{"id":3062,"date":"2025-11-30T20:15:31","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T01:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/2025\/11\/turn-it-up-hero-with-a-hero-is-icing-on-the-cake\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T20:15:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T01:15:31","slug":"turn-it-up-hero-with-a-hero-is-icing-on-the-cake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/?p=3062","title":{"rendered":"Turn It Up: Hero With A Hero Is Icing On the Cake"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n

Hope glimmers. After an election that saw “democrats in array” rising up to thunderously repudiate anything connected with a doddering tyrant – “Apparently Americans liked the East Wing more than anyone thought” – the final small sweet revenge was a jury acquitting D.C.’s valiant Sandwich Guy for the crime of making it pellucidly clear, with mustard, he doesn’t want stormtroopers in his town. One sage: “The only way this week could’ve been better for America was if Dick Cheney <\/strong>died again.”<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, voters came out in sometimes record numbers – New York saw its highest turnout in over 50 years – to reject <\/strong>MAGA cruelty, inequity and greed, and win “just everything.” New Jersey and Virginia saw double-digit wins for women governors – a veteran and former CIA officer – reflecting a failure of anti-trans<\/a> bigotry and resurgence <\/a>of Democrats’ big tent. There were comparable wins from Connecticut <\/a>and Pennsylvania to Mississippi and Georgia. Maine overwhelmingly rejected an effort to restrict mail-in voting, Colorado willingly raised taxes on the rich to fund school lunches, California’s re-districting Prop. 50 passed by an almost 2 to 1 margin; Newsom showed how to fight Trump – “After poking the bear, this bear roared\u201d – and urged other states to also “meet this moment head-on.”<\/p>\n

Most thrillingly, <\/em>New York’s Mayor-elect <\/em>Zohran Mamdani evinced “the way to win is to include everyone. All everyone,” and he did in an off-off year yet. One analyst: “Republicans raved every Democrat was Zohran Mamdani, and Americans said, ‘Sign me up.'” In Mamdani’s electrifying speech – <\/a>Eugene Debs! – to an exultant crowd, he rebuffed a politics that has “bowed at the altar of caution <\/a>(and) paid a mighty price…Too many working people cannot recognize themselves in our party.” “We chose hope together,” he said. “We won because we insisted that no longer would politics be something that is done to us. Now, it is something that we do…New York will (be) a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant.” To Trump: “To get to any of us, you will have to get through all<\/em> of us.”<\/p>\n

He and his vassals will also have to exit the alternative reality<\/a> bubble – and immense cognitive dissonance – revealed this week in Miami, where Trump spoke at an opulent America Business Forum to billionaires from Saudi Arabia to Silicon Valley. As Republicans lost every election in sight, the government shutdown became the longest in history, and 42 million people, including 3 million in Florida, faced hunger, the assembled tycoons paid $2,000 – but got a $50 gift card for food – to hear a vengeful old man babble, ramble, boast, confuse “Communist” South Africa with South America, and nonetheless gloat about the “economic miracle” he’d delivered to usher in a reeling America’s “golden age.” Like the tawdry Great Gatsby party he held, “They just can\u2019t seem to stop doing things shockingly out of touch.”<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, per the advice of his ghoulish mentor Roy Cohn, Trump is using the courts as a “personal cudgel” against his perceived enemies. Along with terrorizing blue cities, prosecutors have gone after over 20 anti-ICE protesters, <\/a>often with “impeding” charges. In Chicago, prosecutors charged primary candidate Kat Abughazaleh with “conspiracy” after roughing her up at a protest. In L.A., a goon shot <\/a>Carlos Jimenez, absurdly claiming<\/a> self-defense, after he tried to warn marauding troops that kids were coming out of a school. In Chicago, head Nazi Greg Bovino, who’s told ICE thugs to arrest anyone who makes “hyperbolic” comments, charged <\/a>a protester with giving him a groin injury purportedly requiring a two-week leave to recover; prosecutors just dropped<\/a> the case after video, shockingly, showed they lied<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And so it goes. Mostly, the fascists, being inept, lose. (GOP) Judge Karin Immergut just permanently blocked <\/a>Trump from inflicting “all necessary troops” on “war-ravaged” Portland OR after finding “no credible evidence” there was need for them and insisting “the facts – not the President\u2019s political whims – guide how the law is applied.” Ouch. Still, the most failures have been earned by laughably unqualified US Attorney Jeanine \u201cBoxwine\u201d Pirro, who keeps trying and failing to get grand juries – seven at this point – to indict the proverbial ham sandwich. Her latest and most public effort to “turn a gag-gift-worthy moment into a federal criminal offense” was the case of folk hero, <\/a>Air Force veteran and former DOJ attorney Sean Dunn, 37, who “brought a sandwich to a fascism fight” – specifically, a salami sub – and won. <\/p>\n

