To Whom it May Concern:
I've tried the seven day trial and I would like to cancel my subscription to 2021, thankyouverymuch.
Me.
2020 was a memorable year, wasn't it? We almost had WWIII, Australia caught fire, California and most of the West Coast of the United States also caught fire, Murder Hornets, poisonous caterpillars that looked not unlike Trump's hair run amok, coronavirus... And that pretty much summed up January to October.
Then it was November. The US held an election for President. Did you hear about that? I'll bet you didn't. I mean, it's not like it's been the focus of any news cycle for the past two and a half months.
First of all, I do not understand this American system of elections. You hold an election on the first Tuesday in November every 4 years. But really, even though you're voting for who you want to be President, you're not actually voting for who you want to be President. You're actually voting for which party you want to support and represent you in the Electoral College which then holds an election of some sort six weeks later, and THEN, because apparently allllll the votes counted in November and all the votes counted in December aren't enough, you have a big, boring ceremony where the Vice President counts allllllll the Electoral College votes in January. Seriously, why do your elections take literally two months? I mean here (Canada), we have an election whenever we have an election (they seem to pop up with unreliable frequency) where we choose which party we want representing the area in which we live (we call them ridings). If your chosen party wins enough votes in your riding, that person is elected as your Member of Parliament or Member of Provincial Parliament - depending on whether or not it's a provincial or federal election. The party with the most seats in all the ridings becomes the party that leads the nation or the province. It's rare that we don't know who our Premier or Prime Minister are going to be before we go to bed on Election Night. And if we aren't sure, we know for sure in the morning, because the West Coast will have counted their votes before they go to bed. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. I don't think we've ever had an election contested in Canada before. I'm sure we've had narrow margins and I'm pretty confident we've also had recounts in certain ridings, but I know with nearly perfect hindsight, never in my life have we had a contentious election with one party denying the other party's victory. And if we did, I'm sure we sent in the Canadian Geese to sort it all out. (Seriously - don't fuck with the Canadian Geese!)
But here we are, January 11, and not only has the losing candidate for president currently sulking and refusing to concede that he lost the election, he actually started sowing doubt in the integrity of the process months before the election. He literally said things like "If I win, then we know it wasn't fixed". Now he's whining about having been voted out of office and incited a LITERAL INSURRECTION!! NEVER in my life have I seen anything like this in a Democratic Republic. Sure, you see this in countries that pretend to be democratic, but are really dictatorships (I mean, Abbas in Palestine is on his 11th or 12th year of a 5 year term).
On January 6, unless you've been living under a rock, while Congress was in a joint session to certify the results of the election on November 3, 2020 (see - it took TWO MONTHS to certify this!) Trump held a rally on the Ellipse in front of the White House. He told his supporters/followers/cult members that they had to fight for the election that was stolen from them. Those are the words he used - albeit paraphrased. His voice bugs the shit out of me, so I'm not looking for video to get a direct quote. What did his followers do? They marched down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Ellipse to the Capitol Building and instead of marching, holding flags and signs and making their voices heard through peaceful protest they - are you ready for this? - STORMED THE FUCKING CAPITOL BUILDING AND BROKE IN! They broke windows and doors. They defecated in the halls of democracy. And that's not hyperbole. Someone literally took a shit in the hallway. They broke into Nancy Pelosi's office, stole her laptop, a piece of mail, left a somewhat threatening note, took pictures of themselves sitting at her desk with their feet up on her desk. Someone stole her lectern. They got onto the floor of the Senate while the Senators and Representatives were evacuated and held in place!
A lot of comparisons were made between this literal treasonous insurrection and the Black Lives Matter protests this past summer. The National Guard was on hand in case the protests turned violent (which they only did when Trump needed a photo op at the church he doesn't attend across from the White House - so he had the National Guard tear gas the peaceful protestors so he could walk a block and take a picture holding an upside-down bible (how he didn't immediately burst into flame is anyone's guess).
On January 6, the police literally (I'm using that word a lot) opened the gates for the insurrectionists. In some cases, they were taking selfies with them. Or they were just waving them in. What's the comparison between this and the BLM protests? Had the BLM protestors, especially the ones of colour, rather than the allies, tried to storm the Capitol the way Trump's cult members did, there would have been a lot more than 6 dead.
