The House January 6th Select Committee's work is a waste of time. They keep digging deeper and deeper, finding more and more criminality, turning over names to the Justice Department, and eventually they'll probably recommend prosecution for some minor figures. Not Trump, though, I'm very nearly certain.
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| #146 Thursday, May 12, 2022 |
It's an unwritten but always-followed rule: Presidents are above the law.
A dour hooray for the Committee's work, sure, but toward what end? There's no indication that the Justice Department gives half a hoot about prosecuting any of these many crimes. Probably some junior official minnows will get their fins cooked, but only small fry — no trout or salmon, not under the leadership of Justice Dept senior puffball Merrick Garland.
And of course, the November elections loom closer and closer. That's when Republicans will take control of the House (and probably the Senate), because Democrats have delivered so little, and been so quiet about what little they have delivered, and also very hush-hush about the dangers Republicans actively pose to the fabric and future of America as we once knew her.
Once Republicans are in charge in the House, everything the Committee has uncovered will be shelved, and the Committee itself will be disbanded. The best outcome to plausibly hope for is that members of the Committee will issue an unofficial report, carrying no weight whatsoever. It'll be a book, probably, selling for $25 and read only by the left leadership. It'll be briefly and barely covered in the news, and then forgotten, and Trump and his criminal cohorts will get away with everything.
As always when I wallow in such pessimism, I would love to be wrong, but you know and I know — I'm not.
The C bus was approaching a busy stop, and in the shelter a largish white guy, hair everywhere and clothes unkempt, was flapping his arms in the air, apparently losing an argument or vehement discussion with someone who wasn't there. This chap was clearly cuckoo, but by the rules of riding the bus, the driver should've pulled over and let him board. He was watching the bus approach, stepping toward the curb, where the bus's door would open.
Rules were broken, though. No-one else was waiting at the bus shelter, and the driver didn't stop the bus. That's probably wise, was my thought. When it became clear the bus wasn't slowing, big hairy white guy switched his arm pattern from random flapping to criss-cross waves, trying to get the driver's attention, but the bus continued rolling past the bus shelter.
"Hey!" the guy shouted, and then "Hey!" again. It was two hells of a shout, too. We were on a bus and buses are loud, on a busy street where traffic was loud, but his shouts came through so plainly that everyone on the bus and everyone on the sidewalk looked up from their iPhones. Like Old Man River, though, we just kept rolling along.
There was a red light at the intersection, so the bus stopped, and hairy loud guy sprinted toward us, shouting "Hey!" twice more. When he reached the bus he flew off the sidewalk, gave a fifth and final very loud "Hey!" and banged on the bus's glass door. The door, though, remained closed. He banged again. The light turned green, the bus pulled away, and the guy's profanities faded into the distance behind us.
Nobody on the bus said a word, but if we had it would've been, "Thanks." Everyone aboard was unanimously glad that the driver broke the rules and didn't stop. Hairy arm-waving dude would've been trouble on the bus, the driver knew it, no bout adoubt it and nobody needs that, so we just kept rolling along.
Whoever invented Capcha should be forced into an endless loop of crosswalks, trees, and buses for the rest of his/her life, preferably without his/her glasses.
As I walked toward them, the girl pulled out her cell phone and they both posed for what I believe is called a 'selfie' (I am so hip to the times, baby). The boy flipped a finger to the camera, they both laughed, and under my COVID mask I laughed too, though I don't think either of them noticed me at all. I'm old, and therefore invisible. I wouldn't notice me, either. Nobody would.
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And now, the news you need, whether or not you knew you needed it.
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The US justice department secretly issued a subpoena to gain access to details of the phone account of a Guardian reporter as part of an aggressive leak investigation into media stories about an official inquiry into the Trump administration’s child separation policy at the southern border.
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Mr Pancake, Mr Hambone, Mr Softee, and some other Misters
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Leaked memo reveals Apple's anti-union talking points for store managers
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One-word newscast, because it's the same news every time...
• climate • climate
• cops • cops • cops • cops • cops • cops • cops • cops • cops
• Republicans
• Trump • Trump
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The End
• Justin Green
• David Walden
