The most important question about this whole cluster fuck that comes to mind is this: By what authority ~ and on what legal and, more importantly, on what MORAL basis ~ does the Speaker of The U.S. House of Representatives share the January 6 surveillance camera footage ~ made at U.S. Taxpayer expense ~ with just one favored media outlet; and not with ALL of the American People and their media? Are the viewers of Fox and fans of Tucker the only Americans entitled to see this?
Well, that’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? Given that legality and morality have very little, if anything, to do with anything that happens in Swampland, what better way to distract the American People from the looming Debt Ceiling/Default deadline, the pending war with China, and the war on the Western Front of Cold War II in Ukraine that could go nuclear any day now?
And of course, don’t forget that Election2024 is but a year and eight months away and is already kicking into high gear. [Which assumes, of course, that there will be an election in 2024. Which also assumes that the United States of America will still exist as a functioning Nation-State 20 months from now. Given that it is ~ at best ~ a Flailing Nation State and Failing Empire, that assumption is presumptuous, at best.]
This is, once again, spot on, Bill. Hedges, you, and other observant folk show the understanding and nuance that is completely lacking among MSM talking heads on both sides of that absurdly staged partisan divide.
A given person's memory of 1/6, or people's collective memories, matters not, in the long run. Millions of us watched live coverage. We know that tens of thousands of hours' worth of video footage exists. Taken in its entirety, it's difficult to honestly dispute the extreme, violent nature of what transpired.
I believe an insurrection happened (insurrection
ĭn″sə-rĕk′shən
noun
The act or an instance of open revolt against civil authority or a constituted government. A rising up; uprising.), and a coup was attempted (a sudden and violent change in government.).
I saw windows being broken, people pushing into the Capitol, a gallows erected outside, people storming barriers, people scaling exterior walls, Capitol police being overrun, all in a violent manner, many armed with weapons of opportunity---flagpoles and such, screaming lies and urging more violence. And so on. The "hang Mike Pence" video footage, along with interior footage, are even more damning. By their own admission, groups of insurrectionists had caches of guns stashed nearby. Unless what was broadcast for all the world to see was some kind of hours-long deep-fake movie, and unless the militia-member witnesses are all lying under oath, the above recap of a live broadcast is factual.
I don't think the Dems are overreacting and I don't believe the trials are for show. Deluded or not, those who invaded the Capitol should be jailed.
Are the Dems using 1/6 for all it's worth? Yep. Because we almost lost our democracy. Are they making political hay with it? Absolutely. TFG and his followers handed them a gift; they'd be politically remiss for not taking advantage. I mean, I don't revere the Dems, by any means, but here, they're using the ammunition they have. If anything, they've tread lightly thus far: TFG and his top minions have yet to be assigned their orange jumpsuits.
One thing that puzzles me in your post, Bill, is that you noted that Congress impeached the former President, but otherwise refused to act. What else could they have done? I'm asking in all seriousness, because I don't know of any other recourse, especially after the Senate refused to convict.
Note: given the tone of the comments thus far, I'm well aware that what I've said here won't go over well. And that's OK, obviously, as we all have rights to our own opinions.
Establishment Republicans like McConnell have a real soft spot for law enforcement. In the event of a conflict, law enforcement is always right and the citizenry is always wrong. As for the Democrat politicians, their Jan 6 show hearings were just plain disgusting. Ditto for the MSM that took them seriously. They would have had a real home in the old Soviet Union.
Here are my Observations and Thoughts on and about January 6, written and distributed on January 12, 2021:
PRELUDE. As a retired US Army Master Sergeant, the only thing that i have seen recently that filled me with the same sense of horror and nausea ~ and degree of disgust and foreboding ~ as the Trumpatistas' invasion of the Capitol was the sight back in August, 2017, of legions of young American white nationalists and supremacists carrying torches, signs, and flags, and chanting their chants on the grounds of the academy that Jefferson built in Charlottesville, Virginia. Having said that…
OBSERVATIONS. Whatever that was up on Capitol Hill on January 6, it was not a "coup," an "insurgency," or an "insurrection," no matter what the politicians, pundits, and other propagandists in SwampLand, the media, Tinseltown, or academia may try to tell and sell us.
It was trespassing, assault on government employees, breaking and entering, the invasion and destruction of public and private property, the disruption of public business, and the wasting of public officials' and government employees' time, effort, and energy, and of taxpayers' money.
