Thursday, January 14, 2021

What we're learning


For those of you who have been here with me for a while, this is my nephew, Aunt Winnie's grandson, who for the past two nights slept on the mable floors inside the Capitol with his fellows-at-arms. Some of you met this young man as a little boy in these posts, and followed his sometimes heartrending story. You know he was ultimately secured, and is now a college graduate who after getting his degree in criminal justice a year ago, trained for the National Guard. His goal is to join the Secret Service or US Marshal Service. He's a law and order sort, and ironically may have voted for the other side. Whatever his leanings, I don't want my nephew having to confront any white supremacists trying to burn everything down. To me, he is still a callow youth, nervous and untried. And in the wake of the insurrectionist president's second impeachment yesterday, this political era looks a lot like civil war. Plus, as we all saw a week ago, to the MAGA terrorists, blue lives apparently matter only when those blue lives are threatening Black, Brown or Jewish ones. 

The information now coming out about last week's siege on the Capitol is nothing short of shattering. It has emerged that some right wing members of Congress conducted what is being described as "reconnaissance tours" of the Capitol the day before the riot, which was noted because no tours of the building had been given since last March. When Capitol police asked the MAGA paraphernalia-wearing visitors to leave due to covid regulations, the Congress members objected and said as their guests the Trumpers had permission to be on the premises. 

Last night, Rachel Maddow showed new video of a woman rioter instructing the mob where to go based on a floor plan they had acquired, Maddow's point being that the riot was more carefully planned than it first appeared. In addition, Colorado's newly elected Q-Anon House member Lauren Boebert, a woman with a criminal rap sheet back home and a husband with a record of exposing himself to minors, was live tweeting Nancy Pelosi's whereabouts in real time to rioters storming stormed the building, a criminal offense that put the Speaker's life in danger. I confess I was skeptical of early reports that the insurrectionists had inside help. My poor little mind couldn't imagine such a betrayal by elected officials who had sworn an oath to protect and serve, even after the past four years. I need to be a little more cynical because it appears that certain members of Congress did in fact give rioters material aid, and some members of the Capitol police, too, have been suspended, and one arrested, for possibly conspiring with the mob. We can only hope all the bad actors will be held accountable.

Oh I could go on, but it's all too much. Besides, it's unfolding on TV every hour, so long as you're watching anything other than Fox New. Suffice it to say, as bad as it was when the mob stormed the Capitol screaming for Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi's heads, it could have been so much worse. I really wish Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would do a nice little indoor ceremony for the inauguration and call it a day.

12 comments:

  1. I, too, would like to see the inauguration done in a much safer way than outdoors. There's just too much damn evidence that those who are sworn to protect and serve are not taking that oath seriously. These are incredibly frightening times. And I just keep wondering- WHAT is it about DJT that could possibly motivate people to such actions?
    I hope with all of my heart that your nephew will be safe and will not have to deal with violence in any way.

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  2. I hope your nephew stays safe there. He is really on the front lines in our nation's Capitol. It is still mind-blowing that such defense is necessary, and yet here we are. I am so worried about the inauguration. I wish it would be held indoors. I fear for what we might have to witness. I really wish for things to calm down and all the bad racist crazy people to go to jail.

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  3. These times are as wrenching as the days of the U.S. Civil War and have much in common with the situation in Vietnam in 1954 before it was divided into two countries which then went to war against each other. When I read The Mountains Sing, by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, I felt as if I were reading about what had led to the situation in the U.S. in 2020, with a population divided irreconcilably along political, economic and religious lines.

    Your nephew is close in age to my only nephew. He could be my nephew. Our young people's souls are being tried as they do what they feel is the right thing to do.

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  4. This information is not being carried in any detail in the Canadian news, and so I thank you for it. Frightening. Saddening. I wish it were unbelievable also. Best wishes for your nephew's safety.

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  5. The fact that they're sleeping on those cold, hard marble floors just hurts my heart. I hope he'll be ok through all of this and is able to get some rest.

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  6. It's sickening and it just keeps going. Just when you think it can't get any worse trump pulls it down even further to a new low. May he rot in hell.

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  7. These are mind blowing times. Never would I believe what is playing out right before our eyes. Sad for all Americans. I hope your nephew stays safe. I agree entirely, a small white house ceremony is best right now. Safety must be first and foremost.

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  8. It's late here in Los Angeles, and I'm reading backwards, catching up and weeping, to tell you the truth. It's all so bewildering and horrible and expected, all at once.

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  9. Thanks to your nephew for his service. I agree that a quiet, indoor ceremony would be safer.

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  10. yeah, just administer the oath and get on with business. there was definitely insider help...with the planning (three congressmen have been named), with material support and the tours, with Trump refusing to allow the DoD to arm and support the Capitol Police and refusing to send out the National Guard except for a few unarmed assigned to traffic detail.and money, lots of money by donors spent to organise and support this so called 'protest'. I do think the main mass of protesters were riled up as cover for the real operation. Never thought I'd see this.

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  11. I've had to restrict my news intake somewhat because, yes, it is all too much. I saw Lauren Boebert speaking on the House floor just before the invasion and had no idea who she was -- what a nut! Like you, I hope an investigation brings consequences for all those who conspired with that travesty.

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  12. From a distance, we watch with fear. This could all swing the wrong way. Just read today about certain US billionaires funding the various terrorist groups.

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