Flyover folks have come to a few conclusions this week on the state of the Union and ongoing political theater. First, there is only one Democrat in Congress: All the rest are progressives. Second, the current White House occupant keeps telling whoppers to the masses, and it’s annoying. And third, a hate crime finally went on trial in Chicago, and no one seems to like the defendant.
Joe Manchin (Photo by Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)
As Mavericks Go
West Virginia elected a Democratic senator in 2010 to represent their combined interests in the Swamp. Sen. Joe Manchin has stuck to his pledge to represent all state constituents – and he obviously does not bother to care if Democrats from other states call him a traitor. This week, Manchin publicly went straight up against Joe Biden and his vaccine mandate for large businesses, saying he wouldn’t support the mandate when it came down to a vote.
In a nutshell, Manchin threw this gem of a crystal clear statement to the stick-poking press for distribution and ad nauseam cable news discussion:
“Let me be clear; I do not support any government vaccine mandate on private businesses. That’s why I have cosponsored and will strongly support a bill to overturn the federal government vaccine mandate for private businesses.”
Will the Real Joe Biden Please Shut Up
The other Joe, who somehow managed to wander into the White House, declared during the Menorah lighting ceremony that he met with former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir during the Six-Day War and had the position of liaison between Israel and Egypt. In his bumbling cadence, he went into all sorts of historical details:
“And during the Six-Day War, I had an opportunity to — she invited me to come over because I was going to be the liaison between she and the Egyptians about the Suez. And I sat in front of her desk. And she had a guy — her staff member — to my right. His name was Rabin. And she kept flipping those maps up and down. She had that bevy of maps — sort of kept it — and it was — it was so depressing what she was — about what happened. She gave me every detail.”
Harrowing. Heartbreaking. And not true. In fact, during the Six-Day War that occurred in 1967, Mr. B. was in law school at Syracuse, plagiarizing papers and speeches attempting to graduate near the bottom of his class. Adding more truth to the made-up account, Meir was not elected to serve as prime minister until nearly two years after the war in 1969. She served until 1974.
Alpharetta, GA, resident Emad Balkash – a transplant from Damascus, Syria – was aghast. “Is there anything he has ever said that he didn’t lie or plagiarize about?” And Texan Patrick Coyle brought up Biden’s early days: “Biden also met with Abraham Lincoln to try to avert the Civil War by backing off emancipation. As he said, ‘I know what is good for the Negro.’”
And Then We Have the Hate Crime That Wasn’t
Jussie Smollett (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images)
Jussie Smollett, the up-and-coming gay actor who wanted a faster rise in stardom, a few dollars more in his paycheck, and to send a message to MAGA hat wearers – the equivalent of a liberal trifecta – is on trial in Chicago for being a doofus, more or less. Smollett was charged with six counts of felony disorderly conduct, to put it in more legal terms. Prosecutors, who rested their case this week, said he made a false report on the now-debunked attack in the wee hours of a bitter cold Jan. 29, 2019, morning. The symbolism was not lost as he received one count for every report to three different officers.
Of course, heartlanders weighed in from all over on the courtroom antics. Gary and Diane Mentgen in Oaklawn, IL, gave their own prosecutorial summation: “Chicago spends millions of dollars to promote tourism, and Jesse Smollett destroys Chicago’s image in one day.” Others followed with a reminder that Chicago is a shooting gallery, and the image did not have many untarnished spots left.
Donato Tagliavia of Milwaukee, WI, just wanted the pain to end: “Go away. You committed and staged a false crime. You had the world feeling sorry for you under a false hate crime. Now you should pay the price and do time.”
But Curtis Holloway in Friendswood, TX, dropped the mic on the discussion when he floated this idea: “When racism is so prevalent you have to stage it in order to be a victim, racism probably isn’t that prevalent.”
Ah, yes, logic.
~ Read more from Sarah Cowgill.