Coups, insurgencies, and insurrections aren't attempted by people carrying nothing but flags, signs, selfie-sticks, and smartfones, with hotel checkouts the next day at 11 am. That was not an attempt to overthrow the government of the United States [which, to actually happen in the real world, would have to start at the Pentagon, the CIA, and/or the Federal Reserve].
At this point, the whole "Save America March" ~ at least for the thousands who showed up to hear Trump's speech and didn't go on to Capitol Hill ~ was, rather, an attempt by a bunch of disgruntled American taxpayer/citizens to have some sort of impact on what they see happening to their country and to their and their children's future.
It was a chance for those "Disgruntleds Deplorables" to let somebody ~ anybody ~ know how they feel about the next President and how he got there; much as there were massive anti-Trump marches the day after his inauguration back in 2017, and condemnations of the whole Electoral College system.
[Note: It was interesting to note how everybody's attitude about the Electoral College suddenly changed when asked how they would feel if the results were exactly reversed: If Trump had won the popular vote, and Clinton the Electoral. Ahhh; isn’t hypocrisy such a totally American thing?]
Of the however many that then went to the Capitol, there were but a few hundred who actually attempted and made it into the building, and, of them, but a handful who actually made it into the Chamber or Congressional offices. And from the looks of many of those who got inside, they weren't exactly sure of what they were doing other than wondering how they got there, and what they were supposed to be doing next, other than making sure they captured it on their phone.
One thing that the Black Lives Matter activities and actions last summer have in common with the Save America March is that both started as, and consisted of peaceful, lawful protest by the overwhelming majority of the participants, on the one hand, and ended in violent, lawless rioting by a distinct, clearly identifiable minority, on the other.
Those several thousands of Trumpatistas who gathered to hear Trump's invocation were as peaceful and law-abiding as the BLM protesters who took non-violently to the streets in 2020. The question is, were they, as a neighbor of mine put it, “a group of racist, white supremacists, neo-nazi, far-right extremists out to let the world know that to ‘Make America Great Again’ and to keep America great, is to rid America of Black and Brown people, and Jews for that matter.”
One can only ask: ALL of those several thousands are All of those things? And is that what they want to make the world know that MAGA and KAG mean? ALL of them?
My guess is that that would depend upon where You took Your sampling: at Trump's speech; enroute to the Capitol; at the Capitol; and getting inside. The further from Trump's altar, the concentration of "racist…extremists" no doubt increased even as the total numbers ascending up to the other end of Pennsylvania steadily diminished.
No meaningful arguments can be had about the mindsets and worldviews of those who stormed The Hill. But it is incorrect to automatically ascribe those "racist…extremist" politics to those thousands who stood listening to and cheering, chanting, and applauding Trump’s "Why We Are Here; What We Are Going To Do; How We Are Going To Do It; and When" speech.
In any event, the biggest difference between the BLM and SAM events is that the violence on January 6 did not include the widespread damage, destruction, arson, and looting of government and private property that characterized how many BLM protests ended up. All that happened on Capitol Hill in terms of property damage was some smashed windows and bashed in doors, and nothing at all that could be termed "looting." Pelosi's lectern never even made it out of the building; probably would've been tough to check-in for the flite back home, eh?
Another difference is that BLM protests that turned into riots had virtually none of the direct, extended, face-to-face, hand-to-hand combat between law enforcers and SAM rioters; which included many very violent, individual and small-group physical contacts. This summer's riots had lots of rocks and stun guns, tear gas and fireworks, and counter-vailing aerosols; but very few up-close and personal, hand-to-hand combats, if any.
Another similarity between the BLM and SAM riots is that both included verbal and physical assaults by rioters against journalists and news crews, and the destruction of journalists' and news crews' equipment and property. One very notable difference is that, compared to the number of assaults, obstructions, and arrests by police of journalists during BLM protests, there seem to have been no arrests during SAM. At least so far.
And finally, arguably the most important thing that both BLM and SAM have in common is that they both blame the violence and rioting on outsider infiltrators, agents provocateurs, false flaggers, and anybody but themselves. BLMers says the Proud Boys and their anti-Everything Not Them ilk are behind all the chaos; just like the Trumpites are claiming the same for the antifas [or "Pantifas," as one wag put it].
At this point, serious consideration should be given to the possibility that there is perhaps a third element and force at work; one that seeks to use both BLM and Trumpatismo's SAM for its own agenda's purposes. See Question 4, which follows.
