Things that are Inevitable

 Recently, a couple in New Hampshire decided to have a gender reveal party. Gender reveal parties are a thing now in case you didn't know. The expectant couple has a gathering where the gender of the new addition to their family is announced in the form of blue or pink colors. These parties usually involve balloons or flowers but people tend to get more inventive with their festivities over time. There have now been several incidents where damage occurs or people are injured, even killed at gender reveal parties. 

The latest incident in New Hampshire was an inevitable occurrence in my opinion. Someone decided that they needed a bigger bang for their buck in their announcement party. Being from Alabama, I am almost certain there was a "hold my beer" moment in this particular incident. Someone got the bright idea of using Tannerite to explode a bunch of glitter at their announcement. A huge cloud of exploding blue or pink glitter. Seems harmless? Well.... that's only because you don't understand redneck mentality that same way I do. 

Tannerite is a readily available substance that is a two party stable explosive. After it is mixed it is impossible to set off unless you have a high velocity projectile to set it off. A high velocity projectile such as a bullet from a deer rifle. Yes.... Tannerite is the stuff they use on the gun shows to blow up things in an orgasmic display of testosterone enhancing explosion (usually at the end of the show). It is readily available at sporting goods stores or even on eBay. All you need to do is mix the ingredients and shoot the container with a high velocity bullet and PRESTO you have a large explosion. In case you didn't know this already, high velocity bullets and explosions are like a ready made wet dream for rednecks everywhere. 

At the gender reveal in New Hampshire someone decided (and this is another inevitability when dealing with explosions and people who like them) bigger would be better. Each one half pound "package" of Tannerite has the explosive energy of almost a whole stick of dynamite. Someone at this party decided to "go big or go home" (another statement you will often hear from rednecks) and bought eighty pounds of the stuff. That works out to be about twenty five pounds of TNT. YeeeHAW that will make quite a cloud of glitter (right after someone says hold my beer and pulls out the deer rifle). 

Fortunately, no one was killed in the blast the ensued. Unfortunately,  several homes in the area were damaged when the blast shook the ground hard enough to break foundations, crack bricks, break glass, and knock pictures off the wall in houses for miles around. The sound of the blast was heard in towns quite a few miles away and car alarms went off everywhere. Some people were upset. 

Like I said earlier, it was inevitable. Rednecks are everywhere and they also procreate, have deer rifles, and love gun shows and explosives. Thankfully, most of them aren't into physics and nuclear reactions or the next gender reveal might be the infamous mushroom cloud that Condoleeza Rice warned us about years ago. 

Dangerous Cosmology

 In 1584 an ex Dominican priest named Giordano Bruno published two tracts on Cosmology that were extraordinarily prescient in their scope. Going one step further than Copernicus' loose idea that the planets revolved around the sun which was considered both blasphemous and ridiculous by most educated experts at the time, Bruno suggested that the other stars were in fact suns similar to our own. He further suggested that these stars each also had planets in their orbit similar to earth. This was an astoundingly different view of the universe and one that Bruno refused to recant to the end of his life which was to occur some sixteen years later. 

At various points in his life, Bruno was to suggest many things that seemed outlandish and infuriating to authorities in Italy, France, and England. He questioned if Mary was truly a virgin. He suggested that the universe was vast, unknown, and endless with other planets, other life forms, and an endless array of intelligent life that may or may not be similar to human forms. He suggested that reincarnation might be possible and true and studied Cosmology and Astrology from Islamic texts when that culture was vastly superior in knowledge to Western European thought. He also suggested that Jesus and God might not be of the same substance and form and had by 1570 found himself a target of some church leaders bent on punishment for his heresies. 

Finally, in 1592 he made the mistake of going back to Italy as a private tutor for a wealthy patrician in Venice. This eventually led to his imprisonment and trial by the Inquisition. Bruno was both inventive and arrogant it seems. He refused to admit that his views surrounding religion contrasted with Catholic orthodoxy but he also refused to recant his Cosmological views about the universe itself. For seven years his trial continued in Rome. He was eventually judged guilty of crimes against the church and heresy. 

On February 17, 1600 he was burned at the stake in a public square in Rome. He was stripped naked and hung upside down from a stake while a large fire was started below him to slowly burn him alive for his heresies. In order to assure he couldn't spout such heresies during his execution his tongue was placed in a thumbscrew iron clamp that was tightened as tight as possible before burning the protruding end of his tongue with a hot piece of iron so that it would swell enough that he could no possibly remove it from the clamp during his execution. 

