In surfing the InterWebs this afternoon, there was a high shitload of news going on, but notice of Adam Kinziner’s words in an interview struck a match — pretty-much coming from a Republican for Republicans about Republicans:

Rep. Adam Kinzinger says his fellow Republicans, some of whom have openly called for supporters to resist the mandates, are out to "manipulate our base, raise money off of them and not care about their life," which, he said, is "actually pretty sad." https://t.co/ZxC0CD7d8U

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 13, 2021

Kinzinger pretty-much hit the reality bell at CBS News — after some chit-chat with Margaret Brennan on Afghanistan, said Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates are right on:

“Oh, I do, I think he has a point. Look, I- I don’t know if all of his mandates will hold up in court. There’s constitutional questions on some of it. I’ll leave that to lawyers because I really don’t know, but I think it’s going to save lives and- and the failure here comes in leaders that have basically used vaccine status as some tattoo of what political tribe you belong to.
I mean, we all hear stories of people that are in, you know, very red areas that are embarrassed to say they’re vaccinated. That is insane and silly, and that is a problem with leaders, particularly Republican leaders, that don’t stand up and give cover to people and say, look, this is not what republicanism or conservativism should be.
And you see these governors that do, you know? Mike DeWine in Ohio. And they just get pushed aside by some of those that are out to simply manipulate our base, raise money off of them and not care about their life, only care about what it means for their votes and their bottom line as politicians. It’s actually pretty sad.”
…
“Well, it’s- it’s everything. I mean, it’s them. It’s- it’s when you look at really any Republican, you know, not any Rep- there’s a lot that are not doing this, but there are some, you know, Republican members of Congress and stuff putting out fundraising after fundraising email about first, it’s going to be a vaccine mandate — next thing, the Gestapo is going to show up at your door and take your Bible away. Like, that’s not going to happen and that’s playing on people’s fear.”

I think probably people who ‘want’ to be played. I don’t know how to explain the horrible situation with the entire GQP — why don’t people like Kinzinger get the shit out of Dodge? Yet, better to have them than not.
Further from Forbes yesterday afternoon: ‘In a fundraising email sent out on Sunday morning, former President Donald Trump’s PAC said Biden’s orders are “what TOTALITARIAN DICTATORSHIP looks like,” urging supporters to donate to “fight for your freedom.”‘

Enough said.

An off-subject, terrible side-note I spied earlier — from ABC News (The Australian Broadcasting Corporation) this afternoon:

The tobacco giant behind the Marlboro man has sparked outrage in medical circles over a bid to invest in a company that develops inhaler technology, which could see it profit from the smoking-related lung diseases it helped create.

Philip Morris International is in the middle of a takeover bid over for Vectura, a UK company that specialises in inhaler technology for lung illnesses.

In Australia, experts say it could threaten research and force doctors to change the way they treat some patients with lung disease.
…
Philip Morris has been signalling it wants to get out of the “combustible” cigarette business to ensure its longevity, with other pharmaceutical deals likely to be on cards.

Chief executive Jacek Olczak told American business media channel CNBC they were “serious about transforming the company”.

“Unless we start addressing in a meaningful way the problem of cigarettes, I don’t think we will be a sustainable business.”

Duh! A cruel, anti-humanity feel to that shit

Here we are, once again…

(Illustration out front: ‘National Buffoons,’ by Daryl Cagle, found here).