Cruel and Unusual Punishment

This was a brutal week.  Traveling, problems at work, family health issues, snow and ice removal and on and on and on.  So of course, the week ends with my yearly trip to the tax accountant. But honestly it was kind of soothing.  I’ve got a few business-related problems that have been gnawing at my mind for the last few months but I let it fester because I knew I could talk about them when I had my tax appointment.  But in the last few weeks I’ve been getting some warning e-mails from the state so I was planning to do some research before the appointment to have all my ducks in a row.  But all this jazz that’s gone on in the last week harpooned my good intentions and so I showed up at this meeting annoyed and worried.  And my accountant, as all good accountants should, explained in a few short words what I had to do and told me to stop worrying about it and just put it to bed in February and I would never have to think about this situation for the rest of eternity.  After that he told me that the reason I hadn’t gotten a document from one of the brokerage houses I have an account with is because they have until the 15^th of February to mail it out and if I had waited another week to do my taxes, I’d have the form in hand.  So, problems solved, headache soothed and fears dispelled.  So, until next week there’s nothing but smooth sailing.  Well, there are a few inches of snow predicted for tonight but that’s just so I don’t get bored.

And today, the Senate finally voted in Kash Patel as the next Director of the FBI.  I’ve been waiting impatiently for this one for weeks.  Only the loopy women Republican senators from Maine and Alaska voted against him.  Even crooked old McConnell voted for Patel.  Mitch announced he’s not running for reelection next year and probably wants to stay on Trump’s good side so he isn’t prosecuted for corruption.  I think FBI Director is the last of the really important appointments left.  At this point, Trump has his people in place to start getting things done.

The first clip I saw on Patel’s approval on YouTube was from MSNBC and so the tenor of the report was that Kash Patel would lead to the downfall of the United States because he was the actual devil.  They had all these Democrat senators railing against Patel because he would subvert the mission of the FBI by weaponizing it against Donald Trump’s enemies.  It was hilarious.  The sheer scope of the projection they were transferring from Biden’s FBI to Patel was staggering.  They swore up and down that Patel had a hit list of about sixty FBI agents that he would punish for their work against Trump.  I don’t know if it was true but it made my mouth water just thinking of it!  If only a quarter of what they say Patel has in mind comes true it would be a reason to celebrate.

I’m well aware that the US Constitution has an explicit statement prohibiting “cruel and unusual” punishment.  But both words in this description are somewhat vague.  I think all of Trump’s tormentors should lose all of their civil service benefits including pensions and be forced to work as janitorial cleaning staff at Trump properties at minimum wage for the rest of their lives or until Donald Trump thinks they’ve suffered enough.  Only in that way can they truly learn the humility that comes with being a civil servant.  Oh, and they should be forced to listen to an audio loop of Trump’s most memorable rally speeches during their hours of work.  That should do it.