Knowledge can literally be a dangerous thing. As late as the year 2000 church leaders publicly regretted the fact that Bruno refused to recant his views. Apparently not so much that they he died for having views antithetical to their beliefs, but that it was necessary to torture and kill him for doing so. Newton, Einstein, and an endless list of some of the brightest minds in history have since proved that Bruno was right about the universe. I somehow doubt that Bruno himself was able to take much comfort in that once they clamped his tongue and roasted him alive.

Throwing Rocks....

 Long ago, a fellow worker used to say that there were people you trust and people who you know not to trust. He further espoused that the worst people, the most untrustworthy of people, liked to encourage people to create chaos but were not honorable enough to do it from the front. Rather, they were the people in the back of the crowd who would "throw a rock and then hide their hand." This expression stuck with me as I could immediately see the truth it represented. It is bad enough for people to throw rocks in anger or frustration but if you are going to throw rocks at least have the integrity to admit you think it is necessary. There is nothing worse than throwing rocks and then acting like you didn't. 

Recently, we saw a whole group of people who actually believe they are patriots protecting their country and supporting the Constitution breaking into the Capitol of our government and threatening our elected representatives with bodily harm. There is a long list of people responsible for this action. First on the list of course is the people who carried it out. They should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Some of them are now experiencing that much to their surprise. This is the worst part. They are surprised. They believe they were doing the right thing. How it came to pass that such a large number of Americans can act in violence against their own government and yet believe they are protecting the Constitution is too important to pass over. 

Quite simply, these people have been lied to. They have consistently and carefully been fed a pack of lies for many years now. Fox news, talk radio, and all manner of right wing ideologues have been feeding them lies since the time of Reagan. Reagan started a lot of this with the "Welfare Queens" story that basically got him elected. It suited the narrative of a lot of southern conservatives still stuck in the Jim Crow narrative and it suited the narrative of corporate America who were then free to do what they really wanted, to lower taxes on the wealthy and corporate interests and do away with those pesky agencies specifically designed to protect the average consumer from the wealthy and corporate interests. 

We could go back further and find the roots of this movement but I don't have time here. Suffice it to say Reagan was the first one to use populism to work against the best interests of the average American. He was not the last. The Republican party and much of the Democratic party has been dominated by these interests ever since. Meanwhile, the right wing propaganda machine has grown unabated and unchallenged since they did away with the fairness doctrine and the concept that the American public owns the airwaves and they should be protected accordingly. 

All of this leads to the recent troubles at the Capitol. Donald Trump was the inevitable result of this propaganda machine. A populist who pandered to the worst instincts of several groups of bigots and racists while at the same time letting the corporate interest plunder the treasury. Right wing media supported him because he gave them power. Corporate interests supported him because he gave them money and power. The right wing Christian leadership supported him because they support whoever keeps them in their positions of power and influence and have no real honor themselves. There are exceptions to all of these of course. There was the Conservative wing that left voluntarily because they actually had the courage of their convictions. There was the occasional corporate leader who bailed on the Trump Agenda for the same reason and there were a few religious leaders who also couldn't stomach the lies and lack of moral character of Trump himself. 

After the recent insurrectionist chaos at the Capitol a lot of people are rethinking their support for Trump. More especially, even the right wing media who supported him are adjusting their positions. Most of right wing radio is still pushing the narrative of lies that Trump himself took from them. The current talking point is that a large portion of the American population believes the recent election was not fair or properly done. I have no doubt this is true but the simple truth is that they believe that because these same people have been continuously lying to them for many years now and have made them believe something that is plainly not true. These people who push the agenda through their very loud megaphones in the voting public's ear are the ones "hiding their hands" after throwing the rocks that set the recent unrest off. 

They weren't leading the charge that kicked in the doors at the Capitol but they were in the back yelling their encouragement and throwing rocks. Now they want to hide their hands. These are the people we need to take on. No one would believe the election was rigged if the people they trust to tell them the truth hadn't lied to them. The people who do believe this fallacy do so because they have had misinformation drilled into their heads for almost fifty years now by the far right media. 

I don't want to silence the far right media but I do want to require it to be responsible for the truthfulness of what they say. Yelling fire in a crowded theater is NOT protected free speech when there is no fire. At that point is is just a lie that causes great damage and destruction and there is no amendment designed to protect the people who do it. Throwing rocks is bad enough. Throwing rocks and then hiding your hand is much worse. 

The Foundation of the Assault on the Capitol

Like most Americans and was saddened and sickened by what I saw unfold in Washington yesterday. I wish that was the first time I have felt this way since Donald Trump was elected as president of the United States but it was not. I won't bother to go into all the details of the gradual slide from integrity and basic decency in our government that has occurred since Americans elected this man to the office. The record of his abuses is long and growing and I have expected nothing less since he was elected. The truth is that Donald Trump is a man without integrity and he has been this same man without integrity ever since he has been an adult. 

