Courage Under Fire

 I really meant to read a less stressful book after the last one.  In fact, on a friend’s recommendation, I requested Homer’s Odyssey. Going to the library just to pick up one book is challenging for me. As I walk in, there are displays of books everywhere. I found four more I wanted and one of them was Courage Under Fire by Steven A. Sund.

 

What happened on January 6, 2021, is forever etched in my mind, just as are other traumatic dates. It was my husband’s birthday, and we were enjoying watching TV when suddenly the show was interrupted by coverage of the insurrection at the Capitol building. We watched with growing horror all afternoon and into the evening, wondering WHERE was the National Guard and why didn’t they show up until after the traitors departed? Last August, I read Representative Jamie Raskin’s book Unthinkable and experienced what it was like for the legislators, staff, and family members inside who were protected and safely evacuated by Capitol police.

 

Steven A. Sund was the Capitol Police chief that day. I wanted to read his book because I still had so many questions about what happened that day and wanted the viewpoint of the man in charge.  One of the first things I learned is how complicated security is within the Capitol. I would have thought that Sund would be in control of implementing all the plans and would have the authority to call in all the help he needed. But, no. In order to request the National Guard, he would have to get permission from the two sergeants at arms (one for the House, one for the Senate). And THEY have to go talk to their people (Speaker, Senate Majority Leader).

 

Based on reports Sund was getting from Intel across all the federal police sources, there was only a “remote” chance of violence because all six protest groups were supposed to stay in place. However, when they began advancing on the Capitol and becoming increasingly menacing and violent as they began fighting with the Capitol police guarding the outside perimeters, Sund called the sergeants at arms. The House Sergeant didn’t like “the optics” of having soldiers at the Capitol, but he’d go ask Speaker Pelosi and get back to Sund. The Senate Sergeant suggested that Sund call the Guard and see what they might have available.

 

The protest turned into a full scale coup attempt. No one got back to Sund about calling in the National Guard, and so he began calling other agencies with a police force: Supreme Court, FBI, Secret Service, and nearby police forces from Virginia and Maryland. Even New Jersey sent troopers to help at the Capitol, which was rapidly overrun by the insurrectionists.  Sund was in a near panic, watching his police force being attacked with all kinds of weapons and noxious sprays.

 

At about the time Capitol police within the building began escorting legislators, staff and family members to safety, Sund finally got permission to call in the National Guard. But they didn’t come. There were some units within sight of the Capitol, directing traffic, but they were not permitted to deploy to help the struggling officers.

 

Why? And this was my biggest question: why wasn’t the National Guard deployed earlier?

 

Sund explained how the Army was giving him the runaround about deploying soldiers to the Capitol even though the general Sund spoke to could see how dangerous the insurrectionists had become.  Sund does give a reason why the response was so horribly delayed, and it’ll raise the goosebumps in you as it did to me.  You’ll have to read the book to find out why and other hairy details unknown at the time to us viewers.

 

This is the scariest part: there was a massive intel communication failure before January 6^th. Over two years have gone by and not much has changed. Analysts and other intel agents haven’t been replaced; the procedures haven’t been changed. Steven Sund and the two sergeants at arms were both forced to resign before being fired. They were the sacrificial lambs and the world went on.

 

It could happen again. Without any changes, it will.

 

Before It's Too Late

 I was looking at different sources to see how many people read books. By people, I mean teenagers to adults. I was thinking that perhaps there are too many complacent people in the country, ignoring the spreading fascism because they don’t read enough and don’t believe we could have such a thing in the United States. It turns out that the stats haven’t changed too much and that the average person reads at least one book a year.

To me, that’s shockingly low because I’ve been a bookworm all my life. People lead busy lives as adults, though, and many don’t have much time to sit down and read a book. Perhaps kids and adults would prefer to play video games or check out their social media. Maybe instead of wondering how much people read, I should wonder WHAT they are reading. They sure don't seem to be learning a damn thing about history.

The recent news has me shaking my head.

Florida’s governor Death Santis wants bloggers to register with the state if they’re going to write about him. He also wants reporters to not only register but turn over their material after covering one of his appearances. He wants to know the political views of professors at the college level. Now these are chilling ideas for anyone who has bothered to read what was happening in Germany in the early 1930s. This same governor has further restricted a woman’s right to make choices about her own health.  This same governor has made it harder for minorities to vote. This same governor has terrorized school teachers and districts into removing books from their shelves for fear of being charged with a felony. Does this sound like a book burning without the fire? This same governor had a “don’t say gay” law and an “anti-woke” law passed. That’s not even half of what he’s been up to. He’s a truly scary guy.

But where are the protesters? Why aren’t legislators speaking up about it? Understandably (I guess) half of our legislators side with the repressive fascist but why are there crickets from the other side? Why aren’t they speaking out?

When there was no outcry, fascism began spreading like wildfire. States seemed to be competing to see who could come up with the cruelest and most outrageous violation of a person’s rights. Texas and North Carolina would like to sentence a woman to death for having an abortion. And still … crickets?

Do the citizens and legislators choose not to speak up because they think: oh, that’s just crazy stuff? It’ll never happen here.

Oh yes, it could. Our democracy is still in danger. There are still folks who’d like nothing better than to overturn it and bring on authoritarian theocracies. At that point, it’s too late to say, “Hey, we didn’t want this.”

