REPENTANCE STILL STANDING ON THE PRECIPICE OF 1864

Well…seems that most of us are still standing after Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene warned after the 4.8 magnitude earthquake centered in New Jersey was a warning from God for our citizens to “repent,” whatever that means. Mentioning the upcoming eclipse, she said, “God is sending America strong signs to tell us to repent…earthquakes and eclipses and many more things to come. I pray that our country listens.” While earthquakes are still unpredictable, we have all been informed about common occurrences of eclipses long before they happen. Her faith, and reliance on conspiracy theories explains complex or tragic events for her, a self-described “Christian Nationalist” who calls anyone who doesn’t agree with her an “America and God-hater.” The Southern Poverty Law Center has called out “white Christian Nationalism” as extremism that stands against Muslims, the LGBTQ+ community, and other minority groups. Greene’s current temper tantrum is directed at House Speaker Johnson for dealing with Democrats on the budget, and over his waffling on the US aid to Ukraine issue, prompting her to file a motion to vacate the speaker’s chair, and throwing the House into turmoil once again. ‘House Screamer’ Marge compared Johnson to Senate Minority Leader McConnell, saying, “People are fed up with Republicans that say one thing and turn around and literally join the flock and just continue the same old crap everybody’s tired of…Johnson has turned into Mitch’s twin, and worse, he’s a Democrat. There’s not even any daylight between him and Nancy Pelosi at this point.” Whew! Last week’s meeting between Johnson and former president Trump at Mar-a-Lago may cause her to repent and temper her tantrum after Trump praised the speaker’s efforts. As for ousting Johnson from his speaker position, Representative Matt Gaetz cautioned that in doing so, “We may end up with a Democrat in that slot,” recalling the difficulty in landing Johnson in the spot. And, Greene could never qualify for the position, as much as she probably desires…indeed, who could possibly fill the ‘screamer’ position? Marge may not be the dumbest person on the planet, but she’s probably glad that Lauren Boebert is still standing.

Actually, a non-office holder who would certainly qualify for that ‘screamer’ title would be comedian Roseanne Barr who distinguished herself recently at a Mar-a-Lago fund raiser for Arizona’s senatorial candidate, Kari Lake. Facing the camera and holding her glass of wine, she said to college students in particular, “Hey, Old Row, how are you doing? I’m here at Mar-a-Lago supporting Kari Lake, and it was a fantastic evening. And our Trump is here being the DJ, and I’ve just danced and everyone’s amazed. So, I’m just saying to you, please drop out of college, because it’s going to ruin your lives. Do me a favor, drop out, they don’t teach you nothing good. Email me, or Twitter me, or whatever you want, call me and I’ll help your with your life, but you gotta get out of college ’cause it isn’t nothing but devil-worshiping, baby-blood-drinking Democrat donors. Love ya.” Ms Barr is known for her support of QAnon and delving into political conspiracies, especially the alleged secret plot by the ‘deep state’ and a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles opposing Trump. It is known that Barr dropped out of school at age 17, and about the same time she sustained a traumatic brain injury from being hit by a car which led to her hospitalization in a Utah mental health facility for several months. In 2012, she went after the Green Party’s presidential nomination and eventually received votes from the Peace and Freedom Party. Upon Trump’s entry into the 2016 presidential race, she supported him, saying, “I think we would be so lucky if Trump won. Because then it wouldn’t be Hillary. I like Trump because he financed his own campaign. That’s the only way he could have gotten the nomination. Because nobody wants a president who isn’t from Yale or Harvard and in the club.” Barr was fired from her self-titled ABC network show in 2018 after posting a racist tweet about former Obama administration official Valerie Jarrett, and last year she had a YouTube podcast pulled for screaming hate speech about Jews and the Holocaust. Maybe she can get an endorsement from Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Peach and Freestone Party now.

