Congressman Honors Rioter and Candidate Gets Advice From A Higher Power, in form of a nut
Three days before the nation commemorated the 21st anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a U.S. Congressman gifted an American flag to a disgraced extremist doctor upon her release from prison for being involved in the 2021 Capitol insurrection by trump supporters in which rioters terrorized members of Congress, threatened to hang Vice President Mike Pence and used American flag poles to assault police.
Meanwhile, a Republican candidate for congress from Pennsylvania, who shares QAnon conspiracy ideas, has spewed anti-Semitic propaganda and anti-Muslim hatred and who claims that trump was robbed of re-election is getting guidance from a self-annointed prophet.
How much crazier can it get? Don’t ask.
Dr. Simone Gold, who walked out of prison on Friday after serving two months in prison, was greeted by Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-Texas who gifted her an American flag that had recently flown over the Capitol, the very same building that Gold and others stormed.
“Dr. Gold is the definition of what a political prisoner looks like — something I never thought I’d see here in the United States of America,” said Gohmert, a mighty supporter of trump’s lie that he lost reelection because of widespread voter fraud.
Gold said she was “honored to receive this recognition from Congressman Gohmert, a true believer in freedom and a fierce defender of our constitutional rights.”
Gold, an emergency room doctor and Stanford-educated lawyer, is a virulent anti-vaxxer who has spread dangerous COVID-19 lies over the last two years. During the pandemic, she founded America’s Frontline Doctors, which enthusiastically promoted bogus COVID-19 cures like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. The group even set up a telemedicine operation to prescribe drugs through the mail that is now the subject of a congressional investigation.
Gold joined the mob that was attempting the insurrection at the Capitol. She pushed over a fallen police officer and spoke at the rotunda about vaccines and government oppression. She was sentenced in June to 60 days in prison after admitting to unlawfully entering and remaining in a restricted area of the Capitol.
While in prison, Gold continued fundraising for her anti-vaccine organization, leading the judge to rebuke her, saying “I find it unseemly that your organization is raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for its operations and your salary based on your participation in January 6. It does a real disservice to the victims of that day.”
Gold is one of more than 125 people who have been sentenced to jail or prison after being convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6 riot. Nearly 875 people from across the country have been charged by the Justice Department.
Goehmert, who also denies that trump lost the 2020 election, has been a strident anti-vaxxer who has spread misinformation about the pandemic. In a statement, Gohmert said the flag was presented “to celebrate her invaluable work and contributions to public health, medical freedom and our God-given constitutional rights.” The certificate that accompanied the flag, said it was given “in honor of the beginning of the rest of (Gold’s) invaluable life … with great appreciation, admiration and awe.”
Gohmert is not running for re-election following a losing bid for Texas attorney general. He has been one of a group of House Republicans that have rallied to the defense of some of the people charged in connection with the insurrection.
“After having her name and reputation shamefully dragged through the mud, the Biden administration’s DOJ threw her in prison for peacefully walking into the U.S. Capitol on January 6 and delivering a speech. Dr. Gold is the definition of what a political prisoner looks like — something I never thought I’d see here in the United States of America,” Gohmert said. “God Bless Dr. Gold. History will not look kindly upon those who persecuted — and prosecuted — doctors who spoke out against the COVID lockdown, mask and vaccine mandates.”
Gohmert has joined with other far rightwingers, like Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Rep. Marjorie Taylor, R-Ga., in calling those arrested for the Jan. 6 riot “political prisoners.” They also have called out unfounded concerns over the conditions of the detainees.
“We have concerns about reports of the conditions of the prison where these detainees are being held and whether, in fact, there have been instances of abuse inflicted by other prisoners or guards,” the three wrote in a letter asking for a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Gohmert voted against certifying the results of the 2020 Electoral College in Congress on Jan. 7, 2021, the day after the storming of the Capitol. He rejects the scientific consensus on climate change and opposes all LGBTQ rights. With scant evidence, Gohmert strongly supports the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 and falsely claimed that Germany had invented a “mist” that killed the coronavirus.
In 2021, during a House hearing, Gohmert asked a senior official with the U.S. Forest Service if the agency or the Bureau of Land Management could alter the orbit of the earth’s moon, or the earth’s orbit around the sun, as part of efforts to reduce the impacts of climate change.
In January 2021, before trump had left the White House, Gohmert asked for a pardon for his actions in trying to overturn the 2020 election results. In July 2021, Gohmert suggested the January 6 storming of the Capitol was a conspiracy possibly set up by Democrats.
Gohmert, a Southern Baptist, attends Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas, where he is a deacon and teaches Sunday school.
