January is a Dreary Month

As I look outside, I see snow and ice, remnants of recent storms. The days have been cold and cloudy, with temperatures below freezing and wind chills in the single digits; dreary-that’s January for you!

Christina Rossetti sums this up nicely in her poem: (only one verse copied here)

“In the Bleak Mid-winter:

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,

In the bleak mid-winter long ago.”

This week marked the one-year anniversary of Joe Bidens' Presidency. It has not been a great week for him. Despite his entreaties, two Democratic Senators would not vote to break the filibuster so that Voting Rights legislation could be passed. Senators Manchin and Sinema each gave speeches showing that while they approved of the bill, but believed that it needed to be passed in a bipartisan manner, so they would not ask for a waiver on the filibuster. Since Minority leader McConnell told his Republican Senators that they could not vote in favor of this bill, the question of passage was moot. No matter how much Manchin rambled on about getting ten Republicans to say yea, that would not happen, especially on a cold winter's day. He seemed to care little about the importance of rights in November for minority voters in states where their rights are already being trampled. Instead, he tossed arguments aside, claiming that Marc Elias and the Department of Justice would right any wrongs, seemingly oblivious to the reality that pursuing these cases through the courts takes time that Dems do not have.

The President held a marathon press conference that I thought went pretty well, although I did not see all of it. He had a few of the trademark Biden gaffes when he over-explained as he is sometimes wont to do. The Ukrainians did not appreciate his attempt to differentiate between an “allowed minor incursion" by the Russians as compared to a “discouraged major invasion”; the State Department tried to clear that up the next day. He admitted to being dismayed that his former colleagues, his so-called Republican Senatorial friends, would no longer work with him. Apparently, he is the only person in Washington who thought that this was still possible. He did note that being President is different; the discussions and the persuasive options are different. So, as some pundits have stated, he needs to be less of a former Senator and more of a President with a bully pulpit. He admitted he needs to get out and go one on one with the American public and sell his Build Back Better (BBB) plan even if it is eventually broken up. In my opinion, the administration has accomplished some significant things, such as the number of vaccinations, the decrease in unemployment, the increase in jobs numbers, and the stimulus bill. I should also mention the infrastructure improvements which will soon show up in various states and neighborhoods. A recent article in the Washington Post mentioned how many Republicans were touting the improvements coming to their districts, even though only a few of them actually voted for the bill. Others, including the President, noted that 16 sitting Senators voted for the passage of the voting rights bill the last time it was renewed

Breaking up is hard to do, “they say” and no one hears that more strongly than the progressives who delayed, but finally voted for infrastructure, on the promise that BBB would be passed in some form. As of now, Manchin has not come through with a viable compromise, although he has mumbled about passing parts of the bill. However, since the package was going to be put through as a catch-all bill under the reconciliation clause, wouldn’t breaking it up in pieces negate that strategy? Sadly, the child tax credit, which would have been renewed had this passed, has now ended and may not be in a revised bill. But what else will be dropped? I understand that free community college will not be there and reduced drug prices may be less than once thought. We shall soon see if the Democrats can get their act together and pass something. However, the members have little time, especially with the mid-terms looming around the corner.

The former President (DJT) was another person who felt the wintry winds of January all the way down in Mar-a-Lago as the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) denied his petition to use Presidential privilege to withhold documents housed in the Archives from the House January 6^th committee. Once these started coming out, it is obvious why he did not want them to ever be in the public eye. Politico discussed an executive order that, if enacted, would have directed the Army to seize all the ballot boxes from the 2020 election and review them over 60 days which would have been past the date of the Presidential Inauguration, so keeping him in office. Was martial law next? Some say that wiser heads prevailed and kept the then-president from putting this in place. Do we know if the military would have accepted this order?  General Millay and others have already shown that they were preparing contingency plans should he do anything untoward. I do not think that they ever expected to be ordered to do this, even though whacky General Flynn was an advocate for such moves. Do you, like me, wonder what other odd documents might be unearthed when all requested ones are reviewed?

Ivanka Trump has been asked to testify by the January 6^th Committee since she was in the oval office that day and could testify about the demeanor of her father. It is not known whether she will appear. According to news reports, the January 6^th committee has talked to former AG Barr and members of the military about the executive order which was dated December 16, 2020, before the AG left office on December 21st. It remains unclear who wrote this order, which was unsigned. Others such as Mark Meadows, the former Chief of staff, have claimed this same privilege; many think that this would also be disallowed following the SCOTUS decision.

