Pictures of chaos
I love looking at photographs. Some years ago, the defunct Newseum in Washington, DC, had an exhibit of Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs that I found absolutely mesmerizing. It was an extraordinary collection that tells the story of our times without a single word. The photos were searing, painful, illuminating and extraordinary in that they were the evidence of history and testament to the age of wonder in which we live.
Slavery was understood as an evil before it was abolished, but understanding did not move the needle on the question of abolition. This photograph, however, did:
There are a lot of photographs that were taken around the world yesterday. I’m going to share some without comment besides this: this man is as unfit for public trust as Usain Bolt is fast, and Mr. Bolt is extremely fast.
It is extraordinary that 200 elected officials who asked their fellow citizens to allow them the honor of serving them in the Congress could conceivably support such a clownish juvenile. Yet, they do. It marks them as deeply cynical, unfit and uncaring about their duty to the US Constitution. They seem immunized from danger and reality like contestants from a 20-something focused reality show in search of the world’s most vapid people. They are as hollow and empty as they are obedient and cowardly.
Thus far, there is a line that is holding, and has not yet broken. It is made up of the final super minority of Republican elected officials in America who care about America. They are proving it by saying no to the most unfit person in the US Congress not named McCarthy, Gaetz, Mace, Boebert, Gossar, MTG, Cruz or Hawley. There is no justification beyond the awful expediency of cynicism or the fear of mean tweets that could conceivably justify the ascension of a doofus with an agenda as stupid as his constant posturing and performative idiocy.
Here is what is happening in the world:
Did you know that Azerbaijan is poised to attack Armenia?
Do you know what is happening in Central and South America?
What about in Iran and Turkey? What about in Lebanon, Iraq and Saudi?
These are just some of the images from yesterday.
Please understand something. These images should absolutely frighten you. We are passing into the storm. It is perfectly clear.
How we arrived at this moment will be no mystery whatsoever to our descendants.
This is what it looks like when the world starts to come apart. There is something building. Something terrible.
Indeed, pictures express a thousand words. The picture of the former slave with scars on his back as a result of being whipped, says it all. Please relay this picture to DeSatan and all the people at Prager U who believe that slavery wasn’t so bad, and slaves learned many skills. And explain how slaves were bought and sold as chattel; families being separated and children removed from parents.
As for the other pictures around the world? Pictures elicit an emotional response. These pictures in Gaza, Iran and Turkey show anger and hate. The same anger and hate we Americans expressed after 9/11. My only thought is, how did that work out for the US.
I think we all need to take a step back. The violence and response to the terrorist attack will only escalate to more death and destruction. We all need to take a deep breath and think through the consequences of our actions and responses before more escalation occurs and even more countries are drawn into this travesty.
More of the same isn’t the answer. We’ve seen this movie before, and each time the violence and death only gets worse, and the treatment of Palestinians, more draconian.
Einstein once said, the true definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result.
Perhaps the world should listen this time around.
From HCR, (Oct 17) re: Representative Pete Aguilar (D-CA.)
Aguilar noted that Jordan was “the architect of a nationwide abortion ban, a vocal election denier, and an insurrection inciter.” He has “spent his entire career trying to hold our country back, putting our national security in danger, attempting government shutdown after government shutdown, wasting taxpayer dollars on baseless investigations with dead ends, authoring the very bill that would ban abortion nationwide without exceptions, and inciting violence on this chamber. Even leaders of his own party have called him ‘a legislative terrorist.’”
Regarding the 200 members "voting for" Jordan, IMO, some may have voted for him reluctantly, perhaps not fearing for their jobs, but for their lives, or for those of their families. They may not have wanted to appear on some "hit list" on Truth Social by Gag Man.