What was it my mother always asked me when I told her Billy did it too? “If they all jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, should you?” I always said sure! What she should have said was, “If you believe that, then I’ve got a bridge to sell you.” She didn’t even know Mo Brooks, thank goodness.
“5” Steve Winwood, 71; Stevie Wonder, 69; Stephen Colbert, 56: “Being in the midst of change can feel painful and difficult. On the other hand, having changed feels like life-affirming vitality — something to keep in mind as you’re slogging it out to get to the other side.” Taurus
Hi and welcome to Thursday’s 29th Episode in Season 4 of “Our Disruptively Resilient Year” on this 21st day of April in the spring of 2022.
We concluded the three-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed — during the “normal” pre-pandemic year compared to the pandemic year, and more recently to the paradoxically normal year.
“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”
Season Four continues now within domestic and global chaos.
Previously in Season Four, The Disruptively Resilient Year
S4 E28 — Why Do Those Who Know the Least Talk the Longest?; S4 E27 — Who Cares If It’s The Right Thing To Do Anymore?; S4 E26 — What Happens If No One Asks a Question?
Related from Season Three, the Paradoxically Normal Year
S3 E29 — Why 83.3% of the Time I Swiped Your Tau; S3 E28 — Why I Stole Your Daily Horoscope for a Year; S3 E27 — What the World Needs Now Before It’s Too Late; S3 E26 — Following Alice Down the Rabbit Hole
Related from Season Two, the Pandemic Year
S2 E29 — Three Months That Changed the World; S2 E28 — Hosting Norwegian Zooms While Trump Eliminated the Virus in April; S2 E27 — Why I Have to Keep Leo da V on a Leash and So Should You; S2 E26 — Rethinking the N-Word
Related from Season One, the Normal Year
S1 E29 — Day 29 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E28 — Day 28 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E27 — Day 27 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E26 — Day 26 of My 1-Year Experiment
Context
After Joe Biden was projected the winner of the 2020 presidential election, House of Representatives Mo Brooks staunchly defended Trump and repeated claims of voter fraud.
According to published reports summarized in Wikipedia:
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- Brooks argued that most mail-in voting was unconstitutional, and
- That “if only lawful votes by eligible American citizens were cast, Donald Trump won the Electoral College by a significant margin”, but
- His assertions that the election was stolen by extraordinary voter fraud and election theft measures were unsupported by evidence.
Ever the foot soldier for Trump, on December 10, 2020, Brooks was
One of 126 Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election. — Wikipedia
What was it my mother always asked me when I told her Billy did it too? “If they all jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, should you too?”
What she should have said was, “If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge I can sell you.”
Even stacked with conservatives, The Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
Basically they were asking WTF? Everyone knows one state can’t challenge another state’s election results.
But, go figure.
Anything goes in Texas, so why not? Even though most of the sponsors for the brief were attorneys by former profession and could predict the outcome since the official ruling was they lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.
So it couldn’t have been just that, right? Something else was going on.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement that called signing the amicus brief an act of election subversion.
She also reprimanded Brooks and the other House members who supported the lawsuit:
“The 126 Republican Members that signed onto this lawsuit brought dishonor to the House. Instead of upholding their oath to support and defend the Constitution, they chose to subvert the Constitution and undermine public trust in our sacred democratic institutions”.— Wikipedia
2021 Attack on the Capitol
Well, let’s take matters into our own hands. Brooks was the first member of Congress to announce his objection to the January 6, 2021, certification of the Electoral College results.
But, let’s not jump off the bridge (let someone else) instead let’s sell them a bridge.
In December he organized a series of White House meetings between Trump and a dozen Republican lawmakers to strategize about how to overturn the election results on January 6. — Wikipedia
First one again.
On January 6th you might remember from streaming coverage, Mo was the first speaker at a pro-Trump rally.
In the speech he harshly criticized other Republicans in Congress for not aiding him in his efforts to overturn the election and said,
“Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass”.— Wikipedia
So what else is new?
At the rally Trump gave an hourlong speech claiming that the election had been stolen and urging people to go to the U.S. Capitol to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard” — Wikipedia
Trump called for his supporters to “walk down to the Capitol” to “cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.”
