Howls wafting up from the abyss

. . . on either side of the narrow sliver of terrain I inhabit

The Israel Hamas war and the disarray of House Republicans are, shall we say, bringing people’s stuff up. One thing we’re seeing is that Squadism and MAGAism share a degree of moral grotesqueness that’s been a ling time coming, but is no less disturbing to observe.

Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar are not only making it plain that they are on the side of baby beheaders, but can work up quite a head of indignation that far more influential policy shapers and implementers - the president, for instance - isn’t in alignment with their grim vision:

Far-left Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) burst into tears Wednesday while accusing Israel of committing “genocide” following Tuesday’s explosion at a Gaza hospital — long after President Biden and other US officials stated that evidence showed Palestinian terror groups were responsible.

Tlaib, who has stood by social media posts accusing the Israeli military of “bombing” doctors, patients and children, said during a pro-Palestinian protest on Capitol Hill that “what’s so hard is watching those videos and the people telling the kids, ‘Don’t cry.'”

“They can cry, I can cry, we all can cry — if we’re not crying something is wrong,” Tlaib said, her voice breaking, in a video posted to X. “I’m telling you right now, President Biden, not all of America is with you on this one.”

“We are literally watching people commit genocide and killing a vast majority just like this, and we still stand by and say nothing,” she shouted. “We will remember this. But all of you, you need to know, I swear to God, you are on the right side of history. You are doing everything possible to save lives.”

Then she tells what she knows damn good and well is a filthy lie:

“Israel just bombed the Baptist Hospital killing 500 Palestinians (doctors, children, patients) just like that,” Tlaib had posted on X at roughly 2 p.m. Tuesday, before blaming the president for not helping “to facilitate a ceasefire.”

“Your war and destruction only approach has opened my eyes and many Palestinian Americans and Muslims Americans like me,” she added. “We will remember where you stood.”

And Ilhan Omar just can’t fathom anybody not calling for a ceasefire:

An hour later, fellow “Squad” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) also held Biden responsible for not pushing “an immediate ceasefire to end this slaughter.”

Would that it were just a few fringe Congresspeople. But administrators at a number of major universities - Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Stanford and Yale - have caved or been cowed into silence by students spewing the same kind of rhetoric.

Let us turn our heads the other direction and look downward, and we’ll see the House of Representatives, hamstrung a a time of multiple crises on the world stage, to say nothing of another debt-ceiling showdown looming over their antics.

And what seems to be the problem? Well, very few people want the job of Speaker, and the main person they’re currently getting behind, such as they are, is Jim Jordan. Jordan is a guy who got progressively untethered from any kind of moral core as his eyes started floating in MAGA Kool-Aid. From trying to talk funny business about vote numbers to supporting state-level lawsuits to saying the Very Stable Genius should not concede to floating to Mark Meadows the idea of Pence having the authority to mess with the certification process, he’s demonstrated that, in his eyes, the Constitution is pliable for the ambitions of men who perceive their cause as righteous. And he’s a kook. The two may not be mutually exclusive characteristics. They both disqualify someone from serving as Speaker of the House.

But one sees an endless parade of Twitter (I refuse to call it X) fire and brimstone being heaped upon anyone who didn’t vote for Jordan. It’s become a litmus test for RINO-ism. Hell, Mike Pence says he’d be an “excellent” speaker. Dan Crenshaw dished up this bit of moral vacuity:

Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw tell CNN's Jake Tapper that if he opposed every Republican who voted against certifying the 2020 election, "I wouldn't have friends in the Republican Conference, because a lot of them did that."

So here I stand, a precipice just beyond my right and left feet.

The extent to which this society has made swallowing lies a perfectly legitimate way to exert influence is astonishing.