insurrection

The War on Democracy

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

If you think that the Capitol Building on 1/6/2021 was half full of citizens trying to overthrow the government, you point to one phrase in particular as you argue that Trump incited those present to march down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol.

“We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” he said.

If you think that the Capitol Building was half empty of citizens not trying to overthrow the government, you point to a different passage, in which Trump said, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”

So, what is the simplest definition of insurrection?  It’s a violent uprising against an authority or government.

Was the 1/6 in the Capitol Building event violent, then?  Or, was it mostly peaceful and patriotic?  That it was dumb is not in question.

It comes down to how you see it, doesn’t it?

Think back to all of the riots in the streets the world over when George Floyd’s arresting police officer was accused of and convicted of killing him.  Many in the media labeled the looting, burning, and killings in the streets as mostly peaceful and necessary.  The local governments even told us that masks and social distancing could be and would be suspended so that America could have its say.

To shop owners and business owners, it didn’t seem peaceful.  To policemen and citizens killed in them, it didn’t seem too patriotic.  To all of them, it seemed more like a violent uprising against authority.

 

And, now one impeachment trial later, after President Trump left office, we sit 18 months removed from 1/6/21.  How far forward have we moved?

Well, according to some the war on our very democracy is very alive, not well, and on the ballot in the fast-approaching midterms this November.

An issue isn’t an issue until it’s an issue we presume.

Isn’t the very right to vote, count votes, protest illegal ballot harvesting, support voter ID laws, and demand a recount when our elections laws deem it reasonable at the very heart of democracy?

Did, as Trump claimed after he offered, Nancy Pelosi ignore his offer to station the National Guard around the Capitol Building?  If so, did she aid in a violent (or mostly peaceful) uprising?

Did the FBI infiltrate the MAGA men and women to further the chaos?  They redact every memo ever written under the guise of the nation’s security, so we may never know.

Did city officials from Portland to Oakland to Minnesota, to DC ensure that police stood down as the city burned down?  You know they did.  They told you so.

So, where does this leave us in this “war on our democracy?”

It leaves us at the ballot box to determine the winners and losers in this war.

Isn’t that where it all started?

It’s the same place in 2000 where Al Gore took time off from inventing the internet to insist that we count hanging chads, where Hillary had trouble accepting defeat in 2016, where Stacey Abrams did the same in 2018, and where Trump threw a temper tantrum in 2020.

It is where it all started, and it’s about to start all over again.

Now if we could just get the media slants and big techs to stay away.

Let’s hope this war on democracy, or just plain old democracy never ends.

 

 

No Gas, No Meat, No Problem.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Surely you’ve heard of the expression “never two without three?”

First, it was the Colonial Pipeline Company that was struck May 11th by a ransomware attack.  This is where a bad actor puts malicious software, or “malware,” onto their network, that encrypts drives and software to the point that they couldn’t run the business.  For the better part of a week the east coast either had or created a gas shortage by hoarding the commodity.  And, it was just when you were getting ready to drive to your favorite Memorial Day BBQ.

Then yesterday, a day after you grilled out, the world’s largest meat processing company was targeted by a sophisticated cyber-attack.  Computer networks at JBS were hacked, temporarily shutting down some operations in Australia, Canada, and the US, with thousands of workers affected. The attack could lead to shortages of meat or raise prices for consumers.

Russian hackers are believed to be behind both attacks.  Did the cold war turn virtual a half-century later?   Are these two cyberattacks just warm-up bands?

It’s never two without three. So, what’s next?

“White supremacy,” Joe Biden said yesterday.   Wait, what?

“According to the intelligence community, terrorism from white supremacy is the most lethal threat to the homeland today,” Biden said. “Not ISIS. Not Al Qaeda.  White supremacists.”

This is actually comforting to know though.  Prelection and continuing into his first 150 days we were told that climate change was the greatest existential threat to our country and planet.  Some running against Joe actually told us it was too late to save us from us already.

No oxygen, no land to stand on, no petroleum, no meat, no worries.  White people-worry.

And, then there is, or was this little pandemic problem.

Never mind!

Biden revisited the massacre yesterday of the black community in Tulsa 100 years ago.  And, there is certainly nothing wrong with doing that.  Then he attempted to show the long history of white supremacists in the country comparing it to the clash between the protesters in Charlottesville.

“What happened in Greenwood was an act of hate and domestic terrorism, with a through-line that exists (existential maybe?) today,” he said. “Just close your eyes and remember what you saw in Charlottesville four years ago on television.”

You should remember and will repeatedly be reminded about what happened in the prior four years that culminated in an insurrection (if you think it rose to that level).  There were dog whistles everywhere hinting at it we were told and told.

When Joe asks you to close your eyes at least he is being overt about his path.

After all, it’s but one step from pulling the wool over them.