Nooses and Zip Ties

Like one million others I follow the Auschwitz Memorial Museum on Twitter. Every day the museum posts pictures of individual Jewish and Sinti babies, children, and adults as well as Polish and Russian soldiers captured and imprisoned by the Nazis.  The tweets include their dates of birth alongside the dates they were transported to death camps as well as information as to whether they survived; few survived. I feel an obligation to read those postings in their entirety even when rushing to find another topical piece of news, the least I can do to honor each and every one of their memories. I know all about Godwin’s Law of Analogies, that comparisons to Hitler and the rise of the Third Reich are inevitable and happen far too often, however if ever a time and event fit the criteria for a Nazi analogy, it’s now.  Remember Hitler who didn’t turn 40 until 1934 was imprisoned in the 1920s during his earliest foray into hate mongering before rising to power again in the 1930s and we know how that turned out.  We should be gratified that Trump is much older making it less likely, though not impossible, that he has enough time left to succeed in as evil a comeback but then again things happen faster these days so it would be foolish to count him out especially since the dark web is full of talk about another assault on Washington to take place during Joe Biden’s inauguration and a number of state capitals experienced similar but smaller sieges this weekend. 

I bring this up because while it’s all too easy, or at least easy for Trump’s Republican, justifiers and abettors, in and outside of Congress, and some others who just want to move on to a quick reconciliation to try to sweep last week’s Washington horror under the rug as the actions of just a crowd of delusional over the top frat boys, that would be a mistake of mammoth and dire proportions.  Far too many of those Sigma Beta whatevers were and remain serious and active.  They are trained and have military and or law enforcement backgrounds. One video clip circulating this morning shows a very disciplined group of them dressed in paramilitary attire purposely marching up the Capitol stairs, professionally “linked” together, hands on each other’s shoulders, an assault technique learned in formal training not as preparation for pledge week, bringing to mind that  Blackwater soldiers for hire founder Erik Prince is one of Trump’s dedicated supporters.  They’re shown carrying guns and other weapons in addition to plastic “zip” cuffs.  They were on a mission and while others may merely have been there for “fun” and to show fealty to their orange god, those guys clearly had more nefarious objectives. Evidence is mounting that Wednesday’s events were long planned and that the more professional agitators/thugs were seeking out VP Pence to punish him for refusing to go along with Trump’s plan to toss the official Electoral College results.  They were also looking for Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Jim Clyburn with at least one of the thugs posting that he wanted to shoot the Speaker in the head. It’s no coincidence that just days after a Black minister from Martin Luther King’s church and a Jewish documentarian, the first Jewish Senator from the south since Reconstruction, won Georgia Senate seats a noose was hung while an all too ominous looking cross was positioned not far from the site of the siege. 

As to those abettors, among them are arch conservative right winger Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas who sent her love to the insurgents during the assault.  Also included is an arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association; they sent out robocalls encouraging people to march to the Capitol building to “stop the steal,” the call to arms used to justify overturning the election results and turning our Democracy into a dictatorship.  As I write this morning, calls for another impeachment, even one that fails to make it through the Senate before Inauguration day are mounting.  In addition, for what it worth, CNN reports that VP Pence is actually giving more consideration to a 25^th Amendment solution, apparently it’s finally sunk into his fly infested brain that Trump had no problem with him being targeted, or even strung up if the end result was a delay in the confirmation of Biden’s victory. Notably, Pence, who has confirmed his plans to attend Biden’s inauguration hasn’t spoken with Trump since Wednesday. Nor is the White House flag being flown at half-mast to honor the Capitol police officer who was killed, that’s in stark contrast to the flag over the Capitol which has been lowered.   

I’ll be back tomorrow morning with my usual weekly blog, discussing things like tonight’s 60 Minutes Pelosi interview, the banning of Trump from social media and the alt right twitter wannabee Parler’s loss of its hosting platform.  I just had to get some of this out of my head today before it exploded.

Ten Days

Stay safe.