So what’s the point of impeaching at this juncture?
4 minute read
January 25, 2021, 9:37 PM
First of all, I am happy to breathe a sigh of relief that Donald Trump is no longer the president. A four-year mistake is over, and the grown-ups are back in charge. I look forward to hearing what happens in the White House now that people who are actually halfway competent at governing are running the show again. I hope that the next four years see the country do exceptionally well, and I hope that the Biden administration succeeds beyond everyone’s wildest dreams.
However, there is one lingering matter remaining from the Trump administration: an impeachment trial. After the whole storming of the Capitol on January 6, the House of Representatives impeached Trump for inciting an insurrection, and that was the status quo when he left office on the 20th. Then-Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell declined to expedite a trial, and so it became the case that Trump’s second impeachment trial would occur after he had already left office. Considering that Trump is now out of office, the only thing that could be accomplished through the impeachment process would be to disqualify him from holding office again in the future, and I really question the necessity of going through an entire impeachment process to accomplish that.
I freely admit that I opposed this impeachment, because impeachment is a process that has only a single sanction, just like the University of Virginia’s honor system: if convicted, you’re removed from office. Therefore, going through the impeachment process feels like a waste of time, since, as we saw, Trump’s term expired before the impeachment process was completed, and therefore, it’s now a moot point. With Trump out of office, nothing changes, regardless of the outcome of the impeachment trial. For what it’s worth, I would have been perfectly content in just ignoring Trump for the final two weeks of his term, and then letting his term expire on January 20. I also am convinced that Trump has trashed whatever credibility that he might have still had with the storming of the Capitol, and I suspect that because of that, most people wouldn’t vote for him for dogcatcher, let alone the President of the United States. Therefore, an impeachment trial of the former president seems like it would prevent us from moving forward and putting the Trump era behind us, at least as far as our politics go.
Continue reading…Categories: National politics
And they thought a little graffiti was bad back then…
5 minute read
January 10, 2021, 11:42 AM
I was recently participating in a comment thread on the Staunton News Leader‘s Facebook page about the arrest and charging of Jake Angeli, one of the more prominent figures to participate in the storming of the Capitol on January 6. Most the comments praised the arrest, while some other comments amused me thoroughly. One comment claimed that it was not Trump supporters who came to DC, but rather, it was “antifa”. That comment reminded me of how little many right-wingers understand about what antifa is, and it made me laugh. Recall that I used to do a lot of antifa back in my day (though the common use of the term “antifa” postdates my participation), so I know a little something about it. The thing that amuses me most is when people think that it’s an actual organization, because trust me, it is most definitely not. For those not familiar, the term “antifa” is short for “anti-fascist”, and if a bunch of people assemble and decide that they want to call themselves “antifa”, then they are antifa, and it’s over at the end of the event. It’s really not that complicated. There is no real organization to it, and people don’t answer to anyone at some headquarters.
But that commenter’s attempt to pin the whole thing on “antifa” reminded me of an event that happened back in January 2007, nearly 14 years ago. Back then, at an anti-war protest (which I documented here under the title “J27 Anti-War Demonstration“), an affinity group of sorts, comprised mostly of people wearing black clothing and masks, i.e. a black bloc (which many might call “antifa” today), broke away from the mainstream march and headed up to the United States Capitol. The group made it as far as the bottom of the steps, where Capitol Police was standing to prevent further movement. No effort was made to go past them, and as far as I know, the bloc was content with that. While we were there, a few people pulled out some spray paint cans and left some tags on the sidewalk in front of the steps of the Capitol.
Categories: Activism, Black bloc, DC area local news, National politics
No more cutesy safety messages?
6 minute read
January 7, 2021, 5:18 PM
On January 4, 2021, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a ruling providing “an official interpretation of the provisions of the 2009 edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways (MUTCD) related to changeable message sign messaging”. In a nutshell, this ruling bans all of those cutesy safety messages that highway departments love putting on those overhead message signs, such as this one:
Categories: Roads