Today is Tuesday, June 14, 2022. In an intriguing online article for CNN on my smartphone, Stephen Collinson writes an analysis of “William Barr’s stunning evolution from Trump loyalist to nemesis.” When he was Donald Dumpf’s personal lapdog, Barr was accused by Democrats of lying to Congress and covering up his boss’s corruption during the Mueller debacle. Democrats rightly claimed that he was more interested in serving as the ex-president’s attorney than the nation’s independent top law officer separated from the White House by an invisible wall. With Barr’s ascension to the highest law enforcement position, that wall was breached unmercifully by what was considered Barr’s loyalty to the Orange Menace.

During two days of incendiary testimony, Barr now finds himself on the same side as his liberal onetime accusers in defending America’s democracy. In his testimony, Barr pricked the ex-president’s fraud balloon with such withering phrases as “crazy,” “amateurish,” “total nonsense,” and “bullshit.” By speaking the truth, Barr has made himself Dumpf’s new nemesis.

“His gruff bluntness is not just dismembering the ex-President’s fantastical claims that he won the 2020 election. It’s also hacking away at the entire false premise of Trump’s nascent 2024 campaign: that he was cheated out of power and deserves to get his job back.” The only thing this enemy of democracy should get back is a “Go to jail” card, in my opinion.

As would be expected of this egomaniacal sociopath, he posted this on his inaptly named “Truth social” network yesterday that Barr lacked the “courage or stamina to go after voter fraud.” As Barr testified to the committee, there was never any evidence of significant fraud.

The former attorney general has emerged as the most critical witness in televised hearings as the panel makes a case that Dumpf knew his election lies were false but used them to incite an unprecedented coup to try to remain in power.

In a particularly scathing assessment of his boss’s mental condition, Barr said this about Dumpf during his second day of testimony when he delivered this characterization of Dumpf’s belief in baseless theories of election theft, “I thought, ‘Boy, if he really believes this stuff, he has lost contact with – he’s become detached from reality if he believes this stuff.”

The committee must be patting themselves on the back after scoring this formidable witness who has laid the blame for the insurrection squarely in the hands of the former president. Barr’s former role as a shill for an unrestrained president now makes him all the more credible as a witness who can deal a damning blow to Dumpf’s role in the insurrection. What is unclear, though, about Barr’s testimony is what political impact it will have on the electorate, especially after he originally stood by Dumpf and his questioning of the election system for so long. Millions of Dumpf supporters, sadly, have accepted his lies about election fraud long ago and conservative media – bless their treasonous hearts! – and the House GOP have set up discrediting the committee hearings. Boy, does the truth hurt in this case! But a figure as conservative and formerly loyal to Dumpf as Barr may have at least some resonance among those who liked Dumpf’s policies – what were they, if anyone could tell me? – but abhorred his behavior.

A new development with Fox News is that the despicable news network has been forced to air the January 6 committee hearings as of yesterday. Who knows if this station’s most loyal viewers will even tune into the hearings and – God forbid – even be able to change their opinions of their Golden Idol because of the overwhelming evidence presented against him by witness after witness. And most of them were Republican, not Democrats. So these misguided and misinformed souls cannot shout, “This is all partisan garbage.” Again, all the committee needs to do at the very least is to persuade the Department of Justice under Attorney General Merrick Garland to open a criminal investigation into the former president.

Tomorrow’s hearing has been postponed because of logistical issues, according to California Democrat Zoe Lofgren who expressed this to MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on his program tonight. The hearings will now be held on Thursday, June 16, at 10 a.m. They will concentrate on Dumpf’s relentless pressure on Vice President Mike Pence to short circuit the counting of electoral votes on that infamous day in January. That should prove to be another blockbuster of a proceeding.

One interesting thing I did today was wait almost an hour to join a Zoom meeting for volunteers for the Beto O’Rourke campaign to unseat odious Greg Abbott as governor of the Lone Star State. Just as I did for the two senatorial candidates in Georgia in 2018, I signed up to write letters to Texas voters after being asked by my friend “Harold’s” wife “Rachel,” last week. I originally signed up to do this last Friday, but walked off the set, so to speak, since I was unable to join the meeting for almost 50 minutes. Our friend “Mark” was invited over for dinner at the time I was scheduled to join, 5:30, so I persevered for a long while before I signed off. I did not give up; I went to the original attachment that Rachel sent me and I signed up for the same hour-long meeting, but this time for 6 p.m.

So I finished all of my errands to be able to get ready for this Zoom introduction to letter writing for the next governor of Texas. Unfortunately, I experienced the same delay in getting onto the site; in fact, I was actually texting my Astoria friend “Seth” as I was impatiently waiting to be let into the training session. I was about to throw in the Zoom towel when I got a message that I was on the verge of being allowed in. Hallelujah! At about 6:55 or so, I was able to join the meeting which, to me, was quite surreal. There was one site organizer, whose name escapes me, conducting the meeting. There was a long pause before I texted a message regarding “What the hell are we doing here?” Nobody was talking; at one point, I was just looking at faces of other volunteers, which seemed to be on the distaff side, mostly. I was getting impatient; however, I was able to download instructions and was able to submit a request for 20 letters. I understood that everyone was supposed to mail the letters to the names listed on the bottom of the letter no earlier than October 19, so that leaves a lot of time for me to download batches of letters if I so desired.

Also, what sets this letter-writing campaign apart from the one in Georgia is that the letters are prewritten for the most part. The letters to Georgia voters had to be all hand written by me. I had to copy a script, though. There is only one place where several lines can be written by hand here. That is the last sentence in the first paragraph that reads: “I believe voting in this election is important because – “; you have several conclusions to that sentence to choose from on a prewritten page. The envelopes have to be hand written, though.

Just like in the 2018 midterms, I’m happy to be able to do my part to advance democracy. So if you feel you would like to join me in this worthy pursuit, I can send you the link to the campaign. Just let me know.

Have a nice break from the committee hearings tomorrow.

Stay safe and be well.