According to streaming video footage and Wikipedia’s cited sources:
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- He told the crowd that he would be with them, but he ultimately did not go to the Capitol. As to counting Biden’s electoral votes, Trump said, “We can’t let that happen” and suggested Biden would be an “illegitimate president”.
- Referring to the day of the elections, Trump said, “most people would stand there at 9:00 in the evening and say, ‘I want to thank you very much,’ and they go off to some other life, but I said, ‘Something’s wrong here. Something’s really wrong. [It] can’t have happened.’ And we fight.
- We fight like Hell and if you don’t fight like Hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore”.
- He said the protesters would be “going to the Capitol and we’re going to try and give [Republicans] the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country”.
- Trump also said, “you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong.
- We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated”.
- Starting at 11:58, from behind a bulletproof shield, President Trump gave a speech, declaring that he would “never concede” the election, criticized the media, and called for Pence to overturn the election results, something outside Pence’s constitutional power.
- His speech contained many falsehoods and misrepresentations that inflamed the crowd.
- Trump did not overtly call on his supporters to use violence or enter the Capitol, but his speech was filled with violent imagery and Trump suggested that his supporters had the power to prevent Biden from taking office.
According to Wikipedia, the same afternoon, Pence released a letter to Congress in which he said he could not challenge Biden’s victory.
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- Later that night, Congress reassembled to certify the Electoral College vote; Brooks raised an objection to Nevada’s votes, but it did not succeed because no senator joined him in objecting.
- Despite cheering on the riot as it happened, Brooks later said the rioters were associated with Antifa, citing a Washington Times report that was later retracted.
On January 11, District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine said that he was looking at whether to charge Brooks, along with Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump Jr., with inciting the violent attack.
Not quite two months later on March 5, 2021, Representative Eric Swalwell filed a civil lawsuit against Brooks and three others (Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Rudy Giuliani), seeking damages for their alleged role in inciting the riot.
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- Brooks tried to claim immunity on the basis that he had given the speech on January 6 in his capacity as a federal employee, but the Justice Department said the speech was not part of his duties as a member of Congress.
- In a sworn affidavit, Brooks stated that his fiery language in the speech was about the 2022 and 2024 elections.
- On March 9, 2022, a federal judge dismissed Swalwell’s lawsuit, saying that Brooks’s speech was protected by the First Amendment.
2022 Senate campaign — Mo Brooks switching from the House
On March 22, 2021, according to Wikipedia Brooks announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Richard Shelby in 2022.
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- He positioned himself as a staunch ally of Trump,
- Repeated Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was stolen, and
- Alleged that socialists were taking over the government.
Trump rewarded Brooks loyalty by endorsing him in April 2021, but later rescinded his endorsement in March 2022.
Brooks ascribed that to Brooks having refused to work to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election.
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- In March 2022, one year into Biden’s term, Brooks acknowledged that “the law doesn’t permit” him, as a congressperson, to work to remove Biden and install Trump.
- Anyone telling Trump that there are such “mechanisms” for replacing a president, he said, is “misleading” Trump.
For further information: Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election
Evidence
Holiday Theme for The Day:
… the down-to-earth … season…, we are reminded that there are lows lower than the lowest valley, but you have to dig to get to them. There are also highs higher than the highest mountaintop, but it takes the effort of flight… accepting the natural parameters of a thing.
The first season felt normal. The second season felt so disruptive. Surely by the third season the valley lows would have given way to heights scaled, but …
“3” Steve Zahn, 51: “Unresolved feelings can feel very uncomfortable indeed as they rattle around in your body and mind, looking for somewhere to settle. On the bright side, this is the chaotic buzz of enormous creative potential.” Scorpio
Sure, I guess you could say those unresolved feelings about the health of our democracy is what drives these episodes in Season Four.
Random ones that make me want change my sign.
Today’s Holiday Birthday:
The reason this will be a shining jewel of a year is well expressed by the words of Abraham Lincoln: “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.” Your spirit of determination will spread to a network who will root for the completion of one goal after another.
Or, Abraham Lincoln may be the first President to govern during a Civil War, but not the last if the Trump party has its way.
“5” Steve Winwood, 71; Stevie Wonder, 69; Stephen Colbert, 56: “Being in the midst of change can feel painful and difficult. On the other hand, having changed feels like life-affirming vitality — something to keep in mind as you’re slogging it out to get to the other side.” Taurus
Okay, okay. I get it. Keep my eye on the prize while slogging.
