

And what are you being directed away from? Lots of things: dog whistles, pointed silences, and subtle-and-not-so-subtle calls to arms. Or maybe it was that the White House wanted to deflect attention away from their decline to purchase more than 50 million doses of COVID vaccine from Pfizer? 

Shortly after Gabriel Sterling's passionate speech calling for Feckless Loser to stop undermining American democracy, The Great Orange tweeted

70,000,000 people are poised to believe this. That means roughly half of the voting population of this country entertains serious thought that this election is invalid. Of that portion of the voting population, perhaps a quarter of them or roughly 35,000,000 believe it enough to join a movement to overturn this election. 

Add to the number this trivial factoid: just 27 out of 248 Republican legislators have conceded that Joe Biden won the presidential election.

Do you seriously think Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller are sitting around doing nothing? 

Hardly. Feckless Loser and his much smarter, much more savvy cabal are lining up their minions for the showdown. This is not a joke, and it's not out on a limb. Every tweet, every rally, every speech is a call to arms.

I am really tired of writing about this stuff, but you, readers, urge me to continue to blow the whistle, sound the horn, and keep calling the emperor naked. I am preaching to the choir. On the other hand, if people keep saying, "this is real, this is a possibility," then perhaps we will be better prepared to fight back. 

I do not know if a coup d'etat will eventually take place. All the signs are there. People who have lived through them in other countries are screaming that this is a warning and we cannot ignore it. We must prepare ourselves for the possibility of civil unrest if not a full blown civil war. 

Make no mistake: the lack of measures to stem the pandemic are NOT unrelated to this. And to that end, we can only hope and pray for evolution in action: the demise of the galactically stupid who refuse to mask up and practice safe socializing.

Meanwhile. continue to follow the rules. Don't think it can't happen to you, and don't think it can't happen here. BOTH can.  You've been apprised.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Are fruit flies seeming to buzz before your eyes... then disappear?
 Are you turning on more lights than usual?

You may have cataracts.

Happy to Be Wrong; Nervous About Being Right

Yes, I was surprised. I truly did not expect Biden and Harris to prevail. I expected it to be close, possibly contested in some places, but I did not allow myself to believe the blue ticket would be the winner. 

Ruby Bridges walked so Kamala Harris could run

Something happened on Saturday night when Kamala Harris addressed the nation first. You could hear glass ceilings shattering all over the country. The power in Harris's stature, presence, and words was not lost on little girls across the country. As she said, "I may be the first woman to hold this office. But I won’t be the last.”  Little Miss stayed up late to hear her speak. According to my daughter-in-law, she completely understood what she was seeing on that stage. As she got into bed, Little Miss told her mother, "I liked Kamala. She made me feel happy." That is the power of Kamala Harris: Girl Power. 

But the election is not yet over. While we think we know who won, we're not 100% sure yet. Tallies are not all certified, electors have not yet voted. And the GOP is flinging lawsuits around like confetti. Nor am I surprised that Feckless Loser is refusing to concede. I don't have much to say about that, short of how could the Dems have stolen the election if all those Republicans picked up seats in the House and held seats in the Senate?  That would've been a feat of monumental proportions and frankly, I don't think our technology is anywhere near that sophisticated. 

To be sure, every vote must be counted. 

Let me say that again: EVERY VOTE MUST BE COUNTED.

It took over 7 months for Al Franken to be certified as our Senator back in 2009. Ziggy, who tried so hard to hang on to see the decision, died 3 days after oral arguments started on June 1st. 26 days later the Minnesota Supreme Court rejected Norm (the jackass) Coleman's appeal. (Note: Norm and I never saw eye on eye on anything....we had a history.) So, We, the People of Minnesota, have truly been there, done that, and have gotten the t-shirts. And we still believe EVERY VOTE MUST BE COUNTED.

Meanwhile, back at the White House: Feckless Loser can do a huge amount of damage in the waning days of his presidency. He fired his Secretary of Defense via tweet. (Would that he would fire Betsy DeVos. No such luck.) Not that he or his party is focused on the state of the nation. They are too busy sending out letters asking for money to fight the "theft" of this election. 

A friend in Israel, a DFL'er of the old school, has been slammed with dozens of these emails. And they are pretty scary. She sent me a selection and y'know, there is something seriously sick about them. This is what one looked like:

Xxxxxx, President Trump needs your help. The Democrats are trying to STEAL this Election and the Fake News can’t be bothered to report on it. It’s madness. The Left knows the American People want FOUR MORE YEARS of President Trump, and they just can’t handle it. We’re emailing you now with a very urgent request. We need YOU to step up and publicly stand with your President. With your help, we’ll send a RESOUNDING message to the Liberal MOB that REAL Patriots support President Trump 100%. President Trump needs you right now, Xxxxxx. We’re going to send him a list of EVERY supporter who adds their name in the NEXT HOUR. Please add your name IMMEDIATELY to stand with your President and to DEFEND the Election from the Radical Left. >>   STAND WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP PETITION Please confirm your information below:   xxxxx@gmail.com   ADD YOUR NAME NOW >>

Every single Patriot has to step up to protect the integrity of our Election.

