Day 336…
One of the nice things about having friends and family all over the world is that your birthday gets extended by many time zones.
The first texts and Facebook posts started yesterday from Australia. What a wonderful thing.
In December, the Federal Trade Commission filed an anti-trust lawsuit against Facebook claiming that their practices, including its acquisition of potential social media competitors such as Instagram and WhatsApp allow them to dominate a marketplace that should be diversified.
The director of the FTC said, “Personal social networking is central to the lives of millions of Americans. Facebook’s actions to entrench and maintain its monopoly deny consumers the benefits of competition. Our aim is to roll back Facebook’s anticompetitive conduct and restore competition so that innovation and free competition can thrive.”
Facebook, on its part, is considering a lawsuit against Apple. Apple’s new policy which will be included in its iOS 14 operating system upgrade this spring will, reportedly, require apps to ask for users’ permission to track them on the web. Facebook maintains that that move would severely curtail their advertising revenue.
A spokesperson from Facebook recently said, “We believe Apple is behaving anti-competitively by using their control of the App Store to benefit their bottom line at the expense of app developers and small businesses.”
During an online conference, the CEO of Apple fired back, “If a business is built on misleading users, on data exploitation, on choices that are not choices at all, then it does not deserve our praise. It deserves reform. Too many are still asking the question, ‘How much can we get away with?’ when they need to be asking, ‘What are the consequences?’ “What are the consequences of prioritizing conspiracy theories and violent incitement simply because of their high rates of engagement? What are the consequences of not just tolerating but rewarding content that undermines public trust in lifesaving vaccinations? What are the consequences of seeing thousands of users join extremist groups, and then perpetuating an algorithm that recommends even more?”
The rats are turning against each other.
Meanwhile, however, Facebook is still at its best around birthdays, allowing people from all of the disparate parts of your life to join in. So, a truly heartfelt thank you to you all.
Everything that is happening with social media also has a direct bearing on the impeachment trial that is about to get underway - not my birthday messages, of course, but the ongoing debate about accountability and potential reform.
Yesterday, the Senate voted to proceed with the trial that begins today. After a compelling case from the Democratic side and a rambling, incoherent defense from the ex-President’s new team of lawyers, 44 Republican legislators still voted against the trial proceeding. Only 6 Republicans sided with the Democrats.
44 Republican lawmakers looked at the 13-minute timeline video compilation of the events that unfolded on January 6 and decided that the trial should not happen.
44 Republican lawmakers listened to the clear, concise, legal, and heartfelt presentations by Representatives Raskin and Neguse and discounted them.
44 Republican lawmakers were shown the President’s actions and tweets against the events as they were unfolding and decided that what he did was acceptable under the United States Constitution and that he should not be prosecuted.
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska is one of the six who voted to allow the trial to move forward. Of the six, Senator Murkowski is the only one who’s seat will be up for election in 2022. She has also supported Senator Liz Cheney who was recently censured by her party for not supporting the ex-President.
Senator Murkowski said, "I think we're in a place where Donald Trump is gone and, in terms of his role in party, that has yet to be determined. But I have not embraced the party of Donald Trump. I'm looking for the Republican Party.”
Senate Minority Whip John Thun voiced a similar opinion saying yesterday, "The longer we're tied to a personality—a cult of personality—I just don't think that's a good durable model for the future." Senator Thun, however, voted against proceeding with the trial.
Four of the other Republican Senators who voted to proceed were Senator Collins of Maine, Senator Romney of Utah, Senator Sasse of Nebraska and Senator Toomey of Pennsylvania. All four of those lawmakers have several times crossed party lines in the past to try to reign in the ex-President while he was in office.
The fifth Republican Senator who voted to proceed was Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. His vote to proceed was a full 180-degree reversal from his previous stance.
In this trial, the Senators are the jurors. Jurors are meant to be impartial. How can Senators, who are, themselves, on opposing teams, hope to be impartial especially since half of them are on the team of the accused?
Senator Bill Cassidy when pressed as to why he voted the way he did, explained that he felt that it was his job to be just such an impartial juror. In a filmed interview later he said, "House managers were focused, they were organized… made a compelling argument. President Trump's team were disorganized. They did everything they could but to talk about the question at hand and when they talked about it, they kind of glided over, almost as if they were embarrassed of their arguments."
He actually voted on what was presented to him in the Senate chamber. Out of the hundred Senatorial jurors, he may have been the only one.
Just hours before the impeachment trial starts, the district attorney of Fulton County in Georgia has announced that they are opening an investigation into the phone call where the ex-President tried to pressure the Georgia Secretary of State into “finding” a few thousand extra votes to tip the Electoral College votes in his favor.
Georgia officials have been asked to turn over records, “with particular care being given to set aside and preserve those that may be evidence of attempts to influence the actions of persons who were administering that election.”
The timing of this announcement cannot be an accident. The greatest possible pressure possible to convict the ex-President is going to be brought to bear on this jury of Senators for them to convict. This investigation in Georgia only supports the Democrat’s case that the President’s incitement of his followers to violence did not just occur on the spur of the moment on January 6th. It was meticulously laid out months before, planned so that the ex-President merely had to pull the pin at the rally on January 6th.
Senators who are going to stick by their party and vote to acquit the ex-President are going to have to do it right out in the open. Oh boy, would I like them to surprise me and vote to convict.
Michael is cooking breakfast in the kitchen. I got to choose, so this morning we are having scrambled eggs and waffles. Michael’s even put out the whipped cream.
One of my very best friends in the world also has her birthday today so later the three of us are going to go out later to have dinner together.
We’re having Mexican. Nothing sounds better to me right now than a frozen margarita out in the snow under a heat lamp.
Birthdays are, after all, may just be days in the calendar, but they are milestones. Another lap around the sun has been completed. Each birthday is a chance to look back, roll your eyes and say, “oy” before gearing up to start the next trip round the sun.
The impeachment trial is a strange gift to get today, but it is a gift. I, somehow, don’t think that it’s going to just end up in a drawer.
Let’s see what we can do with it.
Hope that frozen Margarita and Mexican hit the spot to celebrate an incredible year of writing in these bizarre times from you to us.
🙏👏💕
💕💞I am celebrating you today! 💫🤴🎂🌟🎈🎁💕