Timothy Birdnow

In a straight party vote the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to hold Anthony "Dr. Maskeley" Fauci in contempt of Congress.

The career civil servant (which speaks volumes; his allegiance is to the bureaucracy, not science, even though he said "I am Science" like Palpatine said he was the Senate in Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith) who looks like the Heaven's Gate cult leader refused to answer such intricate questions as "what color is the paper in front of you" and "what day is it". I guess he feared showing he hadn't gone to kindergarten.

The matter of compelled testimony after receiving a pardon is complicated and open for judicial review. See here for details. But the Fifth Amendment is to keep a person from being compelled to act as a witness against himself and that is not what Dr. Foo Chi was doing here - he was being compelled to tell the truth and testify in a matter that COULD NOT lead to any charges or punishments against him. That is crucial to understand; Fauci could have answered these questions honestly and walked away with not so much as a Bronx cheer. I mean, he could have testified he kidnapped a little boy and raped the kid to death and he would have walked out of there a free man. His problem was that he didn't want to damage his reputation and telling the truth would have damaged his reputation. Lying would have gotten him in legal trouble as his pardon ended with the autopen. So he took the Fifth.

Sound strategy if you are a megalomaniac, but it does put the man in some legal jeopardy.

It is very unlikely Fauci will get more than a slap on the wrist for this. But in the process his reputation is being destroyed.

In many ways, for a man as vain as Fauci that is worse. But I want to see the book thrown at him as I always want to see that happen. It is not schadenfreude; it is not even seeking justice. It is to guarantee nobody tries this stupid human trick again.

The law is not about justice, and it is not about vengeance. It's about discouraging people from doing bad things. The argument made against the death penalty is always "an enlightened society should not seek vengeance" but it's not vengeance we seek, nor is it punishment as the prisoner certainly isn't going to modify his behavior after execution of sentence. Yes, justice is there to a degree, but mostly it is to make an example of him. Fear of old sparky has often been a deterrent to capital crimes.

We need to make an example of Fauci so others don't think they can get away with what he pulled. We won't be able to do a good job of it but at least we should make him pay as much as possible AS PUBLICLY AS POSSIBLE. His dying a broken old man won't serve society that well. His being a broken old man with everyone watching and thinking he got what he deserved will.

It's tough but nobody ever said crime and punishment should be easy. We take no pleasure (or should take little, anyway) at punishing evildoers but it has to be done and it has to be done right to make the point. Crimes are public affairs - punishments need to be likewise.

As a society we've grown too squeamish. There was a time when criminals were publicly hanged. The town would have a party and celebrate too. It's what tamed the Old West; had we not done that the West would still be wild, with outlaws and gunfighters and women of the night in every saloon.

At any rate Fauci cared more for being the Great Man than he did for his freedom. Pride goeth before a fall.

I fear Anthony Fauci's fall will be great indeed.

Posted by: Dana Mathewson at August 06, 2026 11:35 PM (OiNGx)

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at August 07, 2026 07:11 AM (oflqW)

Posted by: chanchal rani at August 08, 2026 12:51 AM (qvnJX)

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