The District Attorney for Fulton County Georgia, where Atlanta is located, has scheduled a special grand jury with special authority to investigate if criminal actions were present in the former presidents’ call to the Georgia Secretary of State asking him to find enough votes to declare him the winner of the election in Georgia. The DA also mentioned that others around the former president might also be questioned about their actions and mentioned Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, and Senator Lindsey Graham, among others. Of course, DJT has said that this call was ‘even more perfect’ than the one to the Ukrainian president, which caused him to be impeached. This grand jury will have subpoena power, although it cannot hand down indictments.

In New York, the state AG investigation of the Trump company, under civil claims (which is parallel to the US Attorneys' criminal case) has uncovered evidence which she says shows it could have committed fraud. As an example, she noted they claimed his condo apartment was 30,000 sq. ft. when it was only 10,000 sq. ft. and vastly overstated the values of it and other properties for tax, loans, and insurance purposes. When Eric Trump appeared before this investigation, he reportedly used the 5^th Amendment right against incrimination over 500 times. (Which he may do, but don’t you wonder why?)

Reflecting on January 6^th, I have discussed some recent essays in the NY Times, two of which I reviewed last week. The other two are here: Scholar Francis Fukuyama on “What the World Saw That Day” and historians Jon Grinspan and Peter Manseau on “How Will History Remember?”

Fukuyama shows that, according to the Freedom House 2021 World Report on Democracy, democracy has been in decline over the last 15 years with the largest declines seen in India and the United States, the two largest democracies. The impact of January 6^th was not felt just in the US but reverberated across the world, signaling a decline in American influence and power. He notes that this decline began in the 1990s when gridlock prevented the passage of routine governmental functions such as budgets. He mentioned people living in “different factual universes” and the rise of a “shortsighted demagogue egging on a populist movement.” Never before have we not had a peaceful transfer of power and that has been a strength. He chides the Republicans for not abandoning Trump the way it abandoned Nixon after he stepped down. He concludes by saying the “single greatest weakness in America today lies in its internal divisions.”

Grinspan and Manseau, on the other hand, note that “the lens of history often distorts the past, imbuing it with nostalgia” and wonder how January 6^th will be described in 2086, for example. Will a statue of the QAnon Shaman then be displayed in Statuary Hall in the Capitol as memories fade after the Big Lies take hold or will it show us another picture? Currently, some 30% of those queried in a recent poll do not believe that Biden is a valid President. “When all is finally known about that day, we believe those responsible will live in infamy and be judged harshly by history.” However, they caution, that may not be the case as others are at work now to minimize the events of that day. The authors add that “enshrining rioters as heroes could be done rather quickly. Those living in a bubble of fake news have shown their willingness to also fake history. After the 1776 Commission (the DJT ordered study commissioned to oppose the 1619 project) and state-level bans on teaching about America's racist history, we should be ready to see whitewashing of January 6^th as well.” They conclude by saying: “The best we can do is map our moment scrupulously to preserve the signposts that will lead to a place that we will never see.”

Each of these essays gives me pause and are sobering discussions of what the truth is now and what it might be seen as in the future. This demonstrates so clearly why the investigations of those responsible for the insurrection by the January 6^th Commission are vitally important and why we all need to speak up for democracy and against the lies of the MAGA crowd. We need to establish a permanent record that cannot be distorted.

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Omicron continues to affect the entire country with over 690, 000 cases this week alone. Even as cases decline in the New England states and Mid-Atlantic, they are rising in the South and Pacific Northwest, although Wisconsin is showing a rise as well. Deaths always lag case numbers but are now reflecting a 50% rise since last week. Maryland is closing in on one million total cases, and with a population of only 6 million, that shows about 1/6^th of the state has been infected.

COVID Stats–NY Times:

US Total Cases: 70,667,782. New Cases: 690,448.

            Total Deaths: 865,687. New Deaths: 2182.

Maryland Totals: Total Cases: 935,878. New Cases: 5,137.

                            Total Deaths: 13,123.  New Deaths: 65.

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A Luray Virginia mother has been charged with threats against the School Board when she testified at a mask hearing that she would not allow her child to be forced to wear a mask and would come to school with all guns loaded. She later claimed that she did not mean actual guns. Gee, thanks, Gov. Youngkin, Virginia children don’t have enough to worry about already?

That’s it for now–please drop me a comment now and then.

‘Til next week-Peace!