Week of 01/25/2021

 President Biden: Do Not Make The Mistake Of 2009 In 2021
– by David Matthews 2

So here we are in 2021 with an old name but a brand-new president.

The orange narcissistic “Could’ve-Been King with his army of Meanwhiles and Never-Weres”... to borrow from “Doctor Who"... have been removed from the White House.  No more will we be an international embarrassment.  No more will we have to see a pampered prissy man-child at the G-7 riding in his princess golf cart while world leaders walked together way ahead of him.  No more seeing a clueless idiot staring right into a solar eclipse from the White House.  No more junk-food buffets in the White House or that insane “Diet Coke Button” that turned out to be real.  The stench of cheap New Jersey spray-tans and loaded Depends is gone.  “Diaper Don” is now the problem of the Mar a Lago housekeeping staff, and maybe that won’t be for long either.

Now residing in the White House as the 46^th President of the United States is Joe Biden.  The former two-term Vice President, longtime U.S. Senator, and really-longtime presidential wannabe has finally made his dream come true. 

And it’s not easy for this commentator to say, but Biden really earned this.  He didn’t cheat.  He didn’t play the dirty games that the Trump Party (formerly the GOP/Republicans) are well-known for.  Hell, he didn’t even start with any kind of money going into the primaries.  He was the punching bag for all of the other wannabes, including and especially from the woman who is now his Vice President.  He got the nomination on name only, and he won the Presidential Election of 2020 because of that and because he was not Donald John Trump or anything close to that corrupt mob boss.

So Narcissist Trump is gone.  He is out.  Good riddance!  President Joe Biden is now the man.

And now we have a problem that President Biden must not repeat.

Let’s go back to when Biden was first sworn in as Vice President in 2009 alongside President Barack Obama. 

The two of them inherited a mess.  A literal mess called the Great Recession.  Millions laid off.  Banks collapsing left-and-right.  Millions losing their homes through foreclosure, many of them through no fault of their own but because of criminal acts from lenders.  There was an attempt to fix things back in the previous November with a huge stinking bailout for the supposed “Too Big To Fail” banks, but it wasn’t enough.  The automakers were on the verge of collapse.  The banks began screwing over their customers with impunity. 

Yes, there was some action taken under Obama and Biden.  Tax breaks were given.  More industries got bailed out.  Banks got re-regulated to curb their criminal fleecing.

But there was something that Obama (and, by extension, Biden) categorically did not do that also needed to be done.

They did not hold the banks to account for their part in creating the Great Recession.

Not one of the “Too Big To Fail” bank execs were charged or arrested with their criminal activity.  Oh, bank execs fudged numbers on loan applications?  Sorry.  Oh, bank execs concealed the terms of loans to customers?  Too bad.  Oh, people got foreclosed on because bank execs were calling in the loans when they had no legal authority to?  Oops.

Millions were left homeless.  Millions were left unemployed.  The millionaires and billionaires were allowed to get away with their criminal activity and continue to make obscene profits while millions of Americans suffered and struggled to survive.  And all because President Obama (and, by extension, Vice President Biden) failed to do his part and hold those banks and their execs to account for their criminal activity.  Instead, they were allowed to get away with paying pocket change for a “penalty” and a mealy-mouthed promise to “do better”.

Except that they didn’t “do better”. 

Wells Fargo, one of the “Too Big To Fail” banks that survived the collapse even stronger than before, got caught in 2016 creating multiple accounts on their clients without their knowledge or consent.  Customers were finding out they were having to pay fees for additional accounts they did not ask for and they were not informed were being imposed on them.  Mortgages were modified without customer authorization.  Small businesses were being overcharged for credit card transactions.  Half-a-million clients ended up with auto insurance they did not ask for or need.  Mortgages were penalized and cars repossessed through gross mismanagement of the bank.

How many of the execs went to prison?  Not one.

Once again, they just paid pocket change for a “penalty”, their CEO was allowed to step down, and the person who initiated the whole criminal activity was given a golden parachute before the whole thing went public.

Sound like the only “lesson” the banks learned was they can get away with anything as long as they pay pocket change and make a fake promise to “do better”, until the next time they get caught.

That is the part of President Obama’s legacy that nobody wants to talk about.  For all the things that he did, both good and not-so-good, his people did not bring the banks to account when they needed to, and Americans continue to suffer for that.

By the way, when Iceland held their banks to account for their criminal activity, there was an almost instant economic recovery.

So here we are twelve-years later.  President Obama is gone.  The “Could’ve-Been King” is gone.  Joe Biden is now President.  And, much like Obama, Joe has a mess handed to him.  We have a global pandemic that the narcissist mismanaged beyond repair.  Thousands are dying every day.  Thousands!  We have an economic collapse that is shutting down business after business, despite the claims of the so-called “miraculous recovery” that only applies to the wealthy.  Joe has to also clean up the damage done to America’s standing and reputation because of the orange man-child’s actions and policies over the past 4 years.

And President Biden has to deal with the people that tried to overthrow the government for their narcissistic “Could’ve-Been King”.

