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| Amanda Gorman recites her inaugural poem, "The Hill We Climb," during the 59th Presidential Inauguration ceremony in Washington, Jan. 20, 2021. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. (DOD Photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Carlos M. Vazquez II) |
"There is a line from Oklahoma City forward to Jan 6; and there is another line from Oklahoma City all the way back to Reconstruction and Ku Klux Klan crimes against the newly freed slaves." - U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland at his Senate Confirmation Hearings in 2/22/21
"But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated. In this truth, in this faith we trust, for while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us. This is the era of just redemption. We feared it at its inception. We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour, but within it, we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves." - Amanda Gorman, "The Hill We Climb," Inauguration Day, 1/20/21
"[Garland] called the attack on the Capitol the most "heinous attack on a democratic process" that he's ever seen and said that he will pursue all leads in the investigation. "We begin with the people on the ground and we work our way up to those who are involved and further involved and we will pursue these leads, wherever they take us," he said. - ABC News, Garland tells senators his first priority will be prosecuting Capitol insurrection, 2/22/21
"So, while once we asked: 'How could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?' Now we assert, 'How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?'" - Amanda Gorman, "The Hill We Climb," Inauguration Day, 1/20/21
I have not posted here since 11/8/20, just a few days after the American people delivered Biden-Harris a decisive victory (both in the popular vote and in the electoral college). Of course, I knew it would be a perilous few months leading up to the inauguration. And, indeed, it was. I have chosen to post here again today. Yes, 101 days after thousands of white supremacists, seditionists, domestic terrorists really, stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overthrow the 2020 election and murder the Speaker of the House, the Vice-President and others. (They set up a gallows and hunted their prey.)
In 2018 and again in 2020, the Resistance coalesced, rose up, endured and triumphed. Yes, the Republic stands, at least for now. Yes, we have a viable chance to hold the present and win the future. Nevertheless, the situation is fluid, and still very dangerous.
The ground is still moving beneath our feet.
Three existential threats hang over us here and now:
Each threatens not only the republic, but civilization itself.
If we are to have any real hope of overcoming these existential threats, we must consolidate power at the federal level, and hold on to it through the 2022 and 2024 elections.
In pursuit of this goal, three vital imperatives overshadow all else:
- Sustain the United Front for Sanity and Decency (yes, Left, Right and Center, from AOC to Chuck Schumer to Stuart Stevens, through 2022 at the very least)
- Bold Progressive Governance (e.g., American Rescue Plan, American Jobs Plan, For the People Act, George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, D.C. Statehood, etc.)
- Dire Consequences for "Enemies Foreign and Domestic" (e.g., all those high and low who instigated, planned, enabled and/or participated in the 1/6/21 attack, and yes, of course, Trump himself for numerous political and financial crimes)
Trump is disgraced. Trump has fallen. He lost the popular vote twice. He was impeached twice. He has been banned from Twitter PERMANENTLY. He is not well. He is being probed criminally and pursued civilly, on numerous legal fronts. And yet ... We must not forget that over 74 million Americans apparently voted to give him another four years, and that Democratic control over the Senate rests solely on the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris. Don't look down. We are making our way along a very narrow ledge. There is no net below us, and nothing to break our fall ...
If the Republican Party somehow survives its current crisis, without the purging of those who have enabled Trumpism, without cleansing itself of its racist and sexist toxicity, without renouncing sociopathy as a philosophy of governance, if it is allowed to re-assembly itself under a slicker, smarter, hate-spewing new "Dear Leader" daddy, fueled by the dark-money of foreign and domestic oligarchs, amplified by Fox News and the rest of the right-wing media machine, and given a leg up by new voter suppression laws, everything could go to hell. Again. And fast.
The Zombie Cult and its Death Eater Overlords cannot be allowed to continue their decades-long battle against the further evolution of the Republic. They are terrified of the vibrant democratic, richly diverse society that is emerging here and now, in this third decade of the 21st Century. And they are terrified of the economic and environmental justice that this vibrant democratic, richly diverse society will demand from a restored and renewed Republic.
I have no doubt that the clear and present danger of domestic terrorism from the likes of the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Boogaloo Bois, etc. is something that U.S. federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies can and will deal with swiftly and efficiently, once empowered and unleashed.
It is the Zombie Cult formerly known as the Republican Party that will prove more problematic. This lawless delusional aberration must not be allowed to regain power. There is no greater danger. It must either be purged or demolished.
Speaking to Lawrence O'Donnell on "The Last Word" in February, Evan McMullen, Executive Director of Stand Up, Republic, former GOP policy director and CIA operations office, laid it all out bluntly "Looking at Donald Trump's presidency, the four years of that presidency, and how it all led to January 6th, and then to see that deadly insurrection happen, that threatened our democracy, and then to watch a majority of House Republicans still vote to overturn the results of the election, and then to watch all of this additional evidence come to light, and to learn that Senate Republicans would still vote overwhelmingly to protect [Trump], even though he led a violent insurrection to overturn an election, just so he could stay in power, all of that just describes of course a party that is sick, that is rotten to the core ..."
