Vance is a fool and a hypocrite

 I had to take a bit of time off from blogging because watching the various effects of the nonviolent coup occurring in this country has been hard to keep up with. But yesterday's disgusting speech by J.D.Vance at the Munich Security Conference was too much to ignore.

For one thing, Vance claimed that the real danger to Europe is not Russia or China, but threats from within. That is just a stunningly DUMB remark. Russia invaded a sovereign European country (Ukraine) three years ago, and China threatens Europe economically. Beyond that, Vance is vice-president to a president that led an insurrection against this country in January 2021 because he did not want to leave office. It should be noted that the same president is musing about running for a third term even though doing so would be unconstitutional. When Vance criticizes Europe for being anti-democratic in its opposition to Neo-Nazi parties, he is being incredibly hypocritical.

Vance, as he often does, issued statements with no basis in reality. He criticized Scotland for banning prayer in safe zones at abortion clinics, asserting that the law would criminal private prayer at home. That is not even close to being the truth. The ban on activities applies only to the safe access zone around abortion clinics so that patients will not feel intimidated and threatened. 

Vance also condemned the cancellation of the election in Romania because of Russian interference in its election. Not only is it the height of arrogance for the U.S. to comment on other countries' elections when there is so much disinformation and voter suppression that goes on in ours, but we don't support other countries' interference in our own elections! 

It should be noted that Vance had an unintentionally ironic line when he presented an example of a journalist being jailed when in this country the Associated Press has been banned from the White House for refusing to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. It was equally ironic that Vance decried shutting people out of the political process where MAGA has done that with voter suppression laws and gerrymandering.

In short, Vance's speech was an embarrassment, and, as German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius observed, the comparison of European democracies to authoritarian regimes was "unacceptable."