NOVEMBER 2021 IGNOMINIOUS ABSURDITY OF THE MONTH: THE IGGY

1. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala). On Sunday, an article in Rolling Stone reported that both Republicans members of Congress and their staff met repeatedly with organizers of the Jan. 6 insurrection to plan protests around blocking the official tallying of the Electoral College vote. This month, the Montgomery Adviser reported that Brooks denied helping to plan the rally, saying that he had not had any  involvement in fundraising for the rally, and only showed up to speak “because the White House asked him to do so.”

In a phone interview, Brooks seemed quite sure that his hands were clean when it came to the rally and the violent and deadly assault on the Capitol that followed. "If you’re talking about someone participating in meetings, setting the agenda, raising the money,” said Brooks, “I don’t know of anything that suggests my staff as doing that stuff.”

But speaking to reporters on Monday afternoon, Brooks walked that statement back a critical distance. Speaking to CNN’s Melanie Zanona, Brooks continued to claim that he had not attended planning meetings for the event, but said, “I don’t know if my staff did ... but if they did I’d be proud of them for helping to put together a rally lawful under the First Amendment at the ellipse to protest voter fraud and election theft."

Which is certainly made more interesting by how, back in July, Brooks told Slate that he was aware there was a likelihood of violence at the rally. “As a consequence of those warnings,” said Brooks, “I did not go to my condo. Instead, I slept on the floor of my office. And when I gave my speech at the Ellipse, I was wearing body armor.”

An article from another Alabama television station, WKRG, has Brooks making the statement about purchasing a Glock after a more general statement about the threats that he receives as a member of Congress. Which makes this seem like less connected to the Jan. 6 event.

During that interview in July, Brooks refused to say who had given him the heads up on what was about to happen. Or provide details on that warning. But those would be excellent questions for the House select committee on Jan. 6.

In a statement to WAFF in Huntsville, Alabama, Brooks later claimed that he had “zero warnings of any kind” about violence from Trump supporters and only wore body armor because he was concerned about “the risk of threatened violence by BLM and ANTIFA.” Brooks also hinted that he might have been carrying a weapon at the rally, saying: “As a consequence of these threats, I have body armor, a concealed carry permit, and purchased a Glock to go with them.”

According to the original Rolling Stone article, at least one of those involved in planning the January 6 rally has been in communication with the select committee. That organizer is apparently now a cooperating witness, sharing information about the members of Congress and their staff who helped plan events on Jan. 6. That organizer specifically mentioned that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was present at meetings, and that others—including Rep. Paul Gosar, Rep. Lauren Boebert, Rep. Madison Cawthorn, Rep. Andy Biggs, Rep. Louie Gohmert, and Rep. Mo Brooks—either attended themselves or sent “top staffers.”

If Brooks’ statements seem to constantly skate the edge of self-contradiction and encouraging violence, they fall solidly in the speech Brooks made to the insurgents gathered before him on the Ellipse the morning of January 6. On that morning, Brooks’ didn’t tell them to storm the Capitol and engage in violence. He only told them, “Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass. Our ancestors sacrificed their blood, their sweat, their tears, their fortunes and sometimes their lives to give us, their descendants, an America that is the greatest nation in world history. So, I have a question for you. Are you willing to do the same?”

He didn’t tell them they had to stop the electoral count. He only told them, “Today, Republican senators and congressmen will either vote to turn America into a godless, amoral, dictatorial, oppressed and socialist nation on the decline, or they will join us and they will fight and vote against voter fraud and election theft and vote for keeping America great.”

He didn’t tell them they had to attack the Capitol, he only called out to the crowd, “Will you fight for America?” before saying, “We, American patriots are going to come right at them!”

It seems clear that Brooks had staffers—at least—involved in the pre-planning of Jan. 6 events. It’s clear that he had foreknowledge that violence was likely, if not certain. It’s clear that on Jan. 6, Brooks helped deliver that violence by informing the crowd that the nation would be lost if they didn’t act immediately. And it’s clear that every day since then, Brooks has continued to blast the Big Lie about election fraud, even as he has hedged his own claims to stay just this side of obvious sedition.

Is this the last straw in Brooks’ worthiness for a Hall-of-Shame induction?

2. California Representative Devin Nunes. The lawsuit-addicted dirtbag never misses an opportunity to emulate his con-man mentor, Donald Trump, and take yet another step toward induction into the Phronesis Hall-of-Shame. Contrary to the Trumpster, however, his efforts may be backfiring.