The most important Questions to be asked and answered about January 6 are:
1. Who shot and killed that woman, and Why? Whoever it was gave the MAGAites and Trumpatismo their first Martyr.
2. Exactly How did those two Capitol Police Officers die, and Why? However it happened, it gave somebody else their first Martyrs, as well.
3. Where were the Capitol and DC Police ~ let alone Federal national defense and law enforcement agencies ~ while all this was going on? And more importantly, where were they even before it all started? What did they know and when did they know it? Where was our nation's most-extensive-and-expensive-in-the-world vaunted surveillance/secrecy/security/safety panopticon when the Legislative Branch of the government of the United States of America really, really needed it?
4. Who benefited from all this? Ie, Cui Bono?, as they say in the investigative business. Who is better off today than they were before the "Save America March," in whatever currency of the realm of note? Which politicians, bureaucrats, special interests, and their owners and operators can and will cash in on it to advance their own individual, organizational, and institutional agendas? Biden and his cohorts certainly are and most certainly will; as will and are Trump and his compeers.
5. Will the "Save America March" becomes a so-called COVID-19 "Super Spreader" event? And how many Americans ~ in their deepest Heart-of-Hearts ~ actually, really hope that that is exactly what happens; that a whole bunch of those thousands of folks that showed up to hear Trump rant and then marched on the Capitol get sick and, before they die, pass it on to anybody who thinks like they do. That may be a number with a magnitude and intensity that nobody wants to know; or at least wants for the rest of the world to know... .
It's interesting that Trump's quoted at CPAC that .."I am the Justice;.... I am the retribution", for those who were betrayed and wronged!!!??? How pathetic. He wronged and betrayed his foot soldiers, destroying their lives. What about those injured and killed by the vax that he "fathered". How can Christians be so blindfolded and hypocritical? Allowing themselves to be hypnotically controlled and influenced by this traitor puppet?
The Babylon Bee explains all: https://babylonbee.com/news/tucker-carlson-reveals-startling-footage-of-who-was-behind-jan-6
The most important question about this whole cluster fuck that comes to mind is this: By what authority ~ and on what legal and, more importantly, on what MORAL basis ~ does the Speaker of The U.S. House of Representatives share the January 6 surveillance camera footage ~ made at U.S. Taxpayer expense ~ with just one favored media outlet; and not with ALL of the American People and their media? Are the viewers of Fox and fans of Tucker the only Americans entitled to see this?
Well, that’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? Given that legality and morality have very little, if anything, to do with anything that happens in Swampland, what better way to distract the American People from the looming Debt Ceiling/Default deadline, the pending war with China, and the war on the Western Front of Cold War II in Ukraine that could go nuclear any day now?
And of course, don’t forget that Election2024 is but a year and eight months away and is already kicking into high gear. [Which assumes, of course, that there will be an election in 2024. Which also assumes that the United States of America will still exist as a functioning Nation-State 20 months from now. Given that it is ~ at best ~ a Flailing Nation State and Failing Empire, that assumption is presumptuous, at best.]
This is, once again, spot on, Bill. Hedges, you, and other observant folk show the understanding and nuance that is completely lacking among MSM talking heads on both sides of that absurdly staged partisan divide.
Political commissar Chuck Schumer's contribution to a free press: https://thefederalist.com/2023/03/08/schumer-to-protect-democracy-i-need-the-one-network-i-dont-control-to-stop-airing-raw-footage-of-congress
A given person's memory of 1/6, or people's collective memories, matters not, in the long run. Millions of us watched live coverage. We know that tens of thousands of hours' worth of video footage exists. Taken in its entirety, it's difficult to honestly dispute the extreme, violent nature of what transpired.
I believe an insurrection happened (insurrection
ĭn″sə-rĕk′shən
noun
The act or an instance of open revolt against civil authority or a constituted government. A rising up; uprising.), and a coup was attempted (a sudden and violent change in government.).
I saw windows being broken, people pushing into the Capitol, a gallows erected outside, people storming barriers, people scaling exterior walls, Capitol police being overrun, all in a violent manner, many armed with weapons of opportunity---flagpoles and such, screaming lies and urging more violence. And so on. The "hang Mike Pence" video footage, along with interior footage, are even more damning. By their own admission, groups of insurrectionists had caches of guns stashed nearby. Unless what was broadcast for all the world to see was some kind of hours-long deep-fake movie, and unless the militia-member witnesses are all lying under oath, the above recap of a live broadcast is factual.
