Why isn’t the Mad King handcuffed and headed to trial for his treasonous acts and bloody coup attempt?
Revelations widely reported over the past 10 days pretty much nail his premeditation and intent to use the Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, and Justice to seize voting machines, run a series of fixed do-over elections, and unleash his mob on the Capitol. Then, of course, came his promise of pardons for those facing charges. Come on DOJ. Mad King needs to be jailed. Yesterday.
Don’t Be Fooled By Pence
His “President Trump is wrong” speech to the Federalist Society was another slimy Pence CYA moment. For his true intent, listen to Pence Chief of Staff Marc Short on Meet The Press Sunday parsing the former Veep’s words. Yes, Pence couldn’t decertify the election. But also yes, Pence shares the many concerns about the way the election was run, even though there is ZERO EVIDENCE of fraud. Sorry, he just couldn’t decertify it.
As MTP guest Amy Walter described the double talk: “It’s a tightrope.”
Pence wants it both ways, to distance himself from the Mad King while keeping his unhinged supporters voting Red. Call the Mad King out and Pence risks even more backlash from the mob. Instead, walk that “tightrope” of doing your constitutional duty while not conceding that the election was free, fair, and Trump lost.
He lost. Yeah, he lost. Did I tell you he lost? And, remember Mike, they wanted to hang your ass, and almost did.
Defecating In The Capitol While Trying to Burn It Down is…
“Legitimate Political Discourse, So, says the Republican National Committee’s censure of Representatives Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Illinois) for their work on the House Committee investigating the riot. Surely that statement will haunt Republicans in the next election cycle.
Memo to RNC: A mob is going to drop by your offices, break all the windows, hang up a bunch of confederate flags, take a dump in the front hall and smear it all over the walls. Don’t call the cops. It’s just “legitimate political discourse.”
Not to be outdone in the propaganda game, Arizona’s Republican Party Chairperson Dr. Kelli Ward says she can’t turn over her phone records to the House Select Committee.
They want to see what Ward and her husband were doing as she joined the group of fake electors that State 48 tried to send to Congress. Dr. Ward, an osteopath, says giving up the records will violate her physician-client privilege.
That’s rich. For years, she’s been conducting democracy malpractice without regard for any laws. Good to see her squirming.
I’m Worried About Baseball
Yeah, I know, that’s kind of out of left field. That’s a pun intended.
Major League Baseball owners have locked out the players again in a labor dispute. Arizona and Florida will lose most if not all Spring Training and tons of money as billionaires fight with millionaires over what’s slowly becoming a “who cares?” sport. MLB is teetering, about to join hockey as the game the masses don’t care much about. It’s also threatened more and more by big time soccer as the Premier League and World Cup qualifiers boom.
Sorry to say, baseball can blame itself for facing banishment as America’s Number Six Sport. The pursuit of spectacular homers and some really awful marketing make the game unwatchable at times. Small ball is dead. Strategy amounts to infield shifts that kill good hitters and pitching changes every three innings. And, who came up with those lousy All Star game uniforms and why the hell were the Red Sox playing in yellow jerseys last summer? They’re the RED SOX right? Not to mention, you don’t see kids playing sandlot anywhere. Pick-up games are for basketball.
Once upon a time, baseball was a beautiful, thrilling, and intense sport. Yes, I was lucky enough to enjoy the game in the 60’s and 70’s with spectacular players like Roberto Clemente, Bob Gibson, Reggie Jackson, Rod Carew, Vida Blue, Frank Robinson, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and on and on. Truly a special time. Even then, the game evolved to keep it exciting. Stadia modernized. The pitcher’s mound was dropped to give hitters an advantage. Play-offs expanded to create more August and September excitement.
Somewhere, baseball lost its magic. The NBA stepped up and the NFL, well the NFL just took off. The last few weekends of play-off games were everything baseball isn’t. And, MLB’s answer is a lockout.
Yeah. I’m worried about baseball. And Arizona should be too.
The NFL Should Be Worried Too
The Brian Flores lawsuit is huge. Owners offering to pay coaches to throw games. Fake interviews to meet the Rooney Rule. Yeah, this ought to be a great “state of the league” address by Commissioner Roger Goodell this Super Bowl week. Flores is a brave man and a hero. He’s sacrificing his career for principle.
Goodell, on the other hand, is a coward. He’s had owner problems for years starting with the race and sex scandal by Daniel Snyder’s “Washington Football Team.” The league never dealt with Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s arrest after getting caught in a Florida sex trafficking sting. Those charges were dropped on an evidence challenge. But, Kraft was caught on video, so it’s not like there wasn’t a ton of smoke coming from that gun. Now, it’s Dolphins owner Stephen Ross firing a winning Black coach because he wouldn’t throw games.
The NFL’s veneer of integrity has always been very, very thin. With this mess, it’s pretty much flaked completely off. A gutsy commissioner would act.
Don’t expect much from Goodell.
And, Speaking Of Sports Corruption…
I hope you’re joining me in boycotting the Winter Olympics. The International Olympic Committee is morally vacant. Its failure to remove the games in response to China’s abuse of human rights from Hong Kong to the Uighar detentions is consistent with its history of money over everything.
Check out David Maraniss’ book Rome, 1960 for a very entertaining and readable account of the “modern games” and the IOC’s sell out of West Germany and Taiwan in Rome. They’ve been upping their moral failures ever since.
As much as it hurts the athletes, the U.S. team should have stayed home. As Brian Flores is showing us, there are more important things than medals and money.
Maybe Now We End The Traffic Anarchy In Phoenix
Sadly, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Rosa Mroz was killed by a red light runner this past week as she tried to cross Camelback Road near her home in Arcadia. Mroz was a rock star probate and mental health judge victimized by a city that tolerates 60mph speeds on surface streets rated at 35-45mph.
There’s simply no traffic enforcement in Phoenix, and very little in Arizona, where fatalities are among the highest in the country. The resistance to traffic laws runs deep here and many innocent people are paying the price.
Mroz is a notable person killed in an upscale section of the city. Unfortunately, hundreds of pedestrians and bicyclists have died here for years with little more than “too bad, so sad” head nodding from public officials, cops, and traffic engineers.
It’s long past time for speed enforcement, red light cameras, and a big public crackdown. Let’s see who among the elected officials has the guts to speak out.
Stand Out Reads This Week
Arizona House Speaker and Trump-supporting Republican Rusty Bowers slams the door on the crazies who want elections decided by the state legislature.
Here’s the best explanation I’ve read for why we need to teach Critical Race Theory.
A great piece from WaPo on the humble billionaire giving it all away.
There are too many Native Americans in jail in Tucson. Here’s a plan to do something about it.
And, thank you to NPR’s Scott Simon for introducing us to an eight-year old author from Idaho.