None of this should surprise you. Noam Chomsky has been sounding the alarm for YEARS (and I have been quoting him to you for YEARS: "Has there ever been an organisation in human history that is dedicated, with such commitment, to the destruction of organised human life on Earth?" (Maya Oppenheimer, "Noam Chomsky: Republican Party is the most dangerous organisation in human history," Independent, 4/27/17)
The 1/6/21 domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol must NEVER be forgotten. There must be serious consequences for all those high and low who participated or enabled it in any way.
Yesterday, 100 days out from the 1/6 attack, our allies at the Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) tweeted out a minute by minute, hour by hour timeline of the horrific event.
I have cut and pasted the @ProjectLincoln timeline here, with links to their original tweets.
I have also interspersed images representative of the Great Good that ensued in the weeks and months since the attack was thwarted.
9:16AM: Congressman Mo Brooks incites the crowd, demanding that American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.
10:26AM: Donald Trump, Jr. proclaims that the Republican Party is Donald Trump's and this is their time to send a message to members of Congress too weak to stop the steal. #Jan6NeverAgain #TheBigLie
10:43AM: Madison Cawthorn smears his new colleagues in Congress as "cowards" and tells crowd to send them all a message. #Jan6NeverAgain #TheBigLie
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| Kai Kahele (@kaikahele): The certificates of election of all 50 states have departed the House. The 2020 election is over. Our constitution is intact. Democracy prevailed. The Capitol is secure. @JoeBiden will be the 46th President of the United States. Good nite & god bless America. |
https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1383101127802114050
1:15PM: Crowd outside west side of Capitol has become extremely violent with Capitol Police, multiple barricades have been breached. #Jan6NeverAgain #TheBigLie
1:30PM: Trump supporters have been spotted marching down Constitution Ave towards the Capitol building. #Jan6NeverAgain
https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1383111703991320583
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| USA Today (1/20/21): Democrats officially take control of Senate after Harris swears in Ossoff, Warnock and Padilla. Photo Credit: AP |
2:05PM: Kevin Greeson has been declared dead after suffering a heart attack outdoors on Capitol grounds #RelivingJan6 #TheBigLie #Jan6NeverAgain
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| Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP): Earlier today, I swore in our first Cabinet member, Avril Haines, after her confirmation by the Senate last night. As the Director of National Intelligence, Director Haines will be dedicated to keeping the American people safe. |
2:20PM: The joint session has adjourned and reports state lawmakers are attempting to evacuate the Capitol #RelivingJan6 #TheBigLie #Jan6NeverAgain
https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1383124034368512000
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| Tara Copp (@TaraCopp): Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrives at the Pentagon, greeted by @thejointstaff Gen. Mark Milley |
https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1383142404446957570
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| Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, @USAmbUN: I am honored, and beyond humbled, to have been sworn in today by @VP Kamala Harris as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. Diplomacy is back. Multilateralism is back. America is back. Photo Credit: U.S. Mission to the UN |
Jan 6, 5:20PM: The first 115 National Guard troops arrive wearing full riot gear to propel crowds from Capitol grounds #RelivingJan6 #TheBigLie #Jan6NeverAgain
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| Abby Zimet, Common Dreams (3/11/21): On his first day as Attorney General, the honorable, long maltreated Merrick Garland was movingly welcomed by an applauding crowd of jubilant DOJ employees and survivors of the last regime visibly relieved to witness the return of competence and normalcy ... |
https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1383173364555071491
Jan 6, 5:45PM: Capitol Police announce that Ashli Babbitt, the rioter shot inside the Capitol, has died. #RelivingJan6 #TheBigLie #Jan6NeverAgain
https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1383174622795997185
Jan 6, 5:46PM: Capitol Police riot squads push Trump rioters back from the west side of the Capitol building to establish perimeter. #RelivingJan6 #TheBigLie #Jan6NeverAgainhttps://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1383174871434326016
Jan 6, 5:53PM: Rioters are pushed further back as police secure the U.S. Capitol and lawn out front shortly before 6 pm curfew #RelivingJan6 #TheBigLie #Jan6NeverAgain
https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1383176662817374210
Jan 6, 7:02PM: Twitter removes Trump’s tweets and shuts down his account for 12 hours for “repeated and severe violations of [its] Civic Integrity policy.” #RelivingJan6 #TheBigLie #Jan6NeverAgain
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| Vice-President Kamala Harris (@VP): We must create a future that lifts up all communities. @SecDebHaaland has committed her life to ensuring justice, equality, and fairness for all. Today, as she makes history, I am proud to swear her in as our Secretary of Interior. |
https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1383208633559830530
https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1383239422443868161
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| Garrett M. Graff (@vermontgmg): Three Thursdays in America. |
