September 11. 2021
George W. Bush at Shanksville, in comparing 9/11/2001 terrorists to domestic terrorists of January 6, 2021
“There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home,” “But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit.”
July 28, 2021
Among those with even the smallest opening in their minds, this video of testimony of 4 of the 140 Capitol and DC police injured on January 6 should lay to rest two lies perpetrated by the apologists, supporters, and their political leaders: 1) these rioters were no peaceful tourists. nor were they patriots 2) this was a serious attempt to overturn the election by terrorizing Congresspeople in the process of certification to violate their oath and name Donald Trump to a second term. Police officers testify in Jan. 6 select committee's first hearing — 7/27/2021 - YouTube
July 4, 2021
The flags are waiving as we celebrate the 4th of July, the most patriotic celebration of the year. Who were and are the real patriots? They certainly were not the rioters on January 6, 2021. Those who sympathize with the January 6 rioters and fly themselves under the banner of 1776 are an insult to those who signed the Declaration of Independence. The patriots in 1776 used well-regulated colonial militias and their recruits and a traditional army headed by Gen. George Washington to revolt against a tyrant. They did not revolt to replace one tyrant with another tyrant. They did not revolt against the King with a riot.
The rioters may have thought they were doing the patriotic thing to threaten and terrorize Congress that was engaged in the certification of the 2020 November election to force them to overturn the election, That kind of thinking is upside-down, far removed from the patriotism of 1776, no matter how sincere they felt.
One of the arguments coming from the January 6 riot sympathizers is that our country was created by violence and revolution so therefore mob violence in support of their version of democracy was justified so they called themselves patriots. Those who rationalize violent overthrow of government they do not like miss the point of why those in 1776 fought a war of independence. The patriots of 1776 acted to rid themselves of the tyrannical government of England. In 2021 so-called patriots were trying to install a wannabe autocrat who openly admired the powerful rule of other autocrats in the world and who had used tactics he attempted to emulate. He needed a second term. One was to promulgate a lie...that he would only lose the election if there was fraud and then when he lost, he set about to make his prophecy self fulfilling, with the help of friendly social and other media. The problem he faced was that there was no evidence of widespread fraud he could use to make his case. He then began flagrant lies, which found himself banned from Twitter and Facebook, his most used tools of self-advocacy. His loyalists took his lies as truth and still are still believers without questioning or evidence to the contrary. Trump supported media, social, print, TV, and radio, advocated unproven theories which they passed off as truth, selective stories and videos, and voices of outrage to carry the message. The message they did not tout was that Trump lost the election, both popular and electoral college, per 60 court decisions and data and certification by all 50 states by exactly the same margins Trump won in 2016.. . Trump was the rioters' inspiration and the one who summoned them to" have a wild time" in Washington, as some of the 500 arrested by the FBI for violent, destructive, unlawful entering, and vandalism that day have already testified. Many came prepared to be violent.
Technically these acts could fit under the common understanding of the definition of insurrection or sedition, or participation and inciting planned violence to overthrow a government action such as to certify an election. Perhaps such charges will yet be filed. The statutes that could be cited are 18 U.S. Code § 2383 - Rebellion or insurrection | U.S. Code | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute (cornell.edu) The rioters failed to overturn the election, but they tried. Some groups affiliated with the rioters have already been officially proclaimed domestic terrorists by the FBI. Whatever you call them or however they are charged and prosecuted, their leaders at least came with the purpose of scaring the legislators to overthrow the election by not certifying it per their sworn constitutional duties. They did it by the act of rioting.
Those who fought the British after July 4, 1776, were not rioters but they were conscripted and drafted by each colonial government into an army led by Gen. George Washington, charged to do so, to train and discipline, duly authorized by the real patriots of 1776 who signed the Declaration of Independence. January 6 rioters were not there in any official capacity but were fired up by social media and selective reporting that they were the guardians of democracy and they were to right the November election which they believed had been stolen.
The rioters believed Trump had their back, had the support of the Capitol Police, but came armed and ready to commit violence and/or to terrorize the sitting legislators at that very hour who were voting to certify the election to simply certify Trump. They felt that they had the right to do so because of the First Amendment, ignorant that only peaceful assemblies to address grievances were protected. (" Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."} Ironically, this 2021 version of 1776rs thought violence and the threat of it was justified to place in charge a powerful figure who saw himself above the law or who considered the law as something to ignore or to manipulate or to get around. Many in both parties, though more independents and Democrats, suspected he wanted to overturn an election to stay in power so he could use and consolidate his rule like the dictators he so openly admired. He adroitly used coded words and insinuations, vagueness subject to interpretations to convey his orders or wishes but left his loyal lieutenants to act and go to jail on his behalf. Loyalty was rewarded with pardons for those convicted. Threats of primaries kept elected officials under control. He was their kind of guy; a powerhouse who channeled their grievances. To do so the rioters rationalized their actions with a lie, that democracy needed to be saved from election fraud. and they chanted "stop the steal", In spite of this day of riots and threats against the lives of members of the legislature and the Vice President, thanks to the actions of most of the Capitol Police and the secret service whisking away the leadership, Congress members survived, still certified the election, and Joe Biden was sworn in as president.
