January 6, 2021
Today is the 1st anniversary of Jan. 6, 2021. I won’t let it go unremembered. It is a day I hope will never be repeated. Today is 4 years since the unprecedented unforgettable event. It is part of American history.
Joyce Vance gave her opinion in her January 5th Civil Discourse, here. Her informed commentary is always worth your time. This morning she published a supplementary post on the same topic, here.
Here’s my blog from four years ago, January 6, 2021. (Prior and after, I blogged on Jan. 5 and next on Jan. 12, 2021. Neither related directly to Jan. 6.)
I printed and pdf’ed the “screen shots” taken by myself of about an hour of the riot at the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6, 2021. Jan 6 2021; Jan 6 2021 (2). (There are two sets of photos, in sequential order.) These are unedited and are just what was on the screen when I took the photo. There are 32 in all, you can scroll through quickly. None are Pulitzer quality, I can assure you. I watched the chaos most of the afternoon that awful day. At the beginning, I didn’t have the camera at hand; I stopped taking pictures after about an hour. Never, did I anticipate what I witnessed live on TV that afternoon.
I follow politics – anyone who knows me knows this. On the other hand, I don’t spend an afternoon watching political paint dry.
January 6, 2021 – it was a Wednesday – would not normally occupy my time any year. The formalization of the vote is usually a routine event in the national political calendar. Not so in 2021.
2025 continues to happen today. “Politics” is every single citizen; it is all of us, not “them”. We are all part of the problem…or solution.
As I will continue to say, I am one of the 75 million who voted Democrat on Nov. 5, and I’m proud to be so.
I have no idea how all will be today and this year. We will soon see. Odds are today will be more like the good old days, than that first Wednesday in January was in 2021. About the only controversial thing at the moment is that the nations flags are flying at half-staff, recognizing the death of President Carter a week or so ago. Odds are that the inauguration on January 20 will be relatively normal.
We’ll see how/if the new President follows through on his promise to be a dictator only on day one, which I presume is sometime shortly after January 20.
We are all well advised to stay aware, active and very attentive to actions in coming days, months, and years to follow. Our democracy, as we have come to know it over our entire history, is in trouble. And we’ll pay the price if we lose it.
Take the time to read the latest commentary by Heather Cox Richardson, which was in my inbox overnight. How do you fit in to the picture.
Stay on the court, peacefully.
It is 5:10 a.m. Monday, Jan. 6, 2025.
POSTSCRIPT: It’s irrelevant, I suppose, but the incident with the Tesla – the perpetrator – did not pass unnoticed by me, nor the tragedy in New Orleans, since the perpetrators were or had been soldiers, at least one recently on leave from Ft. Carson, Colorado. Ft. Carson is where I did my two years of service in 1962-63, and I know it well, as I know GIs, as I know Colorado. Very b:riefly: I volunteered for the Draft immediately after graduating from college. I had zero interest in becoming an officer. So I spent my ‘career’ as a Company Clerk in an Infantry Company – probably similar to the New Orleans murderer. In short, I lived in and was very aware of the community that is military (and it is a community). I’m proud to have been in the service; and I respect those who have and are serving, and understand that their society is imperfect, as is our own.
POSTNOTE: I watched the totality of the formal recording of the electoral votes at a joint session of House and Senate. In all, about 35 minutes. Kamala Harris presided as President of the Senate.

Jan. 6, 2025
COMMENTS (more at end)
from Sandy: Excellent points once again Dick! This is certainly a scary time with Trump being re-elected. It is unbelievable. Let’s hope he cannot destroy our fragile democracy