Now we see the violence...

 ...inherent in the system.  Yesterday, as a joke, I referenced Monty Python.  Today I wonder when the Party of Lincoln will start hurling cows at one another.

Congressional violence has been around for a long time, and Preston Brooks would have laughed at Markwayne Mullin for his "consenting adults" challenge to Sean O'Brien.  Mixed martial arts?  There's prancing around a dojo in pajamas and then there's fighting, Markwayne, if that is anybody's name.  MMA is for boxers who can't land a punch so they kick you in the knee.  It wasn't the only time Bernie Sanders had to separate them.  He told O'Brien to "answer the question" and O'Brien said, "I can't understand him, to be honest with you," because he does not speak Oklahoma.  That was cool.

In an interview Mullin said, "By the way, I'm not afraid of biting.  I'll bite one hundred percent.  In a fight, I'm going to bite.  I'll do anything.  I'm not above it.  And I don't care where I bite, by the way."  MMA must be different in Oklahoma.  

Meanwhile in the Oversight Committee, Jared Moskowitz continues to get up Jamie Comer's nose, and the best Comer can do is say, "You look like a Smurf."  (Moskowitz was wearing a blue tie and a blue suit, and Comer is right on top of his pop culture references.)  No hands were thrown, no challenges issued, which is refreshing.  Oh, and Margie Greene called Darrell Issa a "pussy" because he doesn't think Alejandro Mayorkas should be impeached as much as she does.  

All this playground stuff, even the ex-Squeaker elbowing somebody in the kidneys, is the bunk.  Sending a mob to the Capitol to hang the vice president and do who knows what to the Speaker if they can find her, now that's the acme of fascist manliness.  Brooks assaulted Charles Sumner in the run-up to the Civil War.  All this theater follows Trump's promise to sic the military on "vermin" who oppose him, and the joy his droogs feel at the approach of Civil War 2.0.  

You don't think so?  Texas is already acting like a sovereign nation, passing a law that makes it a crime to enter Texas illegally.  A crime against Texas.  I know John Brown was convicted of treason against Virginia for the raid on the Harpers Ferry arsenal, but that was before the last civil war reminded Virginia that it isn't a country.  Those who never learn history are doomed to repeat it.

In the wake of that war Congress passed three Amendments to the Constitution, one of which explicitly says you can't hold office if, having sworn an oath to the Constitution, you then take part in "insurrection or rebellion."  Courts in New Hampshire, Minnesota and now Michigan have been afraid to apply this to Trump, lest he tweet mean things that might get someone killed or kidnapped.  Succumbing to fear, while natural, means fascism has already won.

Courts are unreliable.  In 2009 the UK reorganized its government and established a Supreme Court to be the last word in civil and criminal cases (except in Scotland).  The Sunak government is crazy to ship asylum seekers to Rwanda but the court says they can't because there is no guarantee against refoulement, meaning Rwanda could just send them back to the countries they escaped from.  No problem, say the Tories, we'll just pass a law that says Rwanda would never do that.  (I know, stay with me.)  Can the court rule on an Act of Parliament in a country that has no written constitution and apparently doesn't want one?  This is getting interesting, unless you're an immigrant who really, really does not want to go back to Iran, Yemen, Syria or a dozen other hells.  

Our own Supreme Court has now responded to reports on its spectacular degree of corruption by issuing a code of ethics with fewer teeth than General George Washington.  Essentially, they promise to be good and not park their RVs in front of the courthouse and what are you going to do about it?  We fixed the problem, go away, we've got strict constructioning to do.  And leave Harlan Crow alone!

I thought I understood English reasonably well.  Article VI ("no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States") seems clear.  So does Amendment I ("Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof").  Speaker Mike seems to have read a different version, possibly Revised Standard.  The founders "wanted a vibrant expression of faith in the public square because they believed that a general moral consensus and virtue was necessary," he assured Andrew Ross Sorkin on CNBC.  The separation of church and state "is a misnomer, people misunderstand it."  Orwell said there'd be days like this, when words mean what some office holder says they mean.  Fortunately I know how to get rid of Morality Mike, based on a story I read about Pope Celestine V and how he was induced to resign.  Conceal a tiny speaker in his office and whisper into a microphone, "This is the Lord, Michael.  I want you to bring the gospel to Helmand Province."  I'm guessing the Lord would call him Michael. 

On the other hand, we may not need the Big Wizard.  When a government shutdown was averted yesterday with a continuing resolution supported by House Democrats, Chip "Colonel Sanders" Roy (that's what Margie Greene calls him) immediately pronounced the magic spell "motion to vacate."  I hope the Speaker hasn't unpacked all his Bibles.

It took no time at all for unhinged conspiracy fantasies about the October 7 war to begin circulating.  This showed up on Facebook, posted by a teacher in Maryland:  "Debunked!  No music festival attack.  Babies were not burned.  Women were not violated.  Hospitals were attacked on purpose...Palestinian's [sic] are being killed and their organs are being sold.  How is real life scarier than the movies??"  In the movies, people like this are not allowed to teach children.