We’re sending President Trump a list of ALL the Patriots who step up RIGHT NOW. Make sure your name is at the VERY TOP.

Please add your name IMMEDIATELY to get your name at the TOP of the list President Trump sees.

Thank you,

Team Trump 2020

This is the line that scares me the most:

With your help, we’ll send a RESOUNDING message to the Liberal MOB that REAL Patriots support President Trump 100%.

Yeah, I know it's part of the rhetoric, but dog whistles are real and this is one. There are people out there who will get these emails and read them as a call to arms. You know it and I know it. There is no election fraud. 

Try to understand the sheer number of votes cast in the election. According to the Associated Press:

• 147,757,158 votes cast   
•   76,326,728  votes (50.8%) cast for Biden/Harris 
•   71,350,307  votes (47.5%) cast for Trump/Pence
•     4,976,421. vote margin 

 Now, take a quick look at 2016. In case you forgot, Clinton won the popular vote:

• 128,838,341 votes  cast
•   65,853,516 votes (48.5%) cast for Clinton/Kaine
•   62,984,825 votes (46.4)  cast for Trump/Pence
•     2,868,691  vote margin

Clinton lost in the electoral college, even though she had a 2.1% lead in the popular vote. Once it was established that Feckless Loser would win in the electoral college, Clinton offered a gracious concession. There were no recount demands, not calls to arms, just a concession. Which is how it's supposed to work. 

But that is not what's happening here. And I am not certain we should be surprised. 71,350,307 were cast for Feckless loser, that was 47%, only slightly less than half the country. HALF. You think they are going to just disappear like CoronaVirus was supposed to disappear? 

Far from it. A whole lotta that half has gone underground where they can fester in the cabals and caves. There are militias in them thar hills and they are taking this stuff seriously. They are gonna send a RESOUNDING message to the Liberal MOB that REAL Patriots support President Trump 100%.

Hate festers. It is what is does best and this will have 3 years to fester while it looks for a new face. The next time, the GOP won't allow a crass, classless, reality show host to take the top of the ticket. Oh, no, that will not be repeated. instead, it will be someone slicker, someone better able to soothe while riling up the base. That person will take on Joe and Kamala and possibly wipe the floor with them only because more than half this country will still be racist, misogynistic, and willing to believe a pot of money will fall out of the sky for them if they enter the Presidential Clearing House Sweepstakes. They drink the Kool-Aid because they want to believe the American Dream is for them, too. Those are the ones who will enable the next attempt at deconstructing America. 

I appreciated President-Elect Biden's echoing of last week's episode when he said, 

America has always been shaped by inflection points — by moments in time where we've made hard decisions about who we are and what we want to be.

This is the core of that which must be done. In the healing, there must be listening. We, the People, cannot simply ignore that which is inconvenient. We do need to address the internal workings of this nation to find that middle ground. There will never be total unity and agreement, but there has to be common ground on which we can all stand while we figure out what's best for this nation from the inside out. 

The path before Biden and Harris is fraught with danger...from both sides. I do not envy them the task. That said, they are far more prepared and able to care for the national condition of the United States. I believe them both when they say they will listen to scientists and doctors. They are already putting together a terrific COVID Response team. I believe them when they say they will work with other world leaders to repair the damage inflicted on our reputation. 

I want to be hopeful. I want to be optimistic. 

I'm not there yet. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Let's play a game: How long until Melania files for divorce?

I am taking bets.

Who Are We versus What Are We

I awoke with a massive headache this morning. This is rather unusual for me. I would like to blame staying up too late, having a Dubonnet cocktail at midnight which did absolutely nothing to help me sleep, and incipient terror. All of the above. 

At the same time, a single question rattles around my brain: Who Are We?

I know some of my conservative GOP type friends will tell me the lies and hate speech came from both sides. That the memes and the social media were all lashon ha'rah, evil tongue. And they tell me that they are as afraid of antifa as I am of the new white supremacist movement lining the highways ready to push Biden buses off the road. 

Did leftist rebels line highways to ambush Trump supporters? Did anyone go around spray painting VOTE BLUE on headstones? Did I miss that on Fox? I might have; I've not had the news on, except for PBS election results, for the last 4 days. 

The corollary to the first question is: What Are We?

