Frencisco Centu, "Dispossession," The New Yorker, January 18, 2021. - "Like much of the American West, the Gadsden region bars unmistakable scars of our nation's drive for expansion and control." Simon Winchester's new book, 'Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World,' "offers us one case study after another of how the once seemingly inexhaustible surface of the Earth has devolved into a commodity, the ultimate object of contestation and control." Winchester "describes how the first conquistadores were emboldened by the fifteenth-century Doctrine of Discovery, in which the Pope affirmed their right to take possession of foreign lands inhabited by non-Christians." "Hugo Grotius and John Locke argued that unclaimed lands were free for the taking, and that it was a Christian duty to own and improve them."
"Early settlers readily concocted laws to authorize the extermination, enslavement, and forcible relocation of one tribe after another. Expulsion and dispossession are, to be sure, a perennial tactic in the accumulation of land. Centuries before Britain began building its empire, powerful private and state interests set about appropriating land long held in common by English villagers through a variety of legal and parliamentary manuvers (sp?), in a process known as enclosure."
Winchester "reports that America's top hundred landowners now control an area as large as the state of Florida, and that their accumulation of property has increased by fifty per cent since 2007." Winchester writes that: "The houses that they had left behind had often been vandalized, and their possessions stolen; and in many a case the title to the land a Japanese family had somehow vanished, like a will-o'-the-wisp."
#Jane Mayer, "Cretin Hog," The New Yorker, January 18, 2021. - "At the age of forty, Pickles, whose real name is Piccioillo, is a bit old to call himself a 'boy.' But along with thousands of bearded and balding men in dad jeans, he headed to Washington to take part in what he called 'a kind of a last hurrah for Trump, who put so much on the line for us.' "
"Asked whether he was among those who rampaged through the Capitol, Pickles said: 'No comment.' Then he noted, 'I'd never been to the Capitol before - and I have now.' 'I know it looks hypocritical on our end, because of the whole B.L.M. thing,' Pickles said, referring to Trump's slurs against Black Lives Matter protesters. 'But if you seriously believe your country's getting take over by fraud, you're going to get nuts.' " (Pickles can be seen online wearing a shirt saying 'Kyle Rittenhouse Did Nothing Wrong,' about the subject in a double murder of B.L.M. protesters.) "
#Trump and McConnell Give and Take - Trump: "The Republican Party can never again be respected or strong with political 'leaders' like Sen. Mitch McConnell at its helm." "McConnell's dedication to business as usual, status quo policies, together with his lack of political insights, wisdom, skill, and personality, has rapidly driven him from Majority Leader to Minority Leader, and it will only get worse."
McConnell: "There is no question former President Trump bears moral responsibility . His supporters stormed the Capitol because of the unhinged falsehoods he shouted into the world's largest megaphone." "His behavior during and after the chaos was also unconscionable, from attacking Vice President Mike Pence during the riot to praising the criminals after it ended."
Trump: "Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again. He will never do what needs to be done, or what is right for our country."
#The Jurisdiction Question - Sen. McConnell had it both ways, because he delayed holding the trial until Trump left office, and then argued that Trump could not be convicted because he was not in office anymore. He suggested that the instant Trump ceased being the president, he exited the Senate's jurisdiction; however, the Senate voted twice that it had jurisdiction.
#Comedian Jimmy Kimmel gets the last word: "I think McConnell blew it. This was his party's best chance to make sure that Trump never ran again."
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