All four of Utah's Republican members of the House voted against holding Trump strategist Steve Bannon in criminal contempt for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. The measure passed anyway, 229 to 202.
Rep. Chris Stewart called the Jan. 6 probe "political theater." Theater? The Washington Post just revealed that a "command center" at the Willard hotel near the White House was where, "Trump and his most loyal lieutenants were working day and night with one goal in mind: overturning the results of the 2020 election." Not to worry, it's just theater—or maybe a dress rehearsal.
They were led by Rudy Giuliani and Bannon, along with law professor John Eastman—who outlined a detailed plan to keep Trump in the White House. Stewart apparently doesn't read The Post. And why should he? The script has already been written for him and his colleagues.
As the Big Lie strengthens its stranglehold on the GOP, they want to see no evil or speak no evil. Jan. 6 was just another day at the theater and they are playing the roles of cowards who will not honor their oath to uphold the Constitution in the face of sedition. When the curtain falls, their capitulation will cast them in history as accessories after the fact.
God Bless Vespucci? Who the Hell is Vespucci?
New scientific evidence reaffirms that Vikings beat Columbus to the New World by 471 years. Leif Erikson set foot on Newfoundland at a place called L'Anse aux Meadows in 1021, exactly 1,000 years ago. Michael Dee, a geoscientist in the Netherlands, noted that it was the first time humans crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Almost five centuries later, Christopher Columbus landed in 1492 on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola and built a colony at what is now Haiti.
Lately, Columbus has fallen out of favor with some: Once celebrated for discovering America, he is now reviled for initiating centuries of indigenous genocide. Still, the New World was not named for Columbus nor Erikson. It was christened for Amerigo Vespucci, who in 1499 landed at Guyana, on South America's north coast. He then sailed south to the mouth of the Amazon River.
Although some question it, Vespucci is said to have understood in 1501 that Brazil was not Asia but part of a new continent, which he called the New World. In 1507, a cartographer applied the term "America" to a map in recognition of Vespucci's exploration. Somehow, Vespucci has escaped blame for genocide and we have dodged living in a land called Vespucci. "God bless Vespucci, land that we love... "
Warning: Teachers Indoctrinating Kids With Ideas!
Conservative white men in the Utah Legislature have a bad feeling—public school teachers have a secret liberal agenda to teach equality, history and reading. Lawmakers, meeting in a special committee, said they received zillions and zillions of emails from very good patriotic people who were pretty sure teachers are involved in a conspiracy to indoctrinate children with evil things—like all people being able to vote.
A proposal by Sen. Lincoln Fillmore would require public schools to put all instructional material in social science courses online for parents to review and, if need be, send death threats to teachers. In addition, legislation would require that public schools be audited each year to make sure teachers weren't indoctrinating students with gay or transgender points of view.
Fillmore said it wasn't lawmakers role to tell teachers what to do, but if they were teaching the history of slavery and Jim Crow and white children stealing lands from Indians, then they should be put on double secret probation, or worse. Others—who appeared not to be under the spell of the paranoid-inducing drug Ibogaine—worried such legislation would fuel suspicions that teachers are pushing nefarious topics about humans evolving from apes. OMG!
Postscript—That's a wrap for another fun-filled week here at Smart Bomb, where we keep track of movie prop guns so you don't have to. Speaking of fun facts, here's one you may have missed: Just before the late Colin Powell gave his historic United Nations speech on Saddam Hussein's (nonexistent) weapons of mass destruction, aides to then-President George W. Bush had U.N. officials cover a huge tapestry of a replica of Pablo Picasso's famous "Guernica," depicting the gruesome image of the Basque village bombed to smithereens during the Spanish Civil War.
It's an enduring symbol of war's monstrosities that Bush didn't want visible as he sued for war against Iraq. Since our invasion in 2003, estimates of Iraqi deaths go as high as 2.4 million. Iraq remains politically unstable. Why do people hate the U.S.?
And finally this: You want the truth? You may have to check with Donald Trump, who, through attorney Holly Collins, has sought trademarks for the words "Truthing," "Retruth," "Post A Truth," "TruthSocial" and "TMTG." According to Mother Jones, they're connected to his new conservative social media tech company, created after other platforms banned him. As someone once said: "Truth is the first casualty of War"— or insurrection.
Well, Wilson, we know you and they guys in the band aren't into reprising "God Bless Vespucci," but what the heck, show us what our bright future looks like when the pandemic is over and the crazy right gets tired of Trump and Fox News:
Standing tough under stars and stripes, we can tell
This dream's in sight
You've got to admit it
At this point in time that it's clear
The future looks bright
On that train, all graphite and glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from New York to Paris
Well, by '76 we'll be A-OK
What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free
What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free
There'll be a just machine to make big decisions
Programmed by fellas with compassion and vision
We'll be clean when their work is done
We'll be eternally free, yes, and eternally young
What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free
What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free...
"I.G.Y."—Donald Fagen