At this moment, we do not yet know who will prevail in the presidential election. Frankly, I don't think it matters much. You see, we are not WHO we thought we were and we certainly not WHAT we thought we were. 

A number of people posted about the desecration of graves in the Jewish Cemetery in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I posted it, too, because I have connections to the rabbi in that community. In the thread of my cousins' sharing of the post, a woman wrote: 

You don’t know me, but I support Trump. And I do not harbor hate and racism nor do my friends and family. This horrible act comes from those who do harbor hate and racism, which comes in all colors of skin, religious and political people. Unfortunately, there will always be those who hate...can’t get away from it. But don’t categorize and judge people you don’t know. Just my opinion.

Her statement bothered me a great deal. I replied:

Perhaps you should visit your local GOP office after the election to explain that you don't want to be associated with hate crimes, and to ask why they aren't they [sic]  denouncing these things publicly, loudly, and emphatically....which is hard to do when the leader of the party openly praises his cadre when they shove a bus off the road.

Lots of nice people just close their curtains and look away when their neighbors are victimized and assaulted because, after all, they don't want to get involved. Unless you are standing up and shouting, "THIS IS NOT OKAY," you are enabling stuff like this to happen.

And she replied:

I am not enabling anything. Racism and hate began in the homes of children brought up in that environment...these people were not born racist and hateful. It is not a political motivation unless they have separate agendas and mental problems, which all racists, I believe, do.

I don’t need to knock on the doors of a GOP office and denounce bad behavior or prove what I believe in. My beliefs are well know to my family, friends and neighbors, who are the only ones I answer to. I stand up for the right thing to do, which back our men and women in the military and the men and women in blue, and have my neighbors back, no matter which political party they endorse. 

"I am not enabling anything."

There you have it in a nutshell. She doesn't understand that enabling is exactly what she is doing. Like all those nice Germans, she looks the other way when it counts. And near as I can tell almost 50% of this country agrees with her. And if that is indeed the case, we have some pretty big things to think about between now and January whatever. 

She pretty much sums up who we are with her statement. We have become a nation that does what we are told. 

 I stand up for the right thing to do, which back our men and women in the military and the men and women in blue...

I don't think she is unique or uncommon at any level. She's a good American. She's a proud patriot, although I suspect she has no idea that the Revolutionary War was a revolt against just that authority. She has been indoctrinated to believe the propaganda...from either side. She thinks JFK was a martyr, but she doesn't know for what cause. She thinks MLK did a lot for the Blacks, but has no idea what. In many ways, she is just like the rest of us. And she never thinks to ask. She embodies the national WHO ARE WE? 

Shopkeepers all across the country have boarded up windows in preparation for the riots expected to happen once the election is called for one party or the other. Has this ever happened in our history before? Other than DEWEY WINS, has a candidate, much less a sitting president, ever declared victory before all the votes were tallied?  In a speech in the wee hours of November 4th, our president said the following:

This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election. We did win this election. So our goal now is to ensure the integrity for the good of this nation. This is a very big moment. This is a major fraud in our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So we’ll be going to the US Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We don’t want them to find any ballots at four o’clock in the morning and add them to the list. Okay? It’s a very sad moment. To me this is a very sad moment and we will win this. And as far as I’m concerned, we already have won it.

Did anyone ever tell this president how elections are counted in this country, and that no tally is official until it is declared certified, much less processed by the Electoral College? We already know he was absent the day they taught three-branches-of-government-checks-and-balances. 

But screw him. You cannot fix anyone that stupid because he's not running the show. Someone else is. But screw him, too. In the end, this is about our national identity...you know...the one that is in a shambles. If our reputation is in the toilet, we have only ourselves to blame. 

WHAT ARE WE? as a national identity must be stripped naked for re-examination. We, the People, are not simply how the rest of the world sees us: rock'n'roll, bad Bermuda shorts, and lo-fat dressing on the side.  There is some pretty ugly stuff in our nation's history that we coded into laws. We made pain and suffering not merely legal, our government has encouraged it, made it mandatory. We, the People, are beginning to identify and own these shameful episodes.The conversation has been forced on America in a new way...through the death of our own citizenry.  If we want to know WHAT WE ARE, those have to be more than discussions; there must be actions along with them. 

Half the country thinks the current administration is just fine enough to keep in office. 

Let me say that again: half the country thinks the sitting president, his behavior, his policies, and his disdain for facts and science are all okay with them. 

What We, the People, take for action will determine WHAT WE ARE as a nation. Do not think for one New York minute that the eyes of the world aren't laser focused on what we do next. 

If Feckless Leader wins another term after the votes are tallied, recounted (as I'm sure they will be) and ultimately certified, then so be it. We, the People, have elected the government we deserve. 

How we deal with that knowledge will ultimately be up to each of us. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Stay sane.