The new year is just a week old, and it looks as if 2022 is kicking off with an abundance of outrageously idiotic statements and actions. I may have to make this a regular feature on this blog, if I can keep up with all the idiocy. Of course, this week included Jan. 6th, so maybe that ran up the numbers, but here we go:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi decided that the "solemn anniversary of the worst attack on democracy ever" was an occasion to bring in the cast of the Broadway musical Hamilton to virtually perform the song "Theodosia" on Zoom, which even the left wing Daily Beast called "inexplicable." I'm reminded of the time that the French-looking John Kerry, who served in Vietnam, brought James Taylor to France after the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack to sing "You've Got a Friend." What is it with Democrats using music in a cringeworthy manner?
Vice President Kamala Harris is just continuing her normal pattern of saying idiotic things, this year. Even though such "luminaries" as George Will have been scorched for trying to compare Jan. 6th to 9/11/01, she went there, and beyond. According to VP Harris, not only was Jan. 6th comparable to 9/11, but to Dec. 7th, "a day that will live in infamy." That's when Imperial Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and drew the US into WWII. I can't fathom why she would make such an assertion in such a public forum, unless she thinks that all Americans are the idiots, and not her and her staff who wrote that speech.
Pres. Biden made the same comparisons, and added Selma, Alabama, to tie the riot in to the unconstitutional federal election law that his party is trying to pass. However, this statement caught my eye: "Patriots? Not in my view" Biden said. "You can't love your country only when you win. You can't obey the law only when it's convenient. You can't be patriotic when you embrace and enable lies." He was talking about Republicans who support Pres. Trump, but it seems to apply to many in his own party. Didn't Dems excuse the rioting in 2020, when Trump was president? How about the idea that America is "structurally racist," as is the whole free market capitalist economic system? Do any Republicans promote that? No, that statement was an example of the president projecting the unpopular ideals of his own party on to Republicans. The Jan. 6th rioters were not representative of the Republican party, which is why his speech fell flat. A final note on fixing the issues that made Jan. 6th an issue at all: The WSJ advises changing the Electoral Count Act, instead of trying to federalize election laws.
Then there was a joint statement from some guys named Paul, Steve, and Antonio, three retired military lifers who think that their opinions make a bit of difference in anyone's mind, except the editors at the Washington Post (their op-ed is behind a paywall, so I'm linking to the sympathetic Salon story about it.) These three has-beens "laid out a hypothetical scenario that could lead to a divide within the armed forces if there is a repeat of what happened following the 2020 election." They seem to be filling in a "paint by numbers" version of the same warped fantasy every progressive has been pushing since Trump was elected in 2016. If we were to believe them, then Trump gave his best shot on Jan. 6th, 2021, and it didn't come close. My longer response to them on FB, along with a link to Newsweek's story about it, is HERE.
Besides the Jan. 6th idiocy, it seems that the Supreme Court gave us quite a few examples in the oral arguments over Pres. Biden's OSHA vaccine mandate. Justice Sotomayor led the pack, saying that "Omicron is as deadly as Delta," and "we have over 100,000 children, which we've never had before, in serious condition...and many on ventilators." I understand that Justices are only supposed to look at facts that have been presented in court, so where did she get these absolutely incorrect facts from? (The actual number is 3,342, and that includes children hospitalized for other reasons who were found to have Covid. In NYS, that number is 43%)
It's almost understandable that she is so ignorant of the medical facts, but my previous conviction of her being a hack, with a weak understanding of Constitutional law was affirmed, when she said "I'm not sure I understand why the states would have the power... but the federal government wouldn't," regarding the vaccine mandate. I'm no Constitutional scholar, but I know that the federal government's power is restricted by the Constitution to a greater degree than the individual states. From the article linked above, "powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited to it by the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
There was more. She compared a person with Covid to a machine emitting sparks. Not kidding. In other words, Justice Sotomayor made some incredibly idiotic statements, on the record, in her role as a Supreme Court Justice. I'll be extremely surprised if she votes to overturn this clearly unconstitutional OSHA rule.
Justice Breyer then inserted his foot into his mouth, claiming that "hospitals are almost full," and that "750 million new cases" had been reported yesterday. Even if he meant 750,000, a quick search reveals that in NYS, which is being hit hardest right now, almost half of hospitalized patients with Covid were not hospitalized for Covid, similar to the numbers for children. That means that around 350,000 people didn't have any symptoms, and only found out they had Covid when they were tested, after going to a hospital for something else.
Finally, Justice Kagan, weighing in on the vaccine mandate for health care workers at providers funded by Medicare or Medicaid, also avoided the Constitutional merits of the rule, instead claiming that vaccinated workers cannot transmit Covid. While it may reduce the window of transmission, the science clearly shows that vaccinated people can still transmit Covid. Again, a liberal Justice is using incorrect facts that are not entered as evidence to formulate her opinion/argument. I suppose my biggest concern about what these Justices are doing is that they are asserting facts not in evidence, rather than letting the litigants prove their arguments.
That's what I collected for this first week of 2022, but I'm sure I missed a bunch. In time, I should streamline the process, and catch more idiocy every week. It's not like there's going to be a shortage any time soon...
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