Reflections on impeachment, flood

Published 10:10 pm Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Well, it seems that Rep. Rashid Talib was prophetic in her prediction that the U.S. House of Representatives would impeach President Trump.

I had come to the decision I wasn’t going to write about impeachment.

I thought about, mulled it over, and probably should have prayed about it. But, I’ve decided I can’t let this debacle go by without saying a few, no, without vent…no, without ranting about the big steaming bowl of bovine excrement.

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As we all know, the Senate voted on two articles of impeachment. In the first article the vote was 48-52 to acquit on abuse of power, and 47-53 on the second article obstruction of congress. The Democratic cheerleaders falling woefully short of the two-third vote required to convict and remove from office. All Republicans voted to acquit, except for Utah Senator and forever failure presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, citing his Latter Day Saint religion claimed he felt convicted to convict, pun definitely intended.

First off, thanks to Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, who got this farce through the Senate quickly without wasting more of the boatload the national Democrats have wasted on what, we all knew all along, was just a nothing burger. This carnival freak sideshow which was put into motion election night of 2016 was the culmination of close to a four-year temper tantrum by the sorest of losers.

Schiff, Schummer, Nadler, Pelosi and a bevy of others on the left decided to the best use of time and tax dollars would be to fabricate fables about President Trump and try to have him removed from office predicated on these fairy tales.

Now, we can’t only chastise losers from the left for their hissy fit over Hillary Clinton’s defeat. Mitt Romney, a man who will never be president in his fit of self-serving and jealousy made an ass of himself. Establishment tripe, like the National Review, compared Romney to St. Thomas Moore the subject of the classic film, “A Man For All Seasons.” If Romney is a man for all seasons, then those seasons are cowardly, self-serving, weak, and did I already mention cowardly?

Romney is a man consumed with jealousy over the fact he couldn’t beat President Obama and the fact he had to watch Donald Trump whip the deep state’s queen elect Hillary Clinton. He has, like his leftist elitist counterparts, been beside themselves since Trump’s election.

I’m personally elated at Trump’s acquittal. I am personally, and tens of millions like me are as well, disgusted it even came to this. I would like to think this will hurt folks like Nancy Pelosi, but alas, I’m sure she will be re-elected in her district. Her juvenile antics of ripping up her copy of the State of The Union Address will not move voters if rivers of fecal matter and hypodermic needles lining the streets of San Francisco don’t.

The big news here in Harlan County this past week was the heavy rains and the flooding that accompanied them. Some reports said the swiftly rising water matched record levels from the 1977 flood, which is acclaimed as a 100-year flood. We all watched on social media and television the destruction of homes, either by being enveloped and submerged by water or by being washed away and crushed.

My heart, as does everyone else’s goes out to all those who lost during the recent flooding. My prayers got out to them and my prayers go up that we avoid more flooding this week as forecasts at this time call for more days of heavy rain.

My take-away from the destruction from nature and the suffering borne out from it is this; Harlan Countians are always ready and willing to come together when our fellow Harlan Countians are hurting. In every instance, I witness this mountain spirit put on display I am filled with pride for our people, our culture, our idiosyncrasies, and our way of life.

I am poised to appreciate that once again if we are to get the weather we are forecast and I’m just as ready to wait another day if God sees fit to spare us this time. I am ready for the former, but I pray for the latter.

Joaquin Phoenix took home the Oscar last night for best actor for his portrayal of the Joker in the film of the same name. I’m sure you’ll find little to no argument against him winning for his mind-boggling portrayal of a tragic descent into chaos and evil. I’m surprised the film lost out in the Best Picture category but I’ve felt the academy often gets it wrong in that respect.

Last week’s column was devoted to the Joker character and the film of the same name and in particular the theme of the lack of a father. I want to briefly touch on something else and perhaps the largest theme of the film. In the opening scene, we hear a news segment of a garbage strike and the city being overrun by garbage strikes and people on the streets offering wide-ranging solutions. The next sequence cuts to Fleck holding a sign that reads; “everything must go.” The message is not just that the store he is outside of holding the sign up is going out of business, but, that, everything, must go.

This is about Fleck’s personal life, his downward spiral and most importantly the mirror held up to our society that the film accomplishes. In many parts of the world, and in our own country as well, we get the references to garbage, rats, high crime, disease the brick wall people feel they are up against in finding solutions.

This film and this incarnation of the Joker offer the same solution like every other incarnation, anarchy, and chaos. There’s a line in the 2008 film, ‘The Dark Knight’ where Batman/Bruce Wayne’s friend and butler Alfred remarks, “that some men just want to watch the world burn.” Todd Phillips’ film and Phoenix’s portrayal encapsulate this belief, as well as Heath Ledger’s turn at Joker, did. The philosophy, in fact, reminds me of French writer Albert Camus’ work ‘The Stranger’ where a man feels that all moral structures are a farce and we create our own ideas of right and wrong. In doing so he kills a man just because he can. It is a dark, hopeless place not unlike the Gotham Phillips put forth in the film.

One of the most compelling cases for saying there’s a breakdown in order and society creeping into our society is the murder of at least 13 police officers as early this month. There have been more than a few ambushes at police stations. I’m not mentioning this to cast blame at the Joker movie or of nihilism or any philosophy or work of art. Joker is a reflection of reality in an artistic form, not the cause of it. Just as many bemoan what they observe to be recent division in this country and cast blame at the President. President Trump is not the cause of division in this country, he is the response to it.

Anarchy is a good way to describe the madness of the impeachment Democrats as they have sought to subvert the law, corrupt the law, to nullify elections and cause upheaval in society just to get their way.

I’m thankful to live in a place many calls backward and that is definitely isolated. A place where people care about the suffering of others. A place where people work to alleviate that suffering. A place where people do not want to watch the world burn, or drown as in our case last week. I just pray for the rest of the country, our world, to less embrace the chaos.