Potpourri

 A hodgepodge of thoughts this week. We were “treated” to the spectacle of a member of Congress, Marjorie Taylor Greene, testifying this week under oath and having an acute episode of dementia. The count of her responses to questions of “I don’t know” or “I don’t remember” and “I can’t recall” was astronomical. Numerous exhibits were introduced but apparently did not make it through the neural fibrillary tangles to her memory. Well, she says she cannot recall. It is obvious – she lied her way through numerous hours of testimony. Since this was an administrative court and an administrative judge, not a civil or criminal court, her perjury is not likely to cause her the problems it should. However, it was clear to anyone listening that she evaded answering despite evidence in front of her and the world that she did say and do all manner of things seditious. She has a feral lack of concern for the Constitution and our democracy. She must go.

On Monday the CDC mask mandate for travelers on public transportation was overturned by District Judge Kathryn Kimbelle Mizelle, who was appointed by Trump to a life-long post at age 33 with absolutely no courtroom experience. Rated “Not Qualified” by the American Bar Association when she was nominated, her appointment was nonetheless driven through the then GOP-controlled Senate. She made a total hash out of years of precedent from the Public Health Service Act of 1944 that grants broad authority to federal health agencies to protect public health. Read the New Yorker article for a full explanation. Mizelle is so out of her depth legally that it would be funny if it were not tragic. The cartoon says it all:

Finally, the war in Ukraine. Trump ally Vladimir Putin continues his war crimes and atrocities. There are more mass graves. There is growing evidence of war crimes. Putin continues to rattle his nuclear saber. And to complicate matters more, Putin does not look well. I have watched the videos available and I do suspect that one possibility is Parkinson’s Disease; he has a real mask-like facies. Who the hell would be his successor in this gigantic mess he has created? Ukraine continues to stand firm, more heavy weapons from NATO nations are pouring in, and Ukraine’s homemade Neptune missiles made the Moskva the latest addition to Russia’s undersea forces.

May you live in interesting times as the old Chinese proverb goes. We have much to do. Democracy is threatened at home by the likes of Greene. We have to remove her and her fellow sedition cult members from office. The good piece of news today is that France’s Macron beat his far-right opponent ⇒ Vive la France! The United States must replicate that in the fall. Covid continues and sadly we seem to have lost our will as a species to control it. That topic will recur in my blog. And Ukraine? The first thing I look for each day is how are they doing. The Ukrainians are the true defenders of democracy in the current world. We can support them in many ways – that includes not bitching about the price of gasoline. Do we want cheap gasoline today or a world controlled by dictators tomorrow? My dream is a democratic world in peace.