Why The "Right" Is Wrong #179 By Hank Silverberg
Flash! The right-wing is consistently wrong about what Americans want and how Americans think.
Virginia GOP Demands Investigation of Professor for Anti-Trump Tweets (msn.com)
I personally know both of these men. Dr. Fauci has served his country for 50 years and has been the source of accurate medical information for decades. Way before the pandemic or the recent surge in false information, he was the go-to guy when you wanted information on infectious diseases, and he was always on the mark. He was never a political player. He made his comments based on science until former President Trump continued to spread false and dangerous information about Covid-19. That forced Fauci to counter with the truth, which often sounded like he was criticizing Trump. He wasn't playing politics. He was giving out the best information available. Dr. Fauci deserves honors for his performance during the pandemic, not self- righteous criticism from politicians desperately trying to hold on to power.
On the same track, Dr. Sabato is one of the best political analysts in the United States and has looked at politics from all sides for decades. The Center for Politics at UVA https://centerforpolitics.org/home has a stellar reputation and I personally used Sabato as a good source for years. He, too, was not "political" until he was forced to be by events that threatened the very existence of the Republic. Although he works for a taxpayer-funded university, he too was pushed over the line by the outrageous kind of politics fostered by Trump and his minions. Sabato has always called out dumb things that politicians have done or said, both Republicans and Democrats. Yes, he tweeted negative things about Trump. There were, without a doubt, lots of negative things about Trump including his nonsensical and destructive public policy and his bombastic, sometimes tyrannical, personal behavior.
Here is Sabato's tweeted response to the GOP's call for investigating him.
Kennedy and Sabato are right, of course.
The right-wing has been wrong about everything, from their attack on scientists trying to save us from a vicious virus, to their apathy or even approval of the January 6th attack on the Capitol Building.
They are wrong about Fauci and Sabato, too. We can only hope that those who spread the truth will not be silenced by those who continue to lie or enable other liars.
To those of my readers who remember my previous 40 years of work as an objective, traditional journalist and think I, too, have crossed some invisible line here with this edition of my blog, I have not. The job of a journalist is to report the truth as they see it based on facts. That's what I continue to do.
Another Example of GOP Nonsense:
“Honestly, right now, for the next 18 months, our job is to do everything we can to slow all of that down to get to December of 2022, and then get in there and lead.”
He then went on to criticize the Republicans in the Senate who had worked out a compromise deal with the Democrats on the multi-trillion dollar infrastructure package.
The Congressman, of course, has got it all wrong. Like many of his colleagues, he has forgotten why he was sent to Washington. His job is not to delay or obstruct. His job is to do what he can to help the American public, specifically his own constituents, to live better lives. That means a country where our roads and bridges don't fall down and everyone, no matter who they voted for, has clean water and equal access to broadband and other services.
The compromise plan agreed to, with some Republican support, would allocate $312 billion for transportation programs and $266 billion to areas like water infrastructure, broadband expansion and environmental remediation. Much of this money will go to rural counties where Republicans have more votes. It's not about rewarding your voters. It's about making America a better place to live. Trump never understood that. Apparently he left that stain on the entire GOP.
House Republican says colleagues' 'job' is to slow Democratic priorities | TheHill
Bobby Lee's Last Ride!
It took longer than the Civil War, but Robert E. Lee's statue has finally been removed from its prominent place in Charlottesville, Virginia. Stonewall Jackson's statue trotted out right behind him.
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| Stonewall Jackson statue being removed 7/10/21) (Courtesy City of Charlottesville) |
The statues had been in Charlottesville since the 1920's taunting Virginia's Black population through the Jim Crow era, the Civil Right's movement of the 60's and the racially motivated violence in our current climate.
It's not clear yet where the generals will end up. There were ten offers to take them that the city council must now consider.
As for Lee and Jackson? Historical figures they were. People to lionize and celebrate they were not. Lee broke his oath to the U .S. Army and led a rebel army in a bloody revolt against the United States. Jackson, somewhat of a cult figure in his own time, was an avowed racist.
We do need heroes. And monuments to real heroes are not a bad thing. But these men were not heroes. It's good those statues are gone!
Nazi Police Dogs?
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| (This picture is from the company's website) |
It's one of the biggest K-9 training facilities in the United States and it's called Adlerhorst, or Eagle's Nest, the same name as Adolf Hitler's Bavarian hideaway in the Alps. The Riverside, California training facility has supplied dogs to more than 300 police agencies around the country, and its owner has been sued dozens of times over injuries caused by dogs that are trained there. The name of the training center has been a source of distress since the 1990's, though the owner swears he did not know the connection to the Nazis until recently.
The business buys its dogs from Europe. Some are trained in Riverside. Others are sent elsewhere. Police dogs have served a variety of functions for decades, including drug sniffing and explosives detection. But they have also been widely used to suppress protests from Bull Conner's dogs attacking Black protestors in Birmingham in 1963, to their use to disperse crowds during the recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations last summer.
VICE news is quoting a Los Angeles Civil Rights attorney named Dewitt Lacy, who has represented more than a dozen people bitten by police K-9's. He says the Adlerhorst name and its acceptance by its clients gives some insight into the psyche of law enforcement officers.
"Can we disregard blatant and outright symbols like we see with Alderhorst?" he says.
Any way you look at it, the owner's resistance to changing the name says a lot about the company's attitude and the insensitivity of the agencies buying the animals.
Dumbest Quote of The Week
A repeat appearance here for dimwitted Colorado Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert. It came at a July 4th rally by a group called "Stand For The Constitution." With one of her guns in a holster on her hip and fresh from a Trump rally in Florida, the Congresswoman made several references to God in her speech. That is not unusual for a politician. But then she said this:
“God is on the throne...it doesn’t matter who is President; we serve the almighty King. Trump has not given up and he will not give up.” The way she phrased it, I'm not sure her King is God or Trump.
Last month she had said her election was "an anointment from God."
The irony is obvious. A group called "Stand for the Constitution" apparently likes a QAnon conspiracy theorist who doesn't understand the U.S. Constitution, which specifically prohibits a religious test for those who hold public office. The
“...all men are equally entitled to enjoy the freedom of exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience.”
This is often used by religious conservatives when they talk about practicing religion their way, but rarely used by them to acknowledge the freedom of others to disagree with them.
Madison's words that eventually morphed into the The First Amendment clearly mandate freedom of religion, but they also mandate freedom FROM religion.
Congresswoman Boebert, God did not anoint you or anyone else. The voters did. Any politician who forgets that won't be in office very long.
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