{"id":3126,"date":"2026-01-14T02:42:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T07:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/2026\/01\/gobsmacking-fabulists-r-us\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T02:42:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T07:42:48","slug":"gobsmacking-fabulists-r-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/?p=3126","title":{"rendered":"<div>Gobsmacking Fabulists &#8216;R Us<\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/media-library\/maga-s-day-of-love-at-the-capitol-on-jan-6-2021.jpg?id=62676418&amp;width=1200&amp;height=800&amp;coordinates=349,0,349,0\"><\/p>\n<p>For the anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot that almost toppled democracy (more quickly than now), the hacks and crackpots in power have concocted a deranged revisionist history of such &#8220;evil,&#8221; &#8220;pathological,&#8221; &#8220;Stalin-level propaganda&#8221; it&#8217;s somehow dragged us even further through the looking glass. In its telling, &#8220;orderly patriots&#8221; marched to the Capitol, Democrats who &#8220;masterfully reversed reality&#8221; &#8220;staged the real rebellion,&#8221; and Trump &#8220;triumphed over tyranny.&#8221; Up is down. What the fuck. Orwell lives.<\/p>\n<p>A few days ago, Robert Reich described the Jan. 6 insurrection as &#8220;the <a href=\"https:\/\/robertreich.substack.com\/p\/the-most-shameful-day-in-the-history?utm_source=substack&amp;publication_id=365422&amp;post_id=183111796&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=share&amp;utm_campaign=email-share&amp;triggerShare=true&amp;isFreemail=true&amp;r=4ayo1u&amp;triedRedirect=true\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">most shameful<\/a> day in American history.&#8221; He later wisely upped the ante to draw a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/opinion\/from-jan-6th-...\" target=\"_blank\">direct line<\/a> from that crime to all the rest, including his capture of Maduro, arguing they&#8217;re all based on the same disturbing premise: &#8220;The hubris of omnipotence.&#8221; Many have made the same connection, calling Jan. 6 a stark &#8220;fork in the road&#8221; whose moral implications &#8211; supremacy of political loyalty over the rule of law &#8211; poisoned all that followed. It became &#8220;the moment we lost the plot,&#8221; &#8220;a riot that <a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/811ca466-0c15-4c7c-81ca-fe131ada200d?j=eyJ1IjoibDhod24ifQ.5jEjeLiJZS5OfHG4v_xEBlfZCsRwcX2P4Vv9vuux9BQ\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">never ended<\/a>,&#8221; not &#8220;the final, violent death spasms of the cult of Trump&#8221; as many thought but &#8220;the dawn of Trump\u2019s total liberation.&#8221; Today, amidst all the gaslighting, denial, lies, the ongoing, well-fed hubris, we pay the price. <\/p>\n<p>A few weeks ago, former special counsel Jack Smith appeared before the House Judiciary Committee, <a href=\"https:\/\/judiciary.house.gov\/sites\/evo-subsites\/republicans-judiciary.house.gov\/files\/2025-12\/Smith-Depo-Transcript_Redacted-w-Errata.pdf\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">testifying <\/a>that his team had &#8220;proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power.&#8221; We all know Trump should be behind bars. Tragically, he isn&#8217;t, because he inexplicably weaseled his way into getting elected, a<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/23pdf\/23-939_e2pg.pdf\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/23pdf\/23-939_e2pg.pdf\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"> complicit, <\/a>lawless SCOTUS gave him an unconscionable <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2024\/mar\/04\/trump-scotus-colorado-ruling\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">lifeline<\/a>, Merrick Garland was a dud, Biden got old, and Smith was forced to drop the case. Since then, Trump has blasted ahead with his revenge tour, his toadies have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/03\/01\/nx-s1-5313836\/trumps-justice-department-demotes-senior-attorneys-who-oversaw-jan-6-cases\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">gutted<\/a> the DOJ, the far-right, fueled by Charlie Kirk&#8217;s death, has <a href=\"https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/article\/204915\/far-right-quietly-building-power-trump?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=tnr_daily\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">soared<\/a>, and truth has lost at every mournful turn.<\/p>\n<p>And so to Trump&#8217;s &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/nov-5-nears-trump-steps-attempts-recast-jan\/story?id=114895763\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">day of love<\/a>\u201d as framed by a demented <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/j6\/\" target=\"_blank\">J6 website<\/a>, widely deemed &#8220;disgusting lies,&#8221; &#8220;an absolute <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/svdate\/status\/2008608866263855449\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">disgrace<\/a>,&#8221; and &#8220;a despicable, shameful distortion of reality by a lawless, rogue White House.&#8221; With a stark black and white<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/j6\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"> banner <\/a>portraying a supposed gallery of villains composed of &#8211; surprise! &#8211; Democrats, along with traitorous Cheney and Kinzinger, it opens with the florid claim, &#8220;President Trump took decisive action to pardon January 6 defendants who were unfairly targeted, overcharged, and used as political examples&#8230; They were punished to cover incompetence.