by John Walters
I scribbled some words over the weekend (Saturday Morning Musings) that you can access via the hyperlink if you’re interested and haven’t yet read.
Lock Him Up. Now.
I don’t know what anyone still needs to see. The man staged a rally right beneath the Washington Monument early Wednesday afternoon, flashed the white power symbol (above), told his brain-dead army that they cannot take this country back with “weakness”, told him he’d go down with them (of course he didn’t), and within a few hours five people were dead.
Benghazi: four dead Americans.
U.S. Capitol Riot: five dead Americans.
Didn’t they cry “Lock her up!” over Benghazi even though Hillary Clinton was not even to blame? So where are the chants of “Lock him up?”
Donald Trump has 10 more days of (legitimate) power. He should be denied every one of them. Not only as punishment but out of precaution. Is there anything in his past that does not inform you that he will try every last trick possible to remain in power? This could become very, very dangerous. And deadly, for many.
Congress and Mike Pence—particularly Mike Pence—still have a chance to thwart him. They should not squander that chance.
By the way, how must Mike Pence be feeling now? He stands by Donald Trump for four years, lets himself be appointed coronavirus czar (so he can shoulder all of the blame), then with less than two weeks to go, tells the president he can’t overturn the election for him, and Trump basically tells his followers to go lynch him. And they wanted to!
Feeling a little betrayed, Mike? Welcome to America. By the many of us have known for a long time that anyone who swears fealty to Trump eventually gets tossed under the bus. We’d have thought you’d seen that move enough times not to be surprised by it.
Love this line from David Remnick in The New Yorker:
The millions of Americans who understood this Presidency from its first day as a national emergency, a threat to domestic and global security, can be excused for finding it curious that so many are now taking the exit ramp for the road to Damascus three years and fifty weeks later.
Arnold 1, Kevin Sorbo 0
Pay attention, please:
Heroes And Villains
Wednesday, January 6, was the day that launched 100 books, one future Peabody Award-winning PBS Frontline doc, an Adam McKay or Paul Greengrass film, a Mark Wahlberg heroic role (but on which side?), and for sure an FBI and Congressional investigative committee.
It’s simply too soon to begin to pretend we have any of the answers as to who was responsible, how sophisticated and far-reaching was this plot, who on the inside helped plan or facilitate or coordinate it, and what if anything will be done to bring them to justice. What I do know is this: As a news story, this is already bigger than Watergate. Way bigger.
Unlike 9/11 or anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes, this was an attack on America by… Americans. Americans who are so deranged that they believed that the most patriotic thing that they could do was storm the U.S. Capitol and jackboot their guy back into the presidency.
I wrote it on Saturday and I’ll repeat it again: Democracy cannot survive in a land of White Supremacy and White Supremacy cannot survive in a land of Democracy. Right now, for the first time in my life, I’m legitimately not sure how this is going to turn out.
Yes, there were plenty of villains (that we already know of): Trump and his family, Rudy, Matt Gaetz, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Jim Jordan, etc. There were also heroes, and it shouldn’t surprise that one of the cops who will be remembered as heroes for his actions inside the Capitol building is black.
That’s Officer Eugene Goodman (above, and up above), who lured the rioters away from the Senate chamber by baiting them into chasing him. Smart, and brave, cop.
Scenes From A Desecration
Notice how no video has yet emerged of Officer Brian Sicknick’s murder? He was struck in the head with a fire extinguisher. Was he inside the Capitol edifice itself? Outside? Don’t they have plenty of cameras inside the U.S. Capitol? Weren’t plenty of rioters filming everything?
So, assuming that his murder is on film, who knows about it, who has it, and who is keeping it private? And why? Let’s assume someone official has access to that footage? Are they keeping it hidden so that they could track down the murderer without him being aware of it (which is odd, because wouldn’t they crowd-source it normally)? Are they keeping it hidden out of respect to his family? Are they keeping it hidden because it would be a death-knell of sorts to Trump’s last gasp to his illegitimate claim for power? Are they keeping it hidden to keep peace (how’s that working out)?
I really don’t know. But it is unusual. In the meantime I suggest you watch this short video from Don Winslow…
and read this excellent and mostly humorous and caustic essay via Caitlin Flanagan….
…and listen to this:
Steel Curtains
The game’s opening shotgun snap to Ben Roethlisberger sailed over his head (he’s like, 6’5″) and was recovered by Cleveland in the end zone. It was 28-0, Browns, at the end of the first quarter.
Cleveland, which last won a playoff game in 1995, beat Pittsburgh, which has won two Super Bowls since then. The final score, 48-37. Due to COVID, the Browns hadn’t practiced all week and their head coach, Kevin Stefanski, was at home (presumably in his basement because that makes a better visual).
Is it the end of the line for Big Ben, star-crossed legend-cum-sexual assaulter? It sure looked that way, watching him seated alone on the bench afterward.
Oh, The Places You Won’t Go!
Usually about now, The New York Times publishes a FOMO/YOLO special for adventure travelers called “52 Places To Go In (Year)”. But it’s still coronavirus time, so this year’s piece is simply called “52 Places To Love” (as opposed to “Make Love”… which reminds us of an old Newlywed Game anecdote that is apocryphal but still very funny, but this is a family blog so we won’t repeat it here).
You can hit the hyperlink and see some of their picks.