Today is Tuesday, January 11, 2022. Today the President ratcheted up the heat in a major address in Atlanta, Georgia, on voting rights, the next big battle this country faces as ugly repugnicans have declared war against bedrock democratic principles as voting rights. The President’s speech was covered in an online CNN article by Maegan Vazquez, Jeremy Diamond, and Kate Sullivan in “Biden calls on the Senate to change filibuster rules for voting rights as he turns up the heat on Congress to pass major bills” Thus Joe Biden delivered a biting address in which he said that he was “tired of being quiet,” in referring to having hitherto quiet conversations with members of Congress for the last two months about getting them to endorse major legislation to protect the sanctity of the vote.

Biden addressed the nation on the grounds of Clark Atlanta University and Morehouse College, recalling the “violent mob” that stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the former president who, he said, “sought to win through violence what he had lost through the ballot box, to impose the will of a mob, to overturn free elections, and for the first time in American history, to stop the peaceful transfer of power.” I feel that Democrats have to hit home this message of the last president fomenting this January 6 riot every opportunity they get right through the midterms. No repugnican should ever be voted into office ever again until their allegiance to the Great Divider is severed completely!

Biden was joined in Georgia by Vice President Kamala Harris, whom he appointed to lead the administration’s work on voting rights.

While they were in Atlanta, the President and Vice President laid a wreath at the crypt of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Coretta Scott King, and visited Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church.

The President repeated his call to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Without changing the filibuster rules, it’s uncertain how either bill will pass. During the Atlanta remarks, Biden called for the rules to be changed, so that this very important legislation could be passed without having a minority of senators succeeding in blocking actions on getting this done.

The Senate is expected to take up voting rights in the coming days. Actually, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has set a deadline of January 17 – Martin Luther King Day – for the Senate to vote on a rules change if repugnicans persist in continuing to block voting rights legislation.

The President’s visit to Atlanta did not come without some controversy, as a coalition of voting rights groups in Georgia announced that they will not be attending events surrounding Biden’s stopover. One of those voicing their opposition to Biden’s presence in his state, Cliff Albright, cofounder of the Black Voters Matter Fund, told CNN’s John Berman on New Day this morning, “We don’t need another speech. We don’t need him to come to Georgia and use us as a prop. What we need is work.” Albright said he would prefer the President to approach voting rights in the same way he worked to get his bipartisan infrastructure law passed and personally appeal to senators.

The most preeminent Democratic Party’s voting rights advocate, Georgia leader Stacey Abrams, also did not attend Biden’s address. In this case, Biden said that he had indeed spoken to Abrams before his speech and she had informed him that she couldn’t attend his forthcoming speech because of a scheduling conflict.

The director of Declaration for American Democracy, Jana Morgan, told CNN she is “cautiously optimistic” about what Biden said in his speech, but that she views it as a first step. She then said, “We are going to be watching closely to make sure that there is follow-up on these remarks.” Morgan leads a coalition of organizations working to advance voting rights.

In conclusion, Morgan had this to say about a point Biden made in his speech: “He has said that this is the biggest test to our country since the Civil War, and I believe he’s right because American democracy is under attack. So, we wanted to see those strong words put into action.”

The disgusting ugly repugnican side became apparent today when the respected – but not by Republicans (for some reason, Fauci is compared to Josef Mengele at times by the extreme right wing ) – White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci was personally attacked – for the hundredth time – by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. This stunning story was covered in an online article from RawStory by Sarah K. Burns entitled “Viewers stunned as Dr. Fauci takes down Rand Paul for profiting off attacking him: ‘He has the receipts!'” Dr. Anthony Fauci has been relentlessly criticized by the despicable Senator Rand Paul whenever Fauci testifies before Congress. But today, the tables were turned as Fauci hit back at the shameless senator. Testifying before a Senate health panel, Fauci clashed immediately with the idiotic senator and he got the last word in – finally.

Before Paul could utter a damning word, Fauci provided tense testimony about the role Paul bears in “kindling the crazies,” as he continues to misinform his stupid base about the pandemic. Fauci then admitted that Paul’s attacks have put him and his family in danger, in which police arrested a man with a firearm who claimed that he was traveling from Sacramento to Washington, D.C., in order to “kill Dr. Fauci.” Police found an AR-15 and multiple magazines of ammunition in his car, so it certainly looked as if this person was hell bent on carrying out his intended mission.

Not content with just shaming the incendiary senator with this terrible fact arising from his personal assaults on him, Fauci then exposed the senator’s real reason for disparaging him. Fauci then produced a fundraising ad on behalf of the misguided senator that appears on the senator’s website. Fauci then said this: “Go to Rand Paul website and you see ‘Fire Dr. Fauci’ with a little box that says, ‘Contribute here,’ you can do $5, $10, $20, $100. So you are making a catastrophic epidemic for your political gain.” Here the senator’s face should have melted, but it did not, unfortunately, because this abhorrent lawmaker later said that Fauci’s remark was “insulting.” This from an idiot who has insulted the good doctor time and time again during so many other hearings.

This heated exchange between an irrational member of the Senate and an infectious disease expert just illustrates how divided this country has become during this moment in time. When did we deny science this way? When did we compare a medical expert to Josef Mengele, the “Angel of Death.” This is insanity, as I’ve mentioned this so many times before.

Today was very quiet, given the cold temperatures experienced throughout the day. After having breakfast out at my usual place, I came home to bake my Italian cheesecake with Elliot’s assistance. That was the highlight of the day, what can I say.

We also had our contractor, “Stanley,” over to fill us in on the details of our kitchen renovation, which will commence in early February. With the cake in the oven, I went out to the gym and to buy one or two items at Key Food. Stanley had come over sometime after 2. When I returned after 3:30, he was still here.

Now it was time to stay home since I had gone out several times already. I turned on the news and that’s where I saw the battle between Dr. Anthony Fauci and “Deranged” Rand Paul. I rooted for Fauci, of course. I can’t stand the feckless senator who is really a douchehbag if there ever was one.

OK, I’m going to cut myself a slice of my cheesecake right now.

Tomorrow the weather is supposedly going to be springlike with temperatures in the 40s. You can easily peel off your thick sweater then.

Stay safe and be well.