With no heavenly, or MTG, retribution following the big eclipse event, Stephen Colbert made light of news coverage of the celestial happening. A CNN broadcast ran the chyron “Animals at Dallas Zoo react to total solar eclipse,” about which Colbert joked, “Thank you, CNN. That is news you can use. I wish they’d give more animal takes on current events. I want to see “Breaking: Ringtail lemur reacts to RFK Jr.’s VP pick.” An item about an ostrich laying an egg brought his response: “No offense but laying an egg is one of the things that ostriches do. Not sure if that’s news. Call me when an ostrich poaches an egg.” He then called out FoxNews for having “the dumbest coverage of this event.” The cable news channel declared that immigrants were dressing in dark clothing and using the eclipse to sneak across the US-Mexico border. “They won’t get another opportunity like that until tonight,” Colbert smirked. Of course our former president had to be called out for running a fan-base-created ad of a photo-enlarged Trump head slowly eclipsing the sun, making the occurrence “all about him.”

Another made-to-order event for citizen Trump popped up at a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Atlanta last week, all arranged by Michaelah Montgomery, a conservative activist and founder of Conserve the Culture. The organization recruits and educates college students and young alumni at Atlanta’s historically Black colleges and universities, mainly Morehouse and Spelman Colleges, which have turned out many prominent and influential graduates, as well as Clark Atlanta University and Morris Brown College both of which have been strongholds pre-dating the Civil Rights era. The area is noted for supporting Democrats, and the GOP is making a thrust to win Black support based on Trump’s messages criticizing Biden’s economic and immigration policies. The campaign’s playing on racial stereotypes, emphasizing Trump’s $399 sneakers, and stressing the many felonious charges against Trump, has offended the African American community from which support is needed. Michaelah Montgomery says, “People find it hard to believe that there are young Black people who would have loved the opportunity to meet Trump,” and she moved quickly upon finding that he would visit the Vine City neighborhood during a fund raiser. Notifying a group of like-minded students, she found interest in gathering at Chick-fil-A to meet the president’s entourage, and she is offended by the media’s depiction of the meeting as a coincidence.

Bill White, a businessman and friend of Trump felt the entire day was a success and bodes well for events across the country aimed at Black voters. Jasmine Harris of the Biden campaign criticized the restaurant meet-up, saying, “Thinking Black voters relate to Donald Trump because he spent twenty minutes handing out freebies at a fast food restaurant is yet another insult to our intelligence – and perfect example of just how disingenuous Trump’s outreach to voters continues to be.” Nevertheless, the ostentatious visit was not met with accolades by students on campus, or in the local community, while Montgomery denounced the criticisms of those she had brought together for the gathering. “They are claiming that the students made a mockery of their institutions and saying that they are disrespecting their ancestors. It is really, really bad,” she lamented. Trump’s argument that he is a victim of political persecution has culminated in his comparing himself to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Alexei Navalny, and Jesus, with his comment, “And a lot of people said that’s why the Black people like me, because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as I’m being discriminated against. It’s been pretty amazing but possibly, maybe, there’s something there.” Bryan Tyler Cohen’s website, @Advocacy, reports, “A video of a Trump supporter who hugged the presumptive Republican nominee and shouted out support during a visit to an Atlanta Chick-fil-A turned out to be a Republican operative according to social media posts reviewed by Meidas Touch: ‘Nothing about Trump and his campaign is authentic. Every event is carefully set up ahead of time and staged. They all fit into the same pattern every single time. On every road trip to an event or rally, the campaign sets up an excursion to a fast food restaurant either before or after his speech. It is all supposed to craft an image that there is a groundswell of spontaneous support for Trump from the grassroots. But it’s all staged.’ Well, color us shocked, folks.” And we shouldn’t be shocked that he ordered 30 milkshakes for patrons and promised food, but no mention about whether he actually bought and paid for any of it…the last time he made a big fuss about paying for people’s food at a restaurant he didn’t.

Social media comments were quick to appear, with one posting, “How much do we bet that he walked out without paying??” Another wrote, “Better enjoy ’cause I heard prison food sucks.” Gen-Z celebrity Jake Paul was promoting his upcoming celebrity boxing match with former heavyweight champ, Mike Tyson, saying during an interview, “I’m probably gonna be at Chick-fil-A with Mr. Trump trying to gain weight for this fight.” One social media poster remarked, “Must be serious…He broke out the regular Coke and what could be cocktail sauce, which I think throws stronger than regular ketchup.” Former Trump employee Cassidy Hutchinson has said that Trump’s peculiar preference for Heinz glass ketchup bottles is linked to his fear of being poisoned, using the small bottles because he wants to hear his server make the small popping noise as the cap comes off. Some observers have noted that Trump has a fitter figure of late, with one commenting that, “Ozempic does wonders.” And speaking of wonders, even Stevie Wonder can see that everything Trump touches turns to crap despite his King Midas fixation.