&#8221; It boasts Trump, on his first day in office, pardoned nearly 1,600 &#8220;patriotic Americans&#8230;treated as insurrectionists by a weaponized Biden DOJ&#8221; for &#8220;exercising their First Amendment rights.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Blasting Nancy Pelosi for creating &#8220;a scripted TV spectacle to fabricate an &#8216;insurrection&#8217; narrative and pin blame on President Trump&#8221; and flaunting contextless quotes &#8211; &#8220;We have totally failed&#8221; &#8211; it claims Pelosi &#8220;repeatedly&#8221; acknowledged responsibility for \u201ccatastrophic security failures&#8221; after refusing Trump&#8217;s gracious offer of 10,000 National Guard troops for protection (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2024\/06\/27\/biden-trump-first-presidential-debate\/trump-jan-6-national-guard-fact-check-00165615\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">not,<\/a> all of it). Thus did wily Dems reverse reality: &#8220;In truth it was the Democrats who staged the real insurrection by certifying a fraud-ridden election, ignoring widespread irregularities, and weaponizing federal agencies to hunt down dissenters. This gaslighting narrative allowed them to persecute innocent Americans, silence opposition, and distract from their own role in undermining democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then, a timeline of fictional events: Trump &#8220;invites patriotic Americans&#8221; to DC for &#8220;a peaceful and historic protest against certifying the stolen 2020 election.&#8221; He &#8220;speaks to hundreds of thousands of supporters.&#8221; The crowd &#8220;responds with massive enthusiasm.&#8221; The march &#8220;is orderly and spirited.&#8221; Capitol Police &#8220;fire tear gas, flash bangs, and rubber munitions, deliberately escalating tensions.&#8221; The &#8220;stolen election is certified&#8221; despite &#8220;hidden suitcases of ballots,&#8221; also &#8220;exploding water pipes&#8221;? Trump is &#8220;silenced,&#8221; &#8220;weaponized prosecutions,&#8221; &#8220;FBI entrapment,&#8221; &#8220;fabricated indictments,&#8221; &#8220;rigged show trials,&#8221; &#8220;Trump prevails despite relentless Deep State efforts to imprison, bankrupt, and assassinate him,&#8221; and of course &#8220;God\u2019s unmistakable grace.&#8221; Whew.<\/p>\n<p>The triumphant finale: Trump &#8220;corrected a historic wrong &#8211; freeing Americans who were unjustly punished in one of the darkest wrongs in modern American history&#8221; &#8211; reportedly, when faced with the task, saying fuck it and giving all 1,600, even the most vile, a free ride &#8217;cause he was too lazy to go through each case. He pardoned &#8220;patriotic citizens viciously overcharged, denied due process and held as political hostages by a vengeful regime.&#8221; Those victims of &#8220;merciless persecution (for) the simple act of peacefully walking through the Capitol&#8221; were &#8220;finally freed from years of cruel imprisonment&#8221; as he &#8220;ended the nightmare of weaponized justice and delivered long-overdue vindication to those betrayed by those leaders sworn to protect them.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of: Since then, Republicans have spinelessly toed the line. To date, unholy Mike Johnson&#8217;s even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/politics\/a-jan-6-plaque-was-made-to-honor-law-enforcement-at-the-capitol-its-whereabouts-are-unknown\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">refused<\/a> to install a legally mandated plaque at the US Capitol honoring the brave and still damaged souls in law enforcement who tried to stop the mayhem; challenged, he argues the plaque is &#8220;not implementable&#8221; as written, and that alternatives offered by Democrats &#8220;do not comply with the statute.&#8221; On Tuesday&#8217;s anniversary, dozens of Dem lawmakers held a forum to recount their experiences of the traumatic event and honor those who fought to protect them and uphold the law; they gathered in the basement where many had hidden that day after the Speaker&#8217;s office declined their requests for a hearing room or larger auditorium upstairs.<\/p>\n<p>History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. Also on Tuesday, a twisted, ragtag &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ms.now\/news\/jan-6-defendants-march-capitol-proud-boys-enrique-tarrio\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">family reunion&#8221; <\/a>of several dozen rioters came to D.C. to march again, ostensibly to commemorate<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ms.now\/top-stories\/latest\/ashli-babbitt-funeral-jan-6-air-force-military-honors-rcna227844\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"> Ashli Babbitt<\/a>, who was killed as she tried to breach the Capitol; the administration paid $5 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit with her family. The pardoned rioters, many of whom are similarly <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/cE1sr\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">seeking <\/a>millions in damages, marched draped in MAGA gear. &#8220;This is about redemption,&#8221; said one. &#8220;This is the life force of MAGA.&#8221; Some tangled with a handful of counter-protesters &#8211; &#8220;Eat Shit Donald Trump&#8221; &#8211; and a small fight began when one thug tried to seize the bullhorn from a protester\u2019s hands. She was handcuffed by the police. Color us shocked.