In the infamous case of “the hoagie <\/a>heard around the world,” Dunn, in a pink shirt and holding a just-bought, now-historic sub, confronted troops skulking on a downtown DC corner, reportedly about to raid a gay club there. He yelled they were fascists who should get out of his town; then he got in the face of 23-year-veteran Border Patrol agent Gregory Lairmore, yelled some more, hurled his sub at Lairmore’s bullet-proof-vested chest, and took off running. Thugs gave chase, caught and handcuffed him, and released him <\/a>without charges. But for the “retaliatory animus” of the thin-skinned toddler in power, it would’ve ended there. Instead, video of the encounter went viral, the toddler got pissed, and a SWAT team went to Dunn’s apartment, complete with pulpy heavy-metal video <\/a>of the action, to arrest him. <\/p>\n

Insisting on the preposterous narrative Dunn was pretty much the Zodiac killer and not a guy who threw some bread, Pirro theatrically announced <\/a>felony assault charges against him: “This guy thought it was funny. Well, he doesn\u2019t think it\u2019s funny today.” An equally off-the-wall Pam Bondi chimed in, raving about “assault on a law enforcement officer” and claiming Dunn was “an example <\/a>of the Deep State” (who worked at the DOJ). Pirro tried to get a grand jury to indict<\/a> him; they (hilariously) declined, but she finally got a misdemeanor <\/a>charge to stick. And so to the federal jury trial starting Tuesday – in rare poetic justice, the day after National Sandwich Day – <\/a>to protect our brave troops from food fights and send the dubious message to a restive populace: “Mess with this government, and it will mess with you.”<\/p>\n

Presiding over what he called “the simplest case in the world” was US District Judge Carl Nichols. And it should have been, especially since the perp, at the scene of the crime, had already confessed, boldly proclaiming, “I did it. I threw a sandwich.” Still, it took two days and much bickering as the jury of 12 of Sandwich Guy’s peers struggled to remain straight-faced during what one observer called “a strange sort of performance art,” <\/a>both amusing and menacing. The opening statements clearly laid out both sides’ differences<\/a>. Defense: “He did it. He threw the sandwich.” Also, so what: See First Amendment.” The government: “No matter who you are, you can\u2019t just go around throwing stuff at people if you\u2019re mad.\u201d Also poor traumatized Officer Lairmore, who was just protecting the public, from sandwiches.<\/p>\n

