Dr. X's Free Associations

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson's Moral Cowardice

ABC: Marjorie Taylor Greene has voiced support for executing Nancy Pelosi. Is she fit to serve?

GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON: I'm not gonna answer that question as to whether she's fit to serve, because she believes in something that everybody else does not accept. pic.twitter.com/B58nACFMai

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 31, 2021

Reader Shots

A couple from A Bear.

Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG)

You'd see an emergent intellectual scaffolding in the Feralist and others for a "MTG may not be perfect but Romney represents full sharia law communist Deep State infiltration of our vital bodily fluids and Jewish space laser abortions" in GOP circles.

Advantage, Cray Lady. https://t.co/EW93WHXAjM

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 30, 2021

Satire, but almost not. 

Marjorie Taylor Greene: The New Face Of The Republican Party?

If Republicans are going to define the Democratic Party as AOC and the so-called squad, perhaps Democrats should define the Republican Party as Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, and a few others. But for this post, I want to pull together some observations on Marjorie Taylor Greene, the QAnon conspiracy theorist elected to congress by voters in Georgia's 14th Congressional district.

Taylor Greene initially built a following with social media posts and videos. She's a pusher of conspiracy theories, including The Clinton Kill List, which maintains that Bill and Hillary Clinton have orchestrated the assassinations of over 50 people. Greene has also endorsed the notion that 9/11, the Sandy Hook massacre and the Parkland school shooting were hoaxes, and she claimed that Hillary Clinton tells Nancy Pelosi several times a month that we need more school shootings so that we can have gun control. Greene is also an exponent of conspiracy theories alleging that prominent Democrats run an international pedophile ring.

Katie Hopkins recently interviewed Marjorie Taylor Greene. You may know that Hopkins became a celebrity after her 2007 appearance on the reality TV show, The Apprentice. Subsequently, Hopkins became a columnist noted for racism and hard-right politics that ultimately lead to being banned from Twitter and fired from a radio station. Hopkins and her publishers have repeatedly paid significant damages for her defamatory remarks, but it's Greene's comments during the Hopkin's interview that are especially unsettling.

Here's Marjorie Taylor Greene the day after the Capitol riot saying "it was a hard thing we did yesterday, but I wouldn't do anything else. I wouldn't do anything else." This video is beyond disturbing. pic.twitter.com/MaN1IviBlw

— Scott Dworkin (@funder) January 30, 2021

And here's Marjorie Taylor Greene pushing the election fraud lie and insisting that we CANNOT allow a peaceful transfer of power.

Marjorie Taylor Greene: "you can't allow transfer of power peacefully" pic.twitter.com/CvPcEd4PPj

— Krys Ose (@KrysOse) January 29, 2021

Eric Hananoki has uncovered some crazy anti-Semitic conspiracy-mongering by Greene. In a Facebook post,  Greene proposed that the “Vice Chairman of Rothschild Inc, international investment banking firm” may have used “space solar generators … beaming the sun[’]s energy back to Earth” to fire a “laser beam or light beam coming down to Earth” to “cause” the 2018 Camp Fire in California in order to manipulate the stock market and line the pockets of “Rothschild Inc,” “Solaren,” and Sen. Dianne “Feinstein’s husband, Richard Blum.”

Then there's this gem of a campaign ad posted by Taylor-Greene, which itself could be exhibit A on the need for restrictions on who can legally possess a firearm.

To be clear, this is an image of Greene displaying a military-style weapon and suggesting that she is the worst nightmare for certain members of congress. What are we to make of the phrase "worst nightmare?" Well, what's the worst a person with a gun and a boatload of animosity could do? Maybe a person talking about being someone's worst nightmare while holding a gun suggests that she's going to kill those on the receiving end of the nightmare? I spell all this out because the capacity for denial among Trump supporters is breathtaking. This ad was a threat. How are the targeted members of congress supposed to feel working around this woman? In a private employment setting, police would have called, Greene would have been fired immediately, and the company might have gotten a judicial restraining order to keep her off company property and its immediate vicinity.

And on Facebook, "[in] one post, from January 2019, Greene liked a comment that said "a bullet to the head would be quicker" to remove House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In other posts, Greene liked comments about executing FBI agents who, in her eyes, were part of the 'deep state' working against Trump." And, "in response to a post raising the prospect of hanging former President Barack Obama, Marjorie Taylor Greene responded that the 'stage is being set.'"

Additionally, a video has emerged of Parkland-denier Greene harassing a teenaged David Hogg on the street with baseless conspiracy theories. In the video, Greene told Hogg, a Parkland shooting survivor, that she carries a gun. When Hogg, who presumably did not know Greene, ignored her, she called him a "coward" for not answering her questions. For his part, Hogg said he felt threatened by the encounter and practiced mindfulness to remain calm.

In a stark demonstration of Taylor-Greene's rank hypocrisy, a local TV reporter was kicked out of a Taylor-Greene town hall event and threatened with arrest for asking her about the conspiracy theories she is known for spreading.