Yes, overthrow.  On January 6^th, the Capitol Building was stormed by that very crowd of “Meanwhiles and Neverweres” that was wound up by that “Could’ve-Been King”.  They overran the Capitol Police that tried to stop them, while others helped the mob and took selfies with them.  They ransacked the House and Senate and the congressional offices.  They carried the flag of the Confederate through the rotunda.  They killed a police officer and dragged an officer out to be assaulted with the American Flag.  Several of them carried weapons, zip ties, and rope.  A significant part of that mob was not there to protest; they were there to kill lawmakers and the then-Vice President of the United States.  They even erected a scaffolding with a noose in front of the Capitol Building.

This was an attempted overthrow of the government in order to keep Narcissistic then-President Donald John Trump in office and in power.  And thankfully it was stopped, but only after said narcissist went in front of the cameras and quite literally told them “Go home.  We love you.  You’re very special.”

Yes, the “Could’ve-Been King” was impeached for the insurrection.  The first time in history that a sitting president was twice-impeached.  Conviction, however, is almost as difficult as the first impeachment trial just last year.  Yes, the rules will be different because the Senate is no longer rigged for Narcissist Trump, but Democrats still need 17 Trump Party senators to convict plus all 50 of their senators.

Yes, various factions of federal law enforcement are investigating and arresting those that took part.  But not everyone that took part in the insurrection are being treated equally.  Remember, a police officer was killed directly because of that insurrection.  Under the felony murder rule, everyone there who took part in the insurrection, whether they engaged with that officer or ransacked the offices or just stood around in the rotunda and cheered at the carnage, every single one of them needs to be charged with that officer’s murder.  *Every*.  *Single*.  *One*.  Not just “trespassing” or “refusal to leave”.  Murder.  First Degree.  Every one of them.

But what about the rest of the “Army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres”?  They also need to be held to account, including those in Congress who helped whip up the mob and reverberate the lies that led to the insurrection.  Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and all the rest who contributed to the madness, who helped rile them up, who knew in advance what was about to happen and claimed in their social media accounts that January 6^th would be *their* “1776”.  And they too need to be charged accordingly and expelled from their cushy positions of power and privilege.

And this is where the problem comes in; because the party of insurrection, the party of corruption and criminal activity, the party of privilege and supremacy, is now whining about “unity” and “moving forward” and forgetting this ever happened as they instantly become what they are notorious for being when not in power: the party of sabotage, the party of stagnation, the party of conflict and filibuster and “whatabout” and “both sides” and fake equivalence.

President Joe Biden, this commentator can understand your need for “unity” and “moving forward” as you expressed in your inaugural address.  This has been your cause from day one of your campaign.  You want us to move past tribalism and jingoism and hyperpartisan hate and work together to fix the huge problems before us, namely the global pandemic and the economic destruction because of it.

I get it.  I understand.  I sympathize.  It is in your nature as a Catholic to want unity and forgiveness.  Love thy neighbor, even from across the aisle.  Turn the other cheek, even as they spit in it.  We need to work together to deal with the global pandemic.  I understand that.

But at the same time, there can be no unity when you have one side that is still virulent and now proven violently hostile to everything that you stand for and want.  Where their definition of “unity” is nothing short of appeasement to their demands; and their definition of “moving forward” means you and the rest of the country carrying on as though the “Could’ve-Been King” is still in charge.  That is not “unity”.  That is capitulation to terrorists and seditionists.  That is surrender, and I thought we don’t do that.

Let’s get brutally honest here, President Biden... the worst mistake you could make would be to let the insurrectionists and the party of insurrection get away with their crimes, just like your former boss, President Obama, let the “Too Big To Fail” crowd get away with their criminal activities in 2009.  The banks and Wall Street did not “learn” from the Great Recession other than that they can get away with crimes if they throw pocket change at it.  The criminal antics of Wells Fargo proved that to be true.  So too will the party of insurrection and sabotage and jingoistic hostility if they are allowed to get away with their acts of sedition with just a handful of convictions of the worst of the worst.  The only lesson they will learn is that they can keep going further and further extreme with impunity.

We cannot “lower the temperature” when one side is still turning up the heat and fanning the flames of hostility.  We cannot have “unity” when one side is still stoking chaos and division.  It is that simple, sir.

Your immediate predecessor, the “Could’ve-Been King” Narcissist Trump, actually said it best when he said that elections have consequences.  He is not in office anymore.  You are.  His “Army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres” are not in power.  The Democrats are.  Bring the “Could’ve-Been King and his Army of Meanwhile and Neverweres” to justice.  Spearhead the fight.  See that they are prosecuted and held to account.  Only then we can talk about “unity” and “moving forward”.

Special Comment - 01/10/2020

 Special Comment:
The Insurrection of 2021
– by David Matthews 2

On January 6^th, 2021, in a date that will live in infamy on the same level as September 11, 2001, and December 7^th, 1941, the America itself was under attack.  But not from enemies from different countries.  Not from Saudi-born terrorists or Japanese airmen.  Rather, America was attacked by our own people.