As of at least January 9, there were 17 cases filed before federal courts and 40 in Superior Court, with many more arrests happening. Insurrectionists have been placed on the no-fly list by the FBI. You should look up video of that. They are shocked that they've been labeled as domestic terrorists and pulled off flights.
The guy who stole Nancy Pelosi's lectern? Arrested.
The guy who took a picture of himself at her desk? Arrested.
Oh and the best yet? A Republican lawmaker from West Virginia - Derrick Evans - who hasn't served a single day in federal office yet, livestreamed himself as he broke into the Capitol with the insurrection. Yeah. He's been arrested. And fired. Well, he resigned. But really.
And it's a good thing that Trump was so against wearing face coverings to protect from Covid-19. Because a lot of his followers are, too. So no one really wore any face coverings of any sort during the insurrection. So the FBI, through crowdsourcing and other means, are identifying people who participated in the riot, and arresting and charging them.
One guy was smart enough to wear his work ID to the protest. So he's been fired. A CEO participated - yup. Fired.
And I don't feel badly for them at all.
Of the six dead, one guy tased himself in the balls while trying to steal a piece of art. He had a heart attack, because his taser went off repeatedly. Two others had other medical emergencies and died at the Capitol. One insurrectionist was shot in the neck trying to breach the Congressional chamber. She died. I'm sad for the loss of life, but more for her family having to mourn her than for her actual death. I mean, death is death and death is sad. Hers was completely unnecessary.
A United States Capitol Police officer was beaten with a fire extinguisher. He died later of his injuries. A stroke, I believe I heard, from the beating. And a second USCP officer committed suicide over the weekend.
What's even more troubling is the number of Republican Senators who STILL back Trump after he put their lives at risk. Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and a number of others need to be removed from their positions. They need to resign. They need to leave. They cannot be trusted to represent the people when they back a dictator.
So, what are the punishments for those who incited this riot (*ahem* Trump *ahem*). So far, nothing. The Democrats are pressuring VP Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, which is to be invoked when the President is unable to fulfill the duties of the office. Honestly, the 25th should have been invoked in 2017, but that's neither here nor there. The 25th Amendment has never been invoked on a sitting president, except briefly and for medical reasons (Bush had a colonoscopy, so his VP took over for about 3 hours, for example). Mike Pence did his job and validated the election, as he's supposed to do. Therefore he is no longer besties with Trump because he didn't overturn the election for him - which he can't do anyway. And not once during the siege or since, as far as reporting goes, has Trump called to see if Pence and his family are okay. They are not - they are facing death threats from Trump's supporters.
If Trump doesn't resign (which he won't. He's already shouted that at people in the White House), and Pence doesn't invoke the 25th Amendment (which looks unlikely), then Pelosi and the Democrats will move forward with impeachment. Which will make Trump a winner. Seriously. He'll be the first President to get impeached TWICE. No other president has ever been impeached twice! He can wear that as his badge of honour when he struts around Mar-A-Lago. Oh. Wait. His Florida neighbours don't want him living there. Okay, his Scottish golf course. Oh. They don't want him either. Well, he can always puff out his chest at the US PGA Open at his golf course in Bedminister, New Jersey. Oh... wait... no. They've stripped him of that. Hmm. Well, I guess he can just tweet about how he's the first president to be impeached twice... Oh... snap. Nope.
So, what to do?
Well, if I had any say, I'd invoke the 25th. Unfortunately, that would allow Pence the opportunity to pardon Trump for all of his crimes against the American people. And we know Trump would pressure him to do just that. If the House moves to impeach him, Mitch McConnell (Moscow Mitch, to his 'friends') said the Senate won't sit for a trial before the Inauguration of President Elect Joe Biden. But that's okay. Even without a Senate trial, Trump would be impeached in the House, and the Democrats will enjoy a slim majority in the Senate come post-inauguration, and might be able to get that two-thirds majority to strip Trump of a lot of benefits and the ability to run in 2024, which he's hinted at.
So, that said, who's looking forward to 2022?
