Insanity

Sometime today the Former Occupant is supposed to make an appearance at a conservatives conference in Orlando.  I’m writing and publishing this before the appearance, and while I’ll probably watch whatever pieces are accessible, I won’t have any comments.  We all know what is ahead, there.

A worthwhile read came overnight via Just Above Sunset.  I think you will find it interesting.  “That Odd Golden Statue”.

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Meanwhile, we remain in the aftermath of January 6, and the 77 or so days between the 2020 election and inauguration.

The March, 2021 Smithsonian Magazine arrived this week, and there was an interesting short article: DC Peace Monument Smithsonian Mag (click to enlarge).  It tied the previous attack in 1812, and the Civil War, as analogs to our very recent past.

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Earlier this week, I was watching the Senate hearing about the infamous January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

The estimable Sen. Ron Johnson (WI), entered into the record some blog entry from someone like me.  Johnson suggested that the real problem on Jan. 6 was Agents Provocateurs, people like me, “antifa’s” who came in to stir things up, while the real patriots came in to support the real President whose election had been stolen.  A news report is here.  A visit to Johnson’s website didn’t find the report.

He gave his testimony with a straight face…later were similar declarations in other hearings from other members of Congress on the same topic, all in sound bite length for their favorite news media.  Only losers, not winners like his side, could do such dastardly things.  I suppose the courts will decide in coming months.

Yesterday a friend sent one of those ‘forwards’ we’ve all seen.  This one recycled some very old news in a newly edited way.  It featured a single sentence of a column written by a columnist in 1995, who died in 2013, and rambled on forever.  I’ll leave it at that.

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Insanity.

“Disrupt and confuse” are words that come to mind.  They’re in quotes, because they were in the strategy game plan of a group trying to defeat my group in a representation election 47 years ago.  If we wish to be governed by lies and deception, it is our very unfortunate choice.

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The recent events cause me to think back to the days when I became an activist, which began with a national event whose 20th anniversary is this year:

September 12, 2001

This is in the memory of anyone who happens to read this post.  My feelings are an open book about 9-11.  Occasionally I still share my written opinions from then: Post 9-11-01001; also, 9-11-01 Aftermath001.

There were lots of demonstrations in the days that followed, all peaceful.  I was in many of them.  Most related to the opportunistic wars that followed 9-11.  I could see nothing good coming out of our reaction – bombing somebody else to avenge terrorism didn’t calculate out to ultimate success.

Thence comes Jan. 6, 2020, where home-grown terrorists work their evil on the U.S. seat of government, terrorizing friend and foe alike…and then come forward people like Sen. Johnson, casting blame on people like myself.  He wouldn’t do that if it didn’t work to further incite his fellow partisans.

And the threat continues to be real.  The real President returns on March 4?  Insurgents plan to blow up the Capitol when President Biden next speaks there?   Is this what we have become?

It all seems so insane.  As a society, we’re stuck with this, until enough of us decide to say enough…and mean it.

Terrorism, Jan. 6, 2020.