I don't think the Dems are overreacting and I don't believe the trials are for show. Deluded or not, those who invaded the Capitol should be jailed.
Are the Dems using 1/6 for all it's worth? Yep. Because we almost lost our democracy. Are they making political hay with it? Absolutely. TFG and his followers handed them a gift; they'd be politically remiss for not taking advantage. I mean, I don't revere the Dems, by any means, but here, they're using the ammunition they have. If anything, they've tread lightly thus far: TFG and his top minions have yet to be assigned their orange jumpsuits.
One thing that puzzles me in your post, Bill, is that you noted that Congress impeached the former President, but otherwise refused to act. What else could they have done? I'm asking in all seriousness, because I don't know of any other recourse, especially after the Senate refused to convict.
Note: given the tone of the comments thus far, I'm well aware that what I've said here won't go over well. And that's OK, obviously, as we all have rights to our own opinions.
Establishment Republicans like McConnell have a real soft spot for law enforcement. In the event of a conflict, law enforcement is always right and the citizenry is always wrong. As for the Democrat politicians, their Jan 6 show hearings were just plain disgusting. Ditto for the MSM that took them seriously. They would have had a real home in the old Soviet Union.
the democrat/beria court held in the house cherry picked.
it was no insurrection and it was non violent, the shot fired was by a supervisory capitol
most of the charges are e post facto and unknown to any of the victims of democrat party witch hunt.
the democrats' over taken by election jan 6th kangaroo court is an assault on justice!
biden's our democracy is maoist tyrrany!
Here are my Observations and Thoughts on and about January 6, written and distributed on January 12, 2021:
PRELUDE. As a retired US Army Master Sergeant, the only thing that i have seen recently that filled me with the same sense of horror and nausea ~ and degree of disgust and foreboding ~ as the Trumpatistas' invasion of the Capitol was the sight back in August, 2017, of legions of young American white nationalists and supremacists carrying torches, signs, and flags, and chanting their chants on the grounds of the academy that Jefferson built in Charlottesville, Virginia. Having said that…
OBSERVATIONS. Whatever that was up on Capitol Hill on January 6, it was not a "coup," an "insurgency," or an "insurrection," no matter what the politicians, pundits, and other propagandists in SwampLand, the media, Tinseltown, or academia may try to tell and sell us.
It was trespassing, assault on government employees, breaking and entering, the invasion and destruction of public and private property, the disruption of public business, and the wasting of public officials' and government employees' time, effort, and energy, and of taxpayers' money.
Coups, insurgencies, and insurrections aren't attempted by people carrying nothing but flags, signs, selfie-sticks, and smartfones, with hotel checkouts the next day at 11 am. That was not an attempt to overthrow the government of the United States [which, to actually happen in the real world, would have to start at the Pentagon, the CIA, and/or the Federal Reserve].
At this point, the whole "Save America March" ~ at least for the thousands who showed up to hear Trump's speech and didn't go on to Capitol Hill ~ was, rather, an attempt by a bunch of disgruntled American taxpayer/citizens to have some sort of impact on what they see happening to their country and to their and their children's future.
It was a chance for those "Disgruntleds Deplorables" to let somebody ~ anybody ~ know how they feel about the next President and how he got there; much as there were massive anti-Trump marches the day after his inauguration back in 2017, and condemnations of the whole Electoral College system.
[Note: It was interesting to note how everybody's attitude about the Electoral College suddenly changed when asked how they would feel if the results were exactly reversed: If Trump had won the popular vote, and Clinton the Electoral. Ahhh; isn’t hypocrisy such a totally American thing?]
Of the however many that then went to the Capitol, there were but a few hundred who actually attempted and made it into the building, and, of them, but a handful who actually made it into the Chamber or Congressional offices. And from the looks of many of those who got inside, they weren't exactly sure of what they were doing other than wondering how they got there, and what they were supposed to be doing next, other than making sure they captured it on their phone.
One thing that the Black Lives Matter activities and actions last summer have in common with the Save America March is that both started as, and consisted of peaceful, lawful protest by the overwhelming majority of the participants, on the one hand, and ended in violent, lawless rioting by a distinct, clearly identifiable minority, on the other.
Those several thousands of Trumpatistas who gathered to hear Trump's invocation were as peaceful and law-abiding as the BLM protesters who took non-violently to the streets in 2020. The question is, were they, as a neighbor of mine put it, “a group of racist, white supremacists, neo-nazi, far-right extremists out to let the world know that to ‘Make America Great Again’ and to keep America great, is to rid America of Black and Brown people, and Jews for that matter.”