So how hard is it and how unusual is it to gift an American flag that has flown over the Capitol? Not hard and not unusual, in fact, all it takes is for a member of congress to ask the Architect of the Capitol to hoist a replica flag over the capitol for a few minutes. Flags are sold for anywhere from $21 for a three-by-five foot cotton flag to $31 for a five by eight-foot nylon flag.
The Architect of the Capitol, the office responsible for maintaining the grounds of the Capitol, provides official flags flown over the Capitol to members of Congress upon request. The office “fulfills on average more than 100,000 flag requests” from lawmakers annually, according to its website.
Flags are usually offered to schools, Scouts, law enforcement or other first responders or for birthdays, anniversaries, special days, Flag Day and Veterans Day. The U.S. Flag Code doesn’t mention rules regarding the gifting of the flag or who can receive one but giving one to a convicted criminal seems to be a first although House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., generated controversy when she presented a folded flag on June 16, 2020, to Philonise Floyd, sister of George Floyd, an unarmed African American who was killed by a Minnesota police officer, trigger nationwide demonstrations.
“May this flag, which flew over the Capitol on the day of his brother’s murder, serve as a symbol of our shared commitment to securing justice for George & all victims of police violence,” Pelosi wrote.
Critics incorrectly claimed the flag should only be presented only to veterans or families of fallen veterans.
Two flags that had flown over the Capitol were among the cargo sent with the first astronauts to land on the moon in 1969. Once back on Earth, Speaker of the House John McCormack of Massachusetts and Vice President Spiro Agnew received the flags at a special Joint Meeting of Congress.
The program began in 1937 when a member of Congress requested a flag that had flown over the Capitol. It has consistently expanded and the office of the Architect of the Capitol fulfills an average of more than 100,000 flag requests each year. The flags are flown from special flag poles and then taken down to issue with a keepsake Certificate of Authenticity.
A statement from the office of the Architect of the Capitol notes, “If you would like a special gift for a patriotic American you know, then consider purchasing a U.S. flag that has been flown over the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., in honor of the gift recipient. It is possible for anyone to have a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol to honor a person, organization or event.”
As promised, now a bit about Julie Green, a self-annointed prophet who has been advising Doug Mastriano, a far right, Republican gubernatorial nominee in Pennsylvania.
Mastriano is no stranger to being strange; he was photographed wearing a Confederate uniform, has done business with a white nationalist website, has said that Roe v. Wade was worse than the Holocaust, associated with militia figures from groups such as the Oath Keepers, appeared at the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection, and shared QAnon conspiracy ideas, anti-Semitic propaganda and anti-Muslim hatred. He also is certain that trump won in 2020.
Enter Julie Green, the prophet who relayed a message from god to Mastriano in February that “I will not forsake you” in the quest “for the great steal to be overturned.” Green, an associate pastor at Faith Family Fellowship in Davenport, Iowa, has claimed that god will execute political figures “for their planned pandemic, shortages, inflation, mandates and for stealing an election.”
In March, Mastriano’s campaign invited Green to give the opening prayer at a campaign event where an aide welcomed her as “a representative of God.” In April, Mastriano posed with Green at a conference and in May, Green made a custom prophecy video for Mastriano’s followers. In June, Green, said she had visited Mastriano “several times” and the two “we just have a special relationship.”
Green, not to be confused with another nut job, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has alleged that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “loves to drink the little children’s blood”; the government is conducting “human sacrifices” to stay in power; and President Joe Biden is secretly dead and an “actor” is playing him.
On her former YouTube website, Green explains that the “Julie Green Ministries exists to transform lives through God’s unconditional love, His Word, and the hope that comes from a personal relationship with him.”
YouTube deletes websites that it considers uses hate speech and deleted Green in May, according to Green, “without reason or warning.”
Green continues to share her prophesies on fr right social networking sites, Telegram, Rumble and Donald Trump’s Truth Social.
“God always wins,” she posted, “and He always has the final say! What Satan meant for harm, God will turn it into something good! They can try to silence the mouths of the children of Almighty God, but we will roar even louder and cause more damage to the enemies!! We can’t be defeated and we will never quit in Jesus’ name!!!”
God has told Green that people in power have done “human sacrifices” and “manipulated even the weather.” She said that Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., “formulated plans to throw out [trump] from his rightful position as president. … You will pay with your life.”
Continuing, Green said that Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. will have her life “taken from you by the Angel of Death.” Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., will face “eternity in the Lake of Fire.” Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp “stood alongside the Red Dragon” and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., is “a snake in the grass” who “infiltrated my nation, and that is the last thing you will ever do.” Green had similar warnings to Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.