The aftermath is still being felt by a GOP leadership in the House and Senate who are concerned they would lose their power by midterm voters who had not swallowed the big lie and who saw the rioters for what they were. The GOP's strategy is to bury the events of January 6, hope their supporters are fooled to believe the rioters were a bunch of tourists, that the violence was no worse than the vandalism committed in the George Floyd, BLM, anarchists in the previous summer and who were just exercising their First Amendment rights. They ask their loyalists not to believe their very eyes which could be seen in video documentation of the January 6 riot and to ignore the multiple arrests of the violent actors. Above all, the GOP leaders do want to do anything more that would expose the intent and the actions of the rioters to the public especially closer to the 2022 midterms. They refuse to participate in any hearings or commissions, bi-partisan, or not. and threaten to discipline any of their members who do participate by denying their committee assignments.
In addition, GOP Trump loyalists have set about trying to prove widespread fraud by unofficial "audits" drawn out for months with the ability to tamper with the ballots already audited and recounted many times by officials who followed the rules regarding keeping their integrity. They have tried to make the case that in 2022 they needed to fix what every official review found was not broken and make it even more difficult and inconvenient for voters, especially those who would likely vote for Democrats. In June, the Supreme Court ruled Arizona had the right to add anti-fraud rules and regulations to state election laws. What is yet to be decided is whether these new rules were indeed intentionally discriminating against races in violation of what was left of the 1965 voting right act. The fat lady has not sung on that one as numerous lawsuits are boiling up from lower courts to show intentional racial discrimination, but the reading of the Arizona decision will make that case very hard to win with given the current SCOTUS makeup. Unfortunately, all voters will be suppressed and inconvenienced by these new state laws, just some more than others, and by 2022 it may be too late for many even in the GOP to realize what happened. NBC/Marist poll found more voters were more concerned about access to the polls than voter fraud..
Recently, there are threats by Trump supporters to overturn the Biden government by violent coups and to "reinstate" Trump, who still claims he is president. No less than Gen. Mike Flynn, a convicted felon, is opening advocating it. That is banana republic kind of talk. Expect the Democrats in 2022 to position themselves as the supporters of democracy and the GOP as underminers of it and supporters of autocracy. The Democrats have a strong case to make for the majority who care for the rule by the people, instead of rule by a strong man thanks to the action and antics of Trump's GOP supporters.
The patriots who were the founders of the Constitution and our form of governance sought to preserve our right to govern ourselves, to preserve all who were created equally inalienable rights to pursue happiness, and to keep us from a tyrannical ruler, making those governing subject to the rule of law instead of the rule of an individual. Those who experienced the revolution in 1776 were also given the opportunity to write the Constitution which was approved in 1787. Aside from limiting the power of tyrants with checks and balances of three power centers, legislative, judicial, and executive, they added more safeguards to protect the power of individuals to protest peacefully per the Bill of Rights. They attempted to tackle some of the trickiest problems of governance in the Constitution and in both the amendments and in the regulated election process. How do you provide a peaceful transition of power while still allowing an outlet for the masses to express themselves and let off steam peacefully? They gave those who lost the election the protections and ability through the Bill of Rights to convince a majority of voters that those governing need to be replaced by the ballot box and not by a bloody revolt.
The foxated and the fooled.
.Those who believe the January 6 rioters were tourists wandering orderly and respectfully through the Capitol on January 6 were fooled, too. A GOP Georgia congressman used a carefully edited video to try to convey the lie. PolitiFact | The ridiculous claim that those at the Capitol Jan. 6 resembled a 'normal tourist visit' How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol | Visual Investigations - YouTube Even Fox's own reporter there in the middle of it riot reported the violence. Reporter's Notebook: Inside the US Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot | Fox News , To keep their myth alive, FOX just refused to run a political ad that showed the violence of the day. Fox News Reportedly Refused to Air Ad About Capitol Riot (businessinsider.com) That these violent actors were just protestors who got carried away at the moment is likewise deceptive propaganda as the Senate report reveals that plans for violence and maps of the interior halls and calls to bring weapons were ignored, yet readily available weeks before the event. that year,Senate report on Jan. 6 attack finds Capitol Police, intelligence agencies failed to relay threat posed by pro-Trump rioters (yahoo.com) https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/08/politics/takeaways-senate-report-january-6/index.html They too had been foxated and fooled.
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https://www.axios.com/capitol-riot-trump-supporters-police-officer-c0cd9fb4-3ee1-44ab-9d53-8b78c9b1ea69.html?utm_campaign=organic&utm_medium=socialshare&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2u7K-XczV2MWddY_1IQ63h1hbx1Fwlwf4B6vBQj_BUzwCe83yStErBHlA
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-wanted-troops-to-protect-supporters-at-capitol-says-miller-2021-5
https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/apr/26/what-happened-during-jan-6-call-between-donald-tru/
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/28/politics/brendan-hunt-guilty-threatening-assault-murder-members-congress/index.html
May 5, 2021
Facebook continues its ban on Trump but will re-examine in 6 months. The reason: the threat of violence is still real. I see what this means. This is a implication that Trump's posts incite violence and that "stop the steal" is still the slogan Trump continues to exhort. https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/05/05/facebook-trump-ban-permanent-oversight-board-ruling/4377852001/
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