<\/p>\n<p>Since Trump&#8217;s sweeping  pardons, even of the worst of the worst, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizensforethics.org\/reports-investigations\/crew-reports\/at-least-33-pardoned-insurrectionists-face-other-criminal-charges-but-many-are-now-going-free\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">at least 33 rioters <\/a>have been re-arrested for other crimes. The charges include plotting the murder of FBI agents who investigated Jan. 6 cases, and violent <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MacFarlaneNews\/status\/1732749801253720145\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"> assault <\/a> &#8211; punched a woman in the throat, stomped on a man\u2019s chest at a bar. Three have been arrested for rape, and six have been charged with child-sex crimes, including child rape and child pornography, because only the best. After a five-year manhunt, the DOJ also just indicted the guy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/71994554\/united-states-v-cole\/?filed_after=&amp;filed_before=&amp;entry_gte=&amp;entry_lte=&amp;order_by=desc#minute-entry-449097033\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">accused<\/a> of planting pipe bombs outside DNC and RNC headquarters the night before Jan. 6, 2021; he&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.287328\/gov.uscourts.dcd.287328.28.0_5.pdf\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">detained <\/a>pending trial, but oops &#8211; it turns out the stable genius may have already pardoned him.<\/p>\n<p>Others pop up in a sordid <a href=\"https:\/\/contrarian.substack.com\/p\/j6ers-where-are-they-now?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Where Are They Now&#8221; <\/a>round-up. Former Proud Boys leader and self-proclaimed \u201cWestern chauvinist&#8221; Enrique Tarrio, who formed a militia-like Ministry of Self-Defense unit,\u201d got a 22-year-sentence, with terrorism charges included, before being pardoned. He joined Tuesday&#8217;s march; before that, he was last seen getting charged with another assault, but feds declined to prosecute him. Jan. 6 shaman Jacob Chansley last made the news when he filed an unhinged $40 trillion <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/925535153\/CV2025-034286\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">lawsuit<\/a> against Trump, declaring himself &#8220;the first legal President of the New Constitutional Republic of the United States.&#8221; In that capacity, he ordered the printing of a $40 trillion coin, and gave himself $1 trillion &#8220;for my years worth of pain and suffering.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Of other Jan. 6 heroes, one was arrested on a felony charge after his off-leash dogs viciously <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pilotonline.com\/2025\/09\/04\/jan-6-convict-pardoned-by-trump-arrested-after-dogs-bite-4-in-newport-news\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">attacked <\/a>multiple people, sending four to the hospital. One was arrested for driving a van loaded with weapons near Barack Obama&#8217;s home; he also livestreamed threats against Jamie Raskin, threatened to blow up a federal building, and was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-dc\/pr\/washington-state-man-who-livestreamed-threats-convicted-weapons-and-other-charges\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">convicted<\/a> on a weapons and hoax bomb threat <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/12\/04\/justice-department-urges-judge-to-jail-former-jan-6-defendant-after-alarming-return-to-dc-00678109?nname=playbook&amp;nid=0000014f-1646-d88f-a1cf-5f46b7bd0000&amp;nrid=f6dc529c-b709-46f1-b9cc-f76fd25af32c\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">charge. <\/a>One was arrested for making a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/troopers.ny.gov\/news\/clinton-man-arrested-making-terroristic-threats-toward-member-congress\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">terroristic threat&#8221;<\/a> against Rep. Hakeem Jeffries. One, Jared Wise &#8211; &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/26040338-23-cr-184-us-v-jared-wise-1-16-25-jared-wise-excerpt\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Kill \u2018em! Kill \u2018em!<\/a>\u201d &#8211; works at the DOJ under Ed Martin, who<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/02\/15\/nx-s1-5292205\/ed-martin-dc-federal-prosecutor\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"> represented<\/a> Jan. 6 defendants. And one, the Instigator-In-Chief, just overthrew the president of Venezuela in violation of the U.N. Charter and international law, among many other crimes. He has yet to serve any time; somehow, horrifyingly, he is still <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/atrupar\/status\/2008564923983335834\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">babbling <\/a>in public.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 20px;\"><em>Despite the <a href=\"https:\/\/joycevance.substack.com\/p\/the-dangerous-re...\" target=\"_blank\">attempts <\/a>at <\/em><em>revisionist history, &#8220;A<\/em><em>mericans remember that day for a simple reason \u2013 we watched it happen.&#8221; &#8211; <\/em>Gregory Rosen, former DOJ prosecutor of Jan. 6 defendants.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot that almost toppled democracy (more quickly than now), the hacks and crackpots in power have concocted a deranged revisionist history of such &#8220;evil,&#8221; &#8220;pathological,&#8221; &#8220;Stalin-level propaganda&#8221; it&#8217;s somehow dragged us even further through the looking glass. In its telling, &#8220;orderly patriots&#8221; marched to the Capitol, Democrats who [&hellip;]<\/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-3126","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\/3126","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=3126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3126\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}