On January 6^th, 2021, a mob went from a rally outside of the White House over to the Capitol Building and stormed the building and the congressional office building in only the first time since the War of 1812.  They did so at the behest of their narcissistic self-appointed messiah, President Donald John Trump, in order to stop Congress from fulfilling their duties in certifying the results of the Electoral College, in which former Vice President Joseph Biden won and will become the 46^th President of the United States. 

They rammed through barricades and stormed walls; they shattered windows and pried open doors; they sent members of the Capitol Building police running while other officers disgraced their badges and posed for selfies.  They forced members of Congress and their staff and the Vice President of the United States shelter-in-place or be evacuated to secure locations.  They looted and ransacked the Capitol Building and the congressional and senate offices, posting their deeds on social media, sickeningly proud of what they just did.  They assaulted and even killed one police officer in the siege.  And they did not stop and leave until their narcissistic messiah, the self-appointed dictator-for-life President Donald John Trump himself, appeared on video telling them “go home.  We love you.  You're very special.”

Like the vast majority of you in America and indeed around the world, I was disgusted at these people.  These fake patriots.  These Americans-in-name-only.  These traitors and insurrectionists.  Watching them as they strolled around the Capitol building with Confederate flags and racist and antisemitic apparel and their Trump banners like it was a football game.

I was disgusted at their antics, their pompous self-righteous arrogance, but, at the same time, I was not surprised.

No, I was not surprised because I have literally seen this bubbling for thirty years!

I watched the hate and the divisiveness percolate from the early 1990’s.  I watched as it built up leading to the bombing of the Muir Federal Building in Oklahoma City.  To the bombing of the 1996 Olympic Games and in women’s clinics across the country and the self-justified outright murder of health workers.  I saw them use the terrorist attack of 9/11 as the justification for global war and for atrocities that qualify for crimes against humanity.  Several of those involved, I might add, were just pardoned by our current junta crime-lord.  I watched with disgust as they declared the first black President of the United States to be illegitimate and falsely accuse him of being born in another country.  We all saw as their cronies in Congress openly and actively sabotaged that same President’s efforts at every corner, including shutting down the country several times.  We all saw what happened in Charlottsville, with the outright riots and the lives needlessly harmed and killed.  Not to mention the tiki torch rally straight out of Germany’s “Triumph of the Will”.

No, Narcissist Trump didn’t encourage any of those things.  He simply latched on to this generational extremism and lured them to his side.  He didn’t create the hostile masses.  The conservatives did.  He simply assimilated them, like a businessman would.  And then he made them his jihadist army.

The events of January 6^th were not some aberration.  They were not some peaceful protest gone horribly awry.  This was planned.  Multiple websites were talking about planned violence in the months following the election.  Not protest.  Violence.  The leader of the extremist group Proud Boys – you know, the ones that Narcissist Trump told to “stand back and stand by” – boasted on social media that he met with Narcissist Trump last month in a “secret meeting”.  If true, then there is a direct connection between the narcissist and the insurrection.

Let’s get brutally honest here... what happened on January 6^th, 2021, was nothing less than an attempted coup.  An act of insurrection all to appease a disturbed narcissistic man-child who has never known loss and refuses to accept that he just lost his self-proclaimed imperial rule.  The only “steal” going on was Narcissist Trump’s attempt to steal the election that he lost.  And he did so by sending in his fanatical jihadists to assault the United States Capitol Building and try to hunt down members of Congress and stop them from fulfilling their constitutional duty.  You listen to his rhetoric and the rhetoric from his lieutenants before the assault, priming the mob up for their assault, and you hear his words when he tells them to “go home”.  This is clearly someone that knew what was going on and knew what they were going to do, and it wasn’t to just “protest loudly”.

And it wasn’t just Washington D.C. under attack that day.  Capitol buildings across the country were under attack as well.  Georgia’s Secretary of State had to go into protective custody that day from the threat of imminent assault.  He was already threatened repeatedly by the White House to supposedly “find” enough votes to overturn Narcissist Trump’s loss there.  America’s whole process was under attack at the whims of a deranged narcissist who refuses to admit that he lost.

From now until January 20^th at 12-noon, Narcissist President Donald Trump is a clear and present threat to the safety of the United States.  His cult followers have already made their intentions clear that they will do this again, either before or during the inauguration. They need to be stopped.  And let’s not forget that he has access to nuclear weapons.  He needs to be stopped.  He needs to be removed from power, either through the 25^th Amendment or through impeachment.

But it cannot stop there.  It cannot stop even if we can remove the narcissist from his throne, either now or on January 20^th.  The people that stormed the Capitol Building need to face charges.  All of them.  A police officer was violently assaulted and died because of them.  That makes them all guilty of felony murder.  The Capitol Police officers that helped let the insurrectionists into the building need to be fired and arrested and face charges for helping in an act that led to the violent death of one of their own.  They are traitors not only to the nation but also to their own badges.  And certainly Narcissist Trump’s legion of lackeys and allies that stood there on that stage before and riled up that mob and sent them to assault the Capitol Building need to be arrested and charged with sedition.

We are on the precipice, people.  Even though the election is over, it is still very much “America or Trump”.  Only one will prevail.

 

(Note: Regular commentary resumes on 01/25/2021.)