A federal judge is demanding that the Nunes family come clean about who’s really bankrolling a multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuit against a reporter and magazine publisher over a 2018 story about their Iowa farm.  The suit was filed by Nunes’ family, but Judge Mark Roberts of Iowa’s Northern District Court wants to know who’s really paying the legal fees.

According to reporting from the Sacramento Bee, the congressman’s brother said he had “no idea” who was paying their lawyers and that the family had only paid one $500 fee.

“Anthony Nunes III’s lack of knowledge about who is paying the attorneys prosecuting this action raises legitimate concern about not only who may be in charge of the lawsuit, but also whether Plaintiffs are the still the real parties in interest,” Roberts wrote in his decision.

Nunes and his family share the same attorney, Steve Biss, and the concern shared by Roberts, the reporter, and the publisher is whether or not a group of fat-cat Republican donors is really at the center of the payments. Also, in question is whether or not the Nunes family could be considered public figures, which could make it more challenging to launch a defamation suit.

The suit stems from an article written by Ryan Lizza for Esquire magazine implying that the Nunes’ farm, NuStar Farms, employed undocumented workers. The family is seeking $20 million in damages.

The Bee reports that Nunes has filed 10 lawsuits against media companies and others in the past three years. The companies include Twitter; McClatchy, the parent company of The Fresno Bee; The Washington Post; and CNN.

Last year, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) suggested an investigation into whether Nunes is receiving legal services in violation of House ethics rules. It’s doubtful he could afford all these lawsuits on his annual congressional salary of $174,000.

”In sum, Representative Nunes has not disclosed the source of payments for the legal services he is receiving, and the possibility of a contingency fee agreement with his lawyer is not an absolute defense for a violation of the House gift rule,” the complaint from CLC reads.

Last year a federal judge dismissed Nunes’ lawsuit against Lizza and Hearst, finding the Iowa farm story did not defame him. But an appeals court was forced to reopen the case after Lizza tweeted with a hyperlink to the Esquire story.

Roberts has ordered the Nunes family to hand over documents showing who is funding this latest farm lawsuit.

Perhaps to deflect, or perhaps just because he is the snarky little contrarian that he is, today in a hearing about diversity in the intelligence community, Nunes said that the country’s national security apparatus is spending too much time on "woke" initiatives. Huh?

"Unfortunately, we can't counter hypersonic missile launch with better pronoun usage. And a deeper understanding of White rage won't rescue Americans stranded in Afghanistan," he said. Adding: “I'd argue that woke obsessions are the proper jurisdiction of faculty lounge Marxists, not our national security agencies.”

Maybe worry a little less about “woke” initiatives (because Nunes, that ship has sailed), and a bit more about how you can afford to shroud yourself in all these costly lawsuits—then show us the money!

3. Anti-Vaxxer Robert Kennedy Jr. So, is Robert Kennedy Jr. this hypocritical on purpose? He can’t be that dumb, can he?

“You have Democrats out there saying you have to get rid of the First Amendment, you have to get rid of freedom of speech,” he says, likely unable to point to a single Democrat who actually is saying such things. Remember, the First Amendment doesn’t apply to private companies. It only applies to the government.

A private company has every right to decide to restrict to restrict speech, particularly when speech leads to people dying because of dangerous, inflammatory lies. Kennedy obviously doesn’t understand this. In fact, he’s suing a private publication because it dared criticize him for attending a Nazi rally, at the behest of a while supremacist extremist party in Berlin.

Kennedy, appears pissed because he’s been kicked off of several private platforms, including Instagram and You Tube. He’s still on Facebook, though, so don’t worry. He’s not off the world’s ‘top distributor of people-killing misinformation’ list. So, he can continue his anti-vaxx shit.

It’s bizarre and hypocritical for Kennedy to cite the First Amendment’s protection of free speech then turn around and sue a protected publication. He’s smart enough to know that our Constitution gives him zero chance to win any defamation suit.

Kennedy is a twisted, sick individual who has made a mockery of his family’s legacy. His own family has distanced itself, calling him “dangerous,” as if he has the plague, because he likely does. Maybe even more than one plague. He is, indeed, against all vaccinations.

But here’s a pro tip: Don’t stand on a literal pedestal and cry about the loss of free speech when not a single governmental entity tried to shut you down. They let him have his speech, for free.