“3” Steve Smith, 30, Stevie Nicks, 72: “You prize efficiency and gravitate to those who can make things happen cheap, fast and right. Usually, you do not get all three. Typically, two of those qualifications are the most you can hope for at once. But today you’ll get lucky.” Gemini
Sure, cheap and fast and right. Who could argue with those convenient consumer values? I guess I’ll wait as the remainder of the day plays out.
“4” Steve Howey, 42: “You’ve mastered the tasks, ridden the rides and learned the personality quirks of everyone involved. But just when you think you know all there is to know, a surprise will inject some adrenaline into the scene.” Cancer
Wait, is this about the political conspiracy characters before, during and after the January 6th insurrection or just characters in my extended family?
“4” Steve Carell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “Even if you have a map and the wind in your sails, forward motion still takes internal fortitude. To make it to the brave new world across the ocean, you must have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” Leo
No, Emma the Baroness and I aren’t sailing across the ocean to a brave new world together. We’re driving from California, first to Prescott, Arizona to revisit Jay and Elle who did travel with us to Italy. And then we continue on to Sedona, Arizona to check out just how recovered my newish replaced left knee has recovered.
“5” Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61; Stephen King, 72: “Your success comes from being aware and responsive. While many around you are ignoring or resisting the facts of reality, you are managing them deftly.” Virgo
It’s at the heart at how I earned my money, especially over my more recent careers. I’m a trend curator more so to notice patterns among them driven by technology, politics, economics and demographics. A lot of where we find ourselves today had been influenced years ago and defines the facts of life in Season Four.
“4” Steve Harvey, 62; Stephan Patis, 53; Stephen Hawking (1943 – 2018): “The same challenge you faced last month is coming back in new forms, affording you the chance to test out different responses. Later you’ll count this problem among your finest teachers.” Capricorn
Sure, this makes a lot of sense. So there’s something unresolved that keeps recycling and I get to try something new and different to solve it? I like it.
What’s Going On …
Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll
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- @KnowLabs suite of 36 digital magazines, according to my analytics, grew from 12559 this week to 12654 organically grown followers.
- Orange County Beach Towns 216 viewers stopped by the week before.
Foresight
Quality-of-Life
Long-Form
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- “Here, Right Matters: An American Story” by Alexander Vindman. “We’d long been confused by the president’s policy of accommodation and appeasement of Russia, the United States’ most pressing major adversary. Russia’s president Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, seizing the Crimean Peninsula, attacking its industrial heartland, the Donbass, from the capital, Kyiv. By 2019, little had changed, Russian military and security forces and their proxy separatists continued to occupy the Donbass. The biggest change was to Ukraine’s importance as a bulwark against Russian aggression weeks earlier, the White House had abruptly put a hold on nearly four hundred million dollars.”
- David Enrich begins his book with a suicide in “Deutsche Bank Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump, and an Epic Trail of Destruction” and then meticulously details the bank’s Russian money laundering operations. Deutsche’s Russian business surged after revenues had fallen 50% due to the 2008 financial crisis. Putin’s Russia, poured in to Deutsche from deals it did with VTB Bank, linked to the Kremlin’s intelligence apparatus. Deutsche positioned itself as a crucial cog in “The Laundromat” by doing what couldn’t be done — processing cross-border transactions for banks that were too small and didn’t have offices outside their home countries.
- “Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy” by Jamie Raskin recalls one tragedy no parent should endure — the suicide of his son — and then a second tragedy at almost the same time — the insurrection on January 6th 2021, that terrified he and his congressional peers who were tasked by the Constitution to routinely oversee the orderly transfer of power from one former president to the duly elected new President.
- “A Warning” by Anonymous (Miles Taylor) written prior to the January 6th Insurrection as an insider’s account documenting how frequently the former President’s behavior and rage without any “guard rails” showed just how far he would go to win the next election at any cost while spinning lies and misinformation on top of each other.
- “Peril” by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa provides anecdotes, stories and inside reporting documenting the controversial last days of Donald Trump’s presidency, as well as the presidential transition and early presidency of Joe Biden.
- “Devil’s Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Nationalist Uprising,” by Joshua Green tracks the money behind the scenes leading up to the 2016 presidential election and the growing influence of Steve Bannon’s network of extreme nationalists.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Inspired by Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate
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