Claiming the Outrageous Trophy last week was the state of Arizona as the state Supreme Court revived a near-total abortion ban from 1864, when only White men could vote, slavery was not fully abolished (slavery was disallowed in Arizona and it was illegal to entice Black people to leave the state to be sold into slavery), most women couldn’t own property, and the age of consent was only nine-years old. We can only conclude that ban was adopted in the dark of night since there were no light bulbs in existence, which offers no excuse for the way our current US Supreme Court is operating, as an aside. For instance, Justice Alito for the majority wrote in overturning Roe v. Wade, “Roe’s failure even to note the overwhelming consensus of state laws in effect in 1868 is striking.” Laws from the 1860s in our states and territories, as was Arizona at the time, were enacted decades before the suffrage movement was even a glimmer; however, those precedents led the Supremes to the “inescapable conclusion…that a right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions.” Therefore, the Court concluded with the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, in overturning Roe v. Wade, that the 1970s idea that women shouid have certain rights harkened back to the 1860s giving the states jurisdiction…leaving a patchwork of abortion-rights states and abortion-ban states. So, Arizona’s knuckle-dragger Republican-appointed Supreme Court concluded the old law is valid because the state legislature “has never affirmatively created a right to, or independently authorized, elective abortion.” Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs, citing the decision as “a dark day for Arizona” called on the Republican-led and -controlled legislature to repeal the 1864 law, but both state House and Senate leaders are both supporters of the old law, being active in the court case. The Civil War era law would ban nearly all abortions, except to save the life of the mother, carrying a prison sentence for abortion providers, although the state’s Democratic attorney general issued a statement saying it would not be enforced…despite the court’s ruling that it “is now enforceable.”

The law as written reads: “[E]very person who shall administer or cause to be administered or taken, any medicinal substances, or shall use or cause to be used any instruments whatever, with the intention to procure the miscarriage of any woman then being with child, and shall be thereof duly convicted, shall be punished by imprisonment in the Territorial prison for a term not less than two years nor more than five years: Provided, that no physician shall be affected by the last clause of this section, who in the discharge of his professional duties deems it necessary to produce the miscarriage of any woman in order to save her life.” So wait a sec! “Imprisonment in the Territorial prison?” Consider that Arizona is now a STATE! And the former location of the territorial prison is now a STATE PARK! Does that mean prisoners will be provided with a tent or perhaps a small RV, with privileges at the park store for supplies, and maybe a can of bear spray per month?

President Lincoln signed the act creating the Arizona territory in 1863, appointing judges to administer it, one of whom was native New Yorker William T. Howell. The appointed governor, John Goodwin, saw that the territory’s laws, based on those of New Mexico, weren’t adequate, so ended up appointing Howell to write laws and procedures with the assistance of Coles Bashford, a former Wisconsin governor. Toward the end of 1864, the Howell Code came into existence, now the bane for 21st century womanhood in Arizona. Other parts of Howell’s output point to a legal framework for a frontier territory…such as sanctions for refusing to join a posse and rules governing citizen’s arrests. One section establishes a process for holding elected officials accountable where third parties can level accusations of misconduct against office holders, forcing them to appear at a hearing. Barring admission, a jury can be assembled, possibly ending in a trial that forces the person from office. Now we’re talkin’ – let’s see how long that one remains in effect! You can take your 1864 and….

Perhaps Philip Bump of The Washington Post says it best: “It isn’t that the law is old that makes it a dubious fit for the moment. After all, the Bill of Rights is old and it contains rules and guidelines that deserve to be maintained. Instead, the point is that the Howell Code was a product of its time and its time’s morality, a point that is made more obvious when considering other elements of the law that clearly do not conform to 2024 beliefs.” Time for the courts to repent!