There was squabbling over words in a charge that cites<\/a> “forcibly opposing, impeding or interfering” with federal agents on duty. What’s “forcibly”? Defense: A sandwich doesn’t constitute force any more than “an eight-year-old throwing a stuffed animal in the middle of a temper tantrum.” Prosecution, leaning hard into bellicose language: “Here we have the defendant throwing – it\u2019s a sandwich, but throwing it hard…at point-blank range…He takes the sandwich, he cocks it back.” There’s the “impact” through the vest. Also, it’s not just a sandwich; there was “screaming,” “cussing,” “attempting to instigate.” (The judge reminds the jury speech isn’t assault). And, like an IED in Fallujah, prosecutors note the victim’s harrowing testimony <\/a>the sandwich “kind of exploded. I could smell the onions and mustard.” The horror! The horror!<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Sandwich Guy sits in the cafeteria on lunch break, eating soup. A friend’s GoFundMe<\/a> for him – “Help support the Sandwich Guy” – notes his ten years of service in Afghanistan, the Forest Service, the DOJ: “He is proud of his career serving the people of the United States.” Back in the courtroom, defense attorney Sabrina Shroff shreds Lairmore’s claim the sandwich “exploded” with video showing said sandwich still wrapped on the sidewalk. “Do you recognize that sandwich?” she asks. Lairmore waffles. Shroff: “You don\u2019t see there\u2019s mustard on it?\u201d Lairmore wilts. No. \u201cYou can\u2019t tell there\u2019s ketchup on it?\u201d No. “Mayonnaise? Lettuce? Tomato? No. “In fact, the sandwich hasn\u2019t exploded at all has it?” Lairmore, helpfully, “It looks like a little bit is coming out towards the bottom.” <\/p>\n

Shroff also cited two “gag gifts” Lairmore said, sheepishly smiling, he got from co-workers: A plush sandwich he put on his shelf at work and a cartoon patch of Dunn throwing the sandwich, with the words \u201cFelony Footlong,\u201d he put on his lunchbox. So much for trauma, she suggested. Her closing argument was fiery. “This case, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is about a sandwich,” she declared. “A sandwich that, according to agent Lairmore, somehow both exploded on his chest in a spray of onions and mustard, but also landed intact on the ground still in its Subway wrapping.” Most vitally, she argued, a sandwich cannot be a weapon worthy of federal charges, especially facing off against a bulletproof vest. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael DiLorenzo glumly dissented: “We\u2019re not just talking about a sandwich.” <\/p>\n

Social media<\/a> lapped up the coverage. They \u201crelished\u201d the testimony, they argued it \u201cdidn\u2019t pass mustard,\u201d they called Lairmore\u2019s claim \u201cbaloney.\u201d They summoned \u201c12 Hungry Men.\u201d Asked, \u201cDo you see the sandwich seated in the courtroom today?\u201d Argued, \u201cIf the sub doesn\u2019t fit, you must acquit.\u201d Snarled, \u201cSay hello to my foot-long friend.\u201d Asked, \u201cShow us on this doll where the sandwich touched you.\u201d Mused, \u201dNot all gyros wear capes.” Insisted, \u201dI did not have a relationship with that sandwich.\u201c Proclaimed, “Liberte! Egalite! Panini!” When the verdict <\/a>came Thursday – with every <\/a>juror voting for acquittal – they celebrated Sandwich Guy \u201dbeat the wrap,\u201c “justice, like a good sandwich, was served,\u201c and, like them, an anti-fascist jury looked at the video, decided what mattered, and essentially said \u201dwhat sandwich?\u201c<\/p>\n

Outside the courthouse after the verdict, Shroff thanked jurors for their “affirmation” that dissent is “not just tolerated.” “It is legal,” she declared, “and it is welcome.” Sandwich Guy also thanked<\/a> the jurors, as well as “family and friends and strangers for all of their support, whether it was emotional or spiritual or artistic or financial.” “I am so happy that justice prevails in spite of everything,” he said. “That night I believed that I was protecting the rights of immigrants…Let us not forget that the great seal of the United States says \u2018E pluribus unum.\u2019 That means \u2018from many, one.\u2019 Every life matters no matter where you came from. No matter how you got here, no matter how you identify, you have the right to live a life that is free.” A nation salutes you. Warren Zevon would have too: “Enjoy every sandwich.”<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hope glimmers. After an election that saw “democrats in array” rising up to thunderously repudiate anything connected with a doddering tyrant – “Apparently Americans liked the East Wing more than anyone thought” – the final small sweet revenge was a jury acquitting D.C.’s valiant Sandwich Guy for the crime of making it pellucidly clear, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"registered_only","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[742],"class_list":["post-3062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ciencia-y-tecnologia","tag-vr-news-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3062\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}