One can only ask: ALL of those several thousands are All of those things? And is that what they want to make the world know that MAGA and KAG mean? ALL of them?
My guess is that that would depend upon where You took Your sampling: at Trump's speech; enroute to the Capitol; at the Capitol; and getting inside. The further from Trump's altar, the concentration of "racist…extremists" no doubt increased even as the total numbers ascending up to the other end of Pennsylvania steadily diminished.
No meaningful arguments can be had about the mindsets and worldviews of those who stormed The Hill. But it is incorrect to automatically ascribe those "racist…extremist" politics to those thousands who stood listening to and cheering, chanting, and applauding Trump’s "Why We Are Here; What We Are Going To Do; How We Are Going To Do It; and When" speech.
In any event, the biggest difference between the BLM and SAM events is that the violence on January 6 did not include the widespread damage, destruction, arson, and looting of government and private property that characterized how many BLM protests ended up. All that happened on Capitol Hill in terms of property damage was some smashed windows and bashed in doors, and nothing at all that could be termed "looting." Pelosi's lectern never even made it out of the building; probably would've been tough to check-in for the flite back home, eh?
Another difference is that BLM protests that turned into riots had virtually none of the direct, extended, face-to-face, hand-to-hand combat between law enforcers and SAM rioters; which included many very violent, individual and small-group physical contacts. This summer's riots had lots of rocks and stun guns, tear gas and fireworks, and counter-vailing aerosols; but very few up-close and personal, hand-to-hand combats, if any.
Another similarity between the BLM and SAM riots is that both included verbal and physical assaults by rioters against journalists and news crews, and the destruction of journalists' and news crews' equipment and property. One very notable difference is that, compared to the number of assaults, obstructions, and arrests by police of journalists during BLM protests, there seem to have been no arrests during SAM. At least so far.
And finally, arguably the most important thing that both BLM and SAM have in common is that they both blame the violence and rioting on outsider infiltrators, agents provocateurs, false flaggers, and anybody but themselves. BLMers says the Proud Boys and their anti-Everything Not Them ilk are behind all the chaos; just like the Trumpites are claiming the same for the antifas [or "Pantifas," as one wag put it].
At this point, serious consideration should be given to the possibility that there is perhaps a third element and force at work; one that seeks to use both BLM and Trumpatismo's SAM for its own agenda's purposes. See Question 4, which follows.
The most important Questions to be asked and answered about January 6 are:
1. Who shot and killed that woman, and Why? Whoever it was gave the MAGAites and Trumpatismo their first Martyr.
2. Exactly How did those two Capitol Police Officers die, and Why? However it happened, it gave somebody else their first Martyrs, as well.
3. Where were the Capitol and DC Police ~ let alone Federal national defense and law enforcement agencies ~ while all this was going on? And more importantly, where were they even before it all started? What did they know and when did they know it? Where was our nation's most-extensive-and-expensive-in-the-world vaunted surveillance/secrecy/security/safety panopticon when the Legislative Branch of the government of the United States of America really, really needed it?
4. Who benefited from all this? Ie, Cui Bono?, as they say in the investigative business. Who is better off today than they were before the "Save America March," in whatever currency of the realm of note? Which politicians, bureaucrats, special interests, and their owners and operators can and will cash in on it to advance their own individual, organizational, and institutional agendas? Biden and his cohorts certainly are and most certainly will; as will and are Trump and his compeers.
5. Will the "Save America March" becomes a so-called COVID-19 "Super Spreader" event? And how many Americans ~ in their deepest Heart-of-Hearts ~ actually, really hope that that is exactly what happens; that a whole bunch of those thousands of folks that showed up to hear Trump rant and then marched on the Capitol get sick and, before they die, pass it on to anybody who thinks like they do. That may be a number with a magnitude and intensity that nobody wants to know; or at least wants for the rest of the world to know... .
It's interesting that Trump's quoted at CPAC that .."I am the Justice;.... I am the retribution", for those who were betrayed and wronged!!!??? How pathetic. He wronged and betrayed his foot soldiers, destroying their lives. What about those injured and killed by the vax that he "fathered". How can Christians be so blindfolded and hypocritical? Allowing themselves to be hypnotically controlled and influenced by this traitor puppet?