When Your House Is Being Burglarized, You Don't Call A Caterer

The Electoral Process was never meant to be a remedy for treason, Insurrection and civil war. There were no voting booths at Gettysburg.

Everybody elected to office, everybody working for government, everybody in the military, every police officer, every judge, every prosecutor, takes an oath of office.

There are many different oaths of office out there, but they all have one thing in common. All oath takers agree to obey the rules.

Outlaws break the rules. They disobey the law. When they do so, it's up to those in law enforcement who've taken an oath to uphold the law, to stop outlaws from continuing to break the law and arrest them and hold them pending trial.

It's up to those oath takers working in our various judicial systems to try those accused of crimes and hold them accountable for the crimes they've been found guilty of committing.

In all criminal cases the place the crime is committed and the nature of the crime determines who has jurisdiction in terms of arresting, detaining, trying and sentencing those involved with the crime.

The Constitution Of The United States Of America is the overriding law of the land. It takes precedence over all other laws, state and local, regardless of jurisdiction.

Treason is the ultimate crime. It's the only crime defined in our Constitution - Article III, Section 3.

"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort."

All those involved in the January 6th Insurrection were involved in treason - those instigating it, encouraging it and storming our Capitol.

Incredibly, because of our technology, we have numerous videos of  the actual Insurrection.

Sadly, we see and hear Donald Trump, the then POTUS, instigate the assault on our Capitol.

Sadly, we have much more evidence of Trump and others in days both leading up to the Insurrection and since the Insurrection, further incriminating themselves.

Sadly, we have much more evidence of Trump and others perpetuating a coup to overturn our 2020 elections and deny our voters the outcome of our democratic process.

There has been an assault on our Democracy. We are in the midst of a civil war that continues to this day. There are federal and state legislators actively working to illegally overturn our electoral results and overthrow our government.

We cannot and must not try to end this civil war at the ballot box. This war must be ended on the battlefields and in the courts.

Jurisdiction in this matter rests within our Department of Justice. The FBI needs to round up all involved, charge them and arrest them.

The actual January 6th Insurrectionists must all be tried in our Federal Court - in Washington, DC.

Others involved in the coup must be arrested and charged by the FBI and tried in the Federal Court that has jurisdiction in the place in which they committed the crimes.

No, we cannot end a civil war through voting people in or out of office.

When your house is being burglarized or vandalized or burnt down or attacked, when you are being pursued or beaten or tortured or murdered, you don't call a caterer or an interior decorator to come in and solve the problem.

Holy Moly!

Our Duplicitous Federal Government

Disgraceful!

There seems to be a reluctance within our Justice Department to hold Donald Trump and other elected and appointed officials accountable for treason.

The DOJ has yet to arrest and charge Trump for his actions on January 6th.

The DOJ has a long standing policy when it comes to indicting a sitting President - it just ain't allowed. Sadly, that policy seems to be being applied to former Presidents as well.

The President of the United States is not above the law, either while in office or out. No one is.

Our House and Senate may have a similar problem when it comes to Impeachment and Trial.

Trump was never Impeached in the House for the crimes he committed that were well documented in "The Mueller Report".

When Trump was Impeached on two separate occasions for other crimes he committed while in office, the Senate failed to actually try him, much less convict him.

Our country is in peril today because of unbridled, unending corruption at all levels of our Federal Government.

This should come as no surprise when you consider the legal "bribes" given to candidates under the pretense of "campaign contributions".

When lawmakers are compromised the government rots. Our Constitution is meaningless when those sworn to uphold it are corrupted.

We must either demand legal action to hold all office holders and their appointees accountable or resign ourselves to fascism.

Holy Moly!

I Ain't Laughing

 Ain't nothin' funny about "The Divine Comedy". The book should come with cautionary stickers.

I read John Ciardi's translation. He prefaced every canto with an simple narrative of what the canto would tell. He followed every canto with voluminous footnotes to explain/decode Dante's references.

To be clear, I couldn't have read this in its original language version. I wouldn't have understood anything without John's cheat sheets.

For all I know, John was just making it up. For all I know there was no Dante.

Is Dante a poet? Beats me.

"The Divine Comedy" is three books: "Inferno"; "Purgatorio"; and "Paradiso". (hell, purgatory and paradise)

Assuming there was a Dante and assuming John wasn't just making it all up, here's what I've learned from reading "The Divine Comedy":

1. Dante really hated various clergy, aristocrats and hypocrites. I'm talking world class hate. He hated them so much he created a detailed Hell for them. You didn't want to be on Dante's shit list.

2. He wanted all of us to know that we had dues to pay as well. Yeah, Purgatory ain't no walk in the park.

Dante was a Catholic purest. He hated the Church of his time. He condemns the Church for abandoning the teachings of Christ while profiting from people's fear and stupidity.

Dante is clearly against corporate religion and franchising religious outlets. He sees the church as Mammon personified and fully realized - look it up.

I think Dante saw the Pope as Satan on Earth.

Dante clearly loved the Catholic theologians and saints - per Dante, Francis, Benedict and Augustine represent Catholicism as it should be practiced and understood.

"Paradiso" brought back lots of memories of Catholic school for me - more so than "Inferno" or "Purgatorio".

All the mysteries of Catholicism were presented in "Paradiso" and all were basically clarified and answered as they were in Catholic school - it's a mystery only God understands - shut up and accept.

I admit I'm being harsh, but hey, what's the big deal here? Dante wrote a book only religious scholars and historians can even begin to understand - and even they don't agree.

If you're into endless philosophical debate and academic controversy, Dante is your man.

It's worth noting Dante starts his journey with Virgil as his guide and ends up with Beatrice taking him into Paradise.

Don't get me started on Beatrice. Dante clearly indulges his fetishes when it comes to Virgil and Beatrice.

I have no idea who Dante was. Was "The Divine Comedy" the equivalent of today's tabloids? Did Dante write a tell all poem? Was it even a poem? Was it worth 7 or 8 months of my reading time?

One thing I'm sure of. Dante was not the poster boy for modesty - not then, not now.

How relevant is Dante today? Dante is clearly a meal ticket for a small group of scholars who have devoted what appears to be their lives to promoting him. He is overly verbose. He is no Ogden Nash.

Would I recommend the book? Did it have a catchy rhythm? Could you dance to his verse?

If you want epic story telling replete with moral lessons, I recommend "The Hobbit" and "The Lord Of The Rings".

As for my religious beliefs - we're all on our own and it's what we do that defines us in the end, assuming anybody is keeping a record.

Unlike Dante, I prefer Irises to Roses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlaoR5m4L80

Holy Moly!