Reflections From a Murky Pond

The one thing Americans can count on the Democrats for is that we can’t count upon them for any consistency or any adherence to long-standing norms, mores, or values, but we can count upon them for viciousness, false equivalencies, and general malfeasance. Their stance upon the respective nominations of Merrick Garland by their boy, Obama in 2016 vs. their stance on President Trump’s nominee, Amy Coney Barrett in 2020 is another perfect example of this pernicious behavior.

False Equivalency For the Loss

Democrats, especially those in the Senate, have been quick in their anger to claim that Republican Senators are being hypocritical by having refused to allow Obama’s Garland nomination to move forward while “rushing” President Trump’s Barrett nomination through. But this is just semi-hysterical false equivalency on their part. The underlying situation between the two nominations is fundamentally different, though quite similar on the surface.

That fundamental difference is that, when Obama nominated Garland near-ish the end of his time in the White House, he was not up for reelection; he was term-limited and would definitely be leaving office despite some quasi-hysterical and spurious claims to the contrary.

Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell’s oft willfully misinterpreted statement was true then and non-applicable now.

I believe the overwhelming view of the Republican Conference in the Senate is that this nomination should not be filled, this vacancy should not be filled by this lame duck (emphasis added) president.

The American people are perfectly capable of having their say on this issue, so let’s give them a voice. Let’s let the American people decide. The Senate will appropriately revisit the matter when it considers the qualifications of the nominee the next president nominates, whoever that might be.

— Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell

Yeah, sane and rational people can understand the difference between a POTUS who can’t serve another term in office and one who might not do so. Democrats and the sorts who vote for them? Not so much.

In other words, the Dems are behaving as we, the People have been forced to accept as the norm for them, stupidly, inconsistently except in their quest for either power or destruction, and despicably.

Some Complaints And Tangential Caveats

Sadly, it’s not all righteousness and roses on our side either. There is some rank hypocrisy and cynical realpolitik being spun out by our politicians this shit show. Despite having a firm and steady grasp of the necessities of realpolitik, some things rankle.

I’m not pleased at all that Mitch McConnell cited the “Biden Rule” in 2016 while blocking Garland nomination, but ignores that he did so now. Then-Senator Joe Biden didn’t want any SCOTUS Judges to confirmed during any Presidential election season, not just during the end of a lame duck’s tenure in office.

It also rankles that the 2nd “reason” commonly cited for the difference in behavior in Senate between Garland’s and Barrett’s nomination is that the Senate majority in 2016 was the opposition party to the POTUS, whereas it isn’t in 2020.

Call me naive and/or delusional, I actually agree with Obama’s statement that, “[confirmation of nominees to the] … Supreme Court is supposed to be above politics, not an extension of politics.” The Senate being in the hands of the “other” party shouldn’t make so much of a difference that it is blithely stated as one of the two reasons for a SCOTUS nomination being blocked.

One could probably substitute any channel’s “news” group meeting for NBC’s Today Show and be accurate enough for everyday use. They’ve all, except for Fox News, lost the trust and the viewership of both Americans and the Democrats, and they seem to choose to double-down on Leftist, anti-Trump editorializing instead of correct their behavior.

Ah well; stupid should be painful and they’ve collectively been grossly stupid. They went full-on Libtard – one should never go full-on Libtard 😆 – and threw away the trust and viewership of the American people, leaving stuck with pandering to the Left in order to stay afloat. And the Left? They’re deep into decompensation these days, demanding more extremity, more hate, and more explicit compliance with the “orthodox dogma” of their cult.

The above cartoon is a nigh-on perfect, and perfectly sarcastic, example of what is actually wrong in America today. In the minds of far too many nothing is exempt from political meaning and allegiance. Nothing.

True, it is far more prevalent among Democrats and their sort with their hate-filled #CancelCulture and TURDS, but Americans these days are prone to the problem as well, just not as much or to the extent that the Left is.

It’s all a sure sign that the government is too big, too invasive, and far too pervasive. It’s also a sign that the 24/7 fake news cycle is pernicious and a clear and present danger to the health of the People and the Nation.

Who’s shaking the jar? Somebody has to be shaking it! There has to be some spider in its web and/or some shadowy cabal pulling the strings for their own nefarious ends. Or, so says one variety of common wisdom. A variety I choose to call Tinfoil Wisdom.

With the exception of the Lamestream Media, who shakes things up for their own profit as much as any agenda, there doesn’t have to be any shadowy figure “shaking the jar.” Certain sorts are quite capable of behaving heinously without manipulative instigation. They’re just that bad all on their own.

This is unfortunately the curse of being sentient. We’re built to make use of pattern recognition and, hence, we’re susceptible to false pattern recognition aka Apophenia. We are, as Klaus Conrad wrote, prone to the unmotivated seeing of connections accompanied by a specific feeling of abnormal meaningfulness and to engaging in self-referential, over-interpretations of what we see and hear.

There doesn’t have to be some spider in its web and/or some shadowy cabal pulling the strings for their own nefarious ends. With the ease of communication and the resultant online “echo chambers,” we’re quite capable of producing conflicts organically.

Of course, all that said, that doesn’t mean that sometimes, at some various levels, that there isn’t someone “shaking the jar.” It just means that there doesn’t have to be and that we should jump to the conclusion that there is. Sometimes, probably the majority of times, that “Shaker” didn’t start the shit; they just enabled existing troublemakers in order to profiteer off of them.

In some ways, I almost feel sorry for Mark Zukerberg – almost. I might even actually do so if he didn’t so richly deserve pretty much everyone’s despite, and if I were actually capable of extending that level of empathy to an enemy.

Zuckerberg is beset from both sides. Americans rightfully hate and loath him because he’s used Facebook to silence them and shape public opinion to further Democrat agendas. And, at the same time, Democrats and other enemies of the American People loath him because Facebook has been less than totally successful in their attempted censorship.

And it’s not just rank and file Americans and Leftists. House Democrats have demanded his testimony on not preventing Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory and the Dept. of Justice is trying to rescind parts of the law that allows Facebook – and other social media platforms – to pick and choose who and what topics they silence while maintaining their protection from lawsuits.

Yeah, seems that just about everybody is unfriending Mark Zuckerberg. Of course, it’s not like he probably cares. One, he’s already got more money than he could ever reasonably spend. And, Two, it’s not like “unfriending” meant that any significant number of us or the Left have or will stop using his platforms and, thereby, being part of his product portfolio and income stream.