Civil Commotion

Meet Mark Meadows: North Carolina Congressman, financial reporting problems, inflated resume, Creationist nutjob.

So, here’s a question I never thought I’d send off to a sitting U.S. representative from an Asheville district: “Does Congressman Meadows believe that dinosaurs and man lived at the same time?”

[ … ]

“Neither the sale nor any such payments are noted on Meadows’s congressional financial disclosures, which he is required by law to file annually,” the New Yorker staff writer, Charles Bethea, reports. He also notes that, as reported by the Charlotte Observer, Meadows previously failed to report the sale of another piece of property, in northeastern North Carolina, before becoming a congressman.

[ … ]

Back in February, I wrote about Meadows, or his office, apparently fudging his educational achievements, citing a Tampa Bay Times article that took a deep dive into how Meadows’ biography claimed a four-year degree instead of what he actually earned, a two-year associate’s degree.

And on and on.

They didn’t care when children being torn away from their families.

Children were shot, burned and tortured. And they shrugged.

They worshipped a man who spoke of returning a nation to greatness.

It’s horrifying to realize these words apply equally to the Nazis and the GOP.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 13, 2019

That sums up the sickness of Trump’s GOP about as neatly as possible, I’d say.

"Even in our current polarized nation, it's my hope that the facts will win the day, that the truth will always matter, that journalism and journalists will thrive." Watch Shepard Smith announce he's leaving Fox News after 23 years with the network. https://t.co/a7WCpYc6Re pic.twitter.com/HJGXRlLUI9

— CNN (@CNN) October 11, 2019

Multiple news accounts, including the link above, are reporting that Shepard Smith is leaving FOX News because he just couldn’t take the nonstop lies and propaganda any longer. It’s believable, because he was, conspicuously, a craftsman who cared about accuracy.

I imagine he believed — until recently, I mean — the same thing that a lot of the professionals in the Trump administration doubtless believed: This, too, shall pass; just hold on a while longer, and sanity will be restored. Nope. What is now called ‘conservatism’ is no more or better than the nihilist vandalism of a death-wish, and it cannot be reasoned with or accommodated; it must be defeated, bludgeoned into insensibility, irrevocably cast out of decent company.

H.L. Mencken had it right: “The job before democracy is to get rid of such canaille; if it fails, they will devour it.” Well, the barbarians are at the table with napkins tucked into their collars, knife and fork in hand, snouts twitching.

The millstones of the gods grind late, but they grind fine.

Plutarch

Hoo, boy — it’s been a bad day for The Donald.

• A Federal judge has ruled that Trump’s emergency declaration, which seizes funds from the military for use building his border wall, is illegal.

• A Federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration rule prohibiting immigration by those who might become a “public charge,” is illegal.

• A Federal judge has ruled that, yes, his accounting firm can be required to release his tax returns to investigators.

So the courts are rejecting his high-handed and plainly unlawful conduct, and the House of Representatives is surely headed toward impeachment. Not for the first time, I wonder: How did Trump’s supporters not know that his ignorance and squalid self-absorption would come to a bad end?

Pete Buttigieg got off the best line of last night’s debate.

When religion is used in that way, to me, it makes god smaller.

The entire clip is below:

I’ve wondered occasionally: Do evangelicals carry-on about love-love-love so much because they know Abraham’s god is one small, mean, and vengeful sumbidg?