Integrity matters. Truth matters. It is impossible to conduct business, do research, run a government, or be a productive member of society if you don't respect the truth. It is the core principle that allows us to do anything worthwhile in this world. We can't intelligently discuss any subject without the basic understanding that people have to be willing to respect the truth. We don't learn from our mistakes without acknowledging they were mistakes, that takes a respect for and understanding of the idea that the truth is important. We don't advance knowledge in any field without respect for the truth. Scientists, Engineers, Teachers, Business Owners, and workers in every field have to respect the truth in order to come to agreement about what is fact and what is not fact. The basic concept is the same, either something is true or it is not. Either something is a fact or it is not a fact. 

Shortly into Trump's term we saw one of his inner circle express on camera that they have "alternate facts". That should have set alarm bells off everywhere that we were in serious jeopardy of losing our own government. We had somehow put people in charge of our government that believed there is such a thing as "alternate facts." There are facts and there are things that are not facts but there is nothing in between. Unless you are willing to accept that premise you are not a person who is capable of doing anything constructive. It really is as simple as that. 

There is a direct and inevitable path from that statement to what happened in Washington yesterday. For reasons having to do with power and control a large portion of one party of our two party system has lent itself to supporting the continuous and incessant lies of Donald Trump for four years now. This lying by him and his supporters has eroded the very foundations of our government to a dangerous level. The good people who were willing to look the other way and unwilling to confront the fact that he is a habitual liar with absolutely no respect for the truth saw the result of this inaction yesterday when a large group of insurrectionists violently invaded the very center of our national government and threw it into chaos. People died yesterday because Donald Trump is a habitual liar. He charged them up at a rally with yet another string of unfounded outright lies about the election and they violently assaulted Congress in session with his outright encouragement. They believe his lies because people who know they are lies have not called him on that fact. Members of his own party know they are lies but they have not had the courage to call him on it. Conservative media outlets intent on increasing their viewership support and ratings have also contributed to this problem by refusing to call Trump on his lies and giving him an outlet from which to spread them. 

A large segment of our population would not believe the lies of Donald Trump today if our leadership in Washington had been willing to call him on his lies four years ago. He would now be powerless and out of government and we would all be safer and better off for it. Mitt Romney was absolutely correct last night when he said the best thing we can do for people who believe this election was fraudulent is to tell them the truth. It wasn't. It's as simple as that. Judges all over this country have said it. State election commissions from largely Republican states have said it. Every single state where supposed improprieties were brought up has adamantly rejected the theory that the election was fraudulent. These were not partisan officials, there were the duly elected officials charged with regulating and organizing elections in their states. 

The reason that people still believe these lies is that Republicans, members of Trumps own party, have not called him out for what he is; a habitual liar and a man without the basic integrity to have the respect for the truth that allows him to be a functional member of society. It's not in their personal best interest to do so. If you care more about your own personal interests than being an elected official then you don't have the integrity required to be an elected representative. 

I watched my local representative, Mo Brooks, suggest it was time to "take names and kick ass" when he led off the same rally where Trump incited an insurrection yesterday that attacked and overwhelmed the Capitol. Trump promised to lead them there and then got in his limousine and went to the White House to gleefully watch the whole thing on TV. Mo Brooks meanwhile, tweeted out it was ANTIFA infiltrators who were doing the violence when everyone with eyes to see saw Trump supporters break out windows and physically invade the very chambers in which Congress was trying to do it's lawfully proscribed duty. It was the exact same people he had just a few hours earlier incited to riot yet he acted like these two event were unrelated. Unfortunately, Mr. Brooks is another example of an elected public official with little or no real integrity or respect for the truth. 

Mr. Brooks gets to live with his actions yesterday, as do the hopelessly and intentionally misinformed people who thought they were doing their duty by forcefully and violently shutting down our government. These were not ANTIFA infiltrators, they were red blooded Americans republican supporters of Donald Trump. They were incited to anger by a President and a group of his loyal supporters who have so little respect for the truth that they have actively assisted him in his propaganda efforts. 

The undeniable truth is that integrity matters. It especially matters when it comes to electing our leaders. Integrity is a basic requirement in that it is simply not possible for an elected official to be an effective public servant if they don't have integrity. It isn't the only thing that matters of course, but it is a prime requirement to start with. Hopefully, if we learn nothing else from the unmitigated disaster that has been the Trump era, we will have learned this.