In the name of free speech, be sure to grab a copy of Kennedy’s recently published book: The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health.”  This just about says it all.

4. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). Hawley on Sunday night told fellow conservatives they must stop liberals from attacking masculinity and creating a nation of “idle men” who watch pornography and play video games instead of working and raising families.

Hawley delivered the speech on the “future of the American man” at the National Conservatism Conference in Orlando, calling for a return to traditional gender roles. He said liberals’ “attempt to give us a world beyond men” was part of their larger effort to “deconstruct America,” an endeavor that, according to the senator, includes critical race theory, economic socialism and doing away with the concept of gender altogether.
Hawley called for conservatives to fight the “attack on men” and push for “a revival of strong and healthy manhood in America.”

Hawley’s manhood world has little regard for women. In fact, he’s been on a relentless anti-women crusade. Not content with calling for a new emphasis on “traditional masculinity,” Missouri’s junior senator is now stepping up his opposition to registering young women for a military draft.

“I’m in favor of keeping the Selective Service,” Hawley said, “but I’m not in favor of forcing women to fight against their will.”

How can a senator who constantly wails about vaccine mandates support a system that requires anyone to fight against their will? How is a military draft less tyrannical than a jab in the arm? Hawley doesn’t say.

Women were cleared for full combat duty in 2015. “They’ll be allowed to drive tanks, fire mortars and lead infantry soldiers into combat,” the secretary of defense said at the time. “They’ll be able to serve as Army Rangers and Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Marine Corps infantry, Air Force parajumpers and everything else that was previously open only to men.”

Nearly 1 in 5 service members is a woman. They are essential, irreplaceable partners with men in defending the country.

Except, of course, in Josh Hawley’s world, where women are subservient to men. Relegating women to second-class status is Hawley’s primary project and barring them from draft registration is part of that goal. Draft registration for manly men, on the other hand, is A-OK.

“If you’re an able-bodied young man … you should be willing to take up arms and fight for this country,” Hawley told one interviewer.

Let’s note for the record that Hawley never served in the military.

Yet again, Sen. Hawley’s approach is misguided and wrong. As is the case on so many issues, the Republican sees the world through a prism of supremacy and privilege, where men who look like him and think like him, men who have no problem lying, bullying, rating and degrading women, and counting and boasting about their female “conquests.” are ascendant, and everyone else should step aside, or behind.

5. Rep. Paul Gosar. On Sunday, Gosar tweeted out a video, writing, “Any anime fans out there?” The video was a poorly put together attempt to join a viral set of memes that play on the opening title sequence to an anime show Attack on Titan.  The video has made the news not because it is particularly well done—it isn’t—but because of the violence it depicts against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and President Joe Biden.

In the one-minute-and-thirty-two-second clip, Lauren Boebert and Paul Gosar’s faces are photoshopped onto some of the anime heroes’ heads. Intercut with strange immigration and border patrol footage, Gosar’s character proceeds to slash a Titan with Ocasio-Cortez’s face photoshopped on it, killing her. Another scene has Gosar’s character flying with two swords at the ready to slash at the face of President Joe Biden.

The video, in the end, plays like some low-rent attempt at recreating Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will.

There are a few reasons why Gosar’s own family has called him unfit to be in office and have said he should be investigated for his actions and statements surrounding Jan. 6, 2021. In recent months, Gosar’s main source of juice regarding fundraising has involved courting online white nationalists and a general underdeveloped misogynists’ culture that right-wingers, libertarians, and anyone constantly fretting about people being “woke” or a spooky boogie man called “cancel culture.”

6. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Adding another notch on his belt for membership in the Phronesis Hall-of-Shame, Matt Gaetz offered another zinger when he said his office may ask self-styled vigilante, Kyle Rittenhouse, to consider working on Capitol Hill.

“Kyle Rittenhouse would probably make a pretty good congressional intern,” Gaetz said during a Wednesday night appearance on Newsmax. “We may reach out to him and see if he’d be interested in helping the country in additional ways.”

Maybe this is the first insightful thing Gaetz has said. The trigger-happy Rittenhouse would fit in perfectly among Republican congress members.

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And the winner is:

Several worthy candidates this month, but for its shear evilness, perhaps the worst ignominious display of behavior by a Congressman in my lifetime, I have to go with Representative Paul Gosar. Disgraceful!