So who is the coward?

There are other reports and accusations regarding Marjorie Taylor Greene's outlandish behavior and conduct. These are just a few.

For those who would respond to Greene's anti-Semitic conspiracy theories by noting that Ilhan Omar said of American policy toward Israel that "it's all about the Benjamins," I would point out that Omar was saying donor money influences US policy toward Israel, In some sense, this is a banal observation about US politics. A lot of US policy is about donor money, so why go with this anti-Semitic stereotype?  That's why I would say the statement may very well reflect anti-Semitism on Omar's part. I would also point out that Democrats quickly condemned Omar's comments, and Omar apologized. I am not remotely a fan of Omar, but Taylor-Greene's anti-Semitic conspiracy theories dive much deeper into crackpot neo-Nazi territory, and, most importantly, she refuses to apologize for her comments.

 

A.M. Shot

What Trump Hath Wrought

WaPo:

U.S. authorities charged an apparent leader of the Oath Keepers extremist group, Thomas Edward Caldwell, 66, of Berryville, Va., in the attack, alleging that the Navy veteran helped organize a ring of dozens who coordinated their movements as they “stormed the castle” to disrupt the confirmation of President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral college victory.

“We have about 30-40 of us. We are sticking together and sticking to the plan,” co-defendant Jessica Watkins, 38, an Army veteran, said while the breach was underway, according to court documents.

“You are executing citizen’s arrest. Arrest this assembly, we have probable cause for acts of treason, election fraud,” a man replied, according to audio recordings of communications between Watkins and others during the incursion.

[...]

Some messages, according to the FBI, included, “Tom all legislators are down in the Tunnels 3floors down,” and “Go through back house chamber doors facing N left down hallway down steps.” Another message read: “All members are in the tunnels under capital seal them in. Turn on gas,” the FBI added.

Reader Photos

Snapped by FLGator on Sanibel Island. Biking through the wildlife preserve.

Trump Has Lied For More Than 4 Years About A Health Plan That Doesn't Exist, A Wall That Wasn't Built, And Elections That Weren't Rigged

To support Trump you must lie to yourself about the obvious implications of what your eyes see and your ears hear or bury your head in a right-wing propaganda bubble where you are never confronted by reality. To begin, we have four years of Trump lying about a health care plan, "second to none," that he is just about to unveil, "file" or "sign."

And since the video above, he continued lying about a health care plan into the last months of his 2020 campaign:

Related: About that "big, beautiful wall" to seal the 2000-mile border with Mexico, the wall that Mexico is going to pay for? We have about 15 miles of new border wall constructed where there had been no wall previously and some 450 miles of repaired or replaced wall, none of which is a wall and none of which was paid for by Mexico. There are other types of barriers. The 2000-mile border with Mexico is still largely without a wall or any man-made barrier.

In the end, the promises of Trump's two campaigns and his four years in office were nothing but a blizzard of absurd lies supported by propaganda machinery and a gullible political cult that, for the most part, still buys into his lies.

You might think that Trump's lying about health care and a wall for over four years, right up to the bitter end of his administration, might give some of his supporters a clue that more than four years of Trump's carping about rigged elections was all just another big lie, but cults cling to lies long past the point of all evidence and all reason, even dying for the lies of con men and lunatics they've turned into idols.

The damage that has been done to this country by this deranged con man, Donald Trump, and his gullible cult is incalculable. How we go forward with 1/3 to 1/2 of our voting citizenry completely unwilling or unable to face and accept even the most basic, most black-and-white truth in the political sphere is beyond me.

Speaking of the supporting machinery of Trump's con, QAnon adherents are saying that Joe Biden will move back to Delaware and turn the government over to AOC on January 21. And when Thursday passes without AOC taking charge of the United States, the cult will simply move on to the next conspiracy theory because they don't do evidence or reality.

God help us.

 

Reader Photos

From A bear:

3 of the last 4 times I have been by the boat ramp 1/2 mile down the beach, there have been people swimming there... Today, recorded water temp 46.4F , air temp 48.5 F

Vaccine Rollout Is Running Slow

We've got 1.13 million COVID19 vaccinations to date out of a US population of 328 million. So, 0.003445% of the population or just a hair over 1/3 of 1 percent of the population has been vaccinated. The overwhelming majority have only received the first shot.

This week, Trump said he would order the release of a huge stockpile held in reserve but it turns out that there is no reserve. Whether incompetence, dishonesty, or both, Trump is a failure to the very end.

Biden has announced a national effort to get the vaccine out, to be funded with $400bn. The effort will be led by Lt General (Ret) Russell Honoré, who cleaned up the botched Katrina response. The plan is to use the defense production act, set up more vaccine sites, and use FEMA and the National Guard. More below.

Here are the key parts of President-elect @JoeBiden's Covid-19 vaccination plan. pic.twitter.com/NAwvKYOCz0

— Benjy Renton (@bhrenton) January 15, 2021