Today is the anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama. It took place on March 7, 1965. There was a one-day mention of it on Sunday, but I haven’t seen anything about it since. Is its history too ancient? I’ll bet young people didn’t learn about it in their history classes and maybe it wouldn’t even be legal to teach it in half the states today. White supremacists and christian nationalists want to bring us back to the Jim Crow era or worse. Isn’t there some nut down in FL (where else?) who wants to make the Democratic party illegal?

Recently CPAC held its weekend-long convention in Oxon Hill, Maryland. And Michael Knowle said, “transgenderism must be erased.” Erased. If you erase transgenderism, you’re erasing people. If you erase people, isn’t that just a nice way of saying genocide? After all, the Nazis didn’t start by exterminating Jewish people. They started with “undesirables”. And when no one said anything, then they moved on to the increasingly inhumane treatment of the Jewish population.

There is too much rubbernecking going on. Everyone who disagrees with fascism, Nazism, oppression, suppression, racism, bigotry, and misogyny should be doing something. Boycott. Write letters. March. Sit in. United, peaceful protesting.  The time for that is now, not when it’s too late.

This Is The Twilight Zone

 

I have such a case of sensory overload.

President Biden somehow got into Ukraine, an active war zone, met with President Zelenskyy, and spoke on the anniversary of Russia’s unprovoked invasion. His speech made it pretty clear that the United States stands with and will support Ukraine. Putin will not win this time. This is major because Presidents don’t just go into a war zone where they might be injured or killed. The Ukrainians are amazingly resilient and patriotic, and I’m sure President Biden’s visit gave them a big boost. But Repubs are whining and complaining about it. They’re criticizing President Biden and are openly supporting Putin.

There are traitors running the House of Representatives. On the same day President Biden visited Ukraine, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene began advocating a “divorce” between red and blue states. That’s funny that she uses a word like divorce, where couples either happily go their own way or they fight each other forever. What MJT is talking about is not divorce. It’s succession That is treasonous. But this isn’t the first of her traitorous behavior. She’s one of those who were involved with the January 6^th insurrection. Why else would she have asked tRump for a pardon in his last few days of office?

She is sworn to uphold the Constitution. She’s in violation of that oath. No one is doing anything about it except saying “bad” to say that. Kinzinger and Cheney are the only two Repubs that have openly condemned MJT. MJT isn’t the only traitor. There are over 140 treasonous Representatives and Senators.

Why? Hello? Fourteenth Amendment? You know, the part that says a person who is a traitor can’t serve in Congress?

We’re slowly becoming more lawless, at least among the rich, mighty, and powerful.

MJT and many of her colleagues also espouse that they are christian nationalists. I absolutely insist on calling them christian with a small c because they aren’t Christian. Jimmy Carter is a Christian. He follows New Testament Jesus, who was all about welcoming immigrants, sheltering and feeding the needy, protecting children, and all-inclusive. You know, everything the Repubs are not.

These christian nationalists are dangerous. They want to declare the US a Christian nation, which is something the authors of the Constitution NEVER intended. They want to force their morals and beliefs on us and using violence is just fine with them. They are like a snowball rolling down a hill and picking up more along the way, becoming bigger and crushing. They could destroy our democracy.

Lots of people don’t agree with their mad desire to indoctrinate everyone, penchant for violence, and involvement in crazy conspiracies. The problem is that not enough people are bitching about it or trying to do anything to stop it. I write and write about it and I feel like I’m talking to myself.

You know, if Jesus was here today he’d be called either a socialist or a communist. He was all about telling people to set aside their worldly possessions to follow him. The story about feeding hundreds of people with just a few fish? Isn’t that about socialism, sharing everything with everyone?

Try discussing that idea with a christian nationalist. They’d say you were a blaspheming demon. And, yet, repeatedly, Jesus showed us he was with the poor, the sick, the hungry, the disenfranchised and loving everyone. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” “Let the children come unto me.” “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”  Jesus was woke.

New Testament Jesus would not be welcome in Florida, where “woke comes to die.” He would not be welcome in Texas. Texas and Florida have both been involved in taking advantage of and mistreating immigrants by placing them on planes or buses and shipping them, without warning, to blue states. For various reasons, I don’t think he’d be welcome in any red state.

I don’t believe Jesus would approve of what some of these red states are doing to trans/LGBTQ kids and adults. I don’t believe he would approve of them forcing dishonest history on students.

Each day, I find it harder to look at even my unbiased newsletters because of the increasing stories about fascism and intolerance spreading across this country.

This is what Real Jesus was teaching: Loving God is the greatest commandment. Then, love your neighbor as you love yourself. Would you want to be treated the way Blacks, Asians, trans/LGBTQ and immigrants are being treated now in some of these states? Hell, no, you wouldn’t. You would want to be treated with respect, decency, and kindness. That’s what we’re supposed to do. Half the country isn’t doing that.

So, what is the solution? I will keep posting even if I’m just talking to myself. I will vote. I will volunteer to make calls. I will find organizations to join. I’m most interested in Rev. Barber’s.

But everyone needs to be doing these things. Too many of us are just complacent and so fascism continues to spread.

I was listening to songs from the Viet Nam era and this one really hit me today. It’s the same thing, 50+ years later.

Eve Of Destruction 

Casablanca and Defending Democracy

 

Casablanca and Defending Democracy

My This Day in History newsletter provides me with dates that were significant for one reason or another. Yesterday’s featured the debut of the film Casablanca on November 26, 1942. It is a love story but, more importantly, it takes place while World War II was raging around the world. Even though it is an 80-year-old movie, it is my most favorite movie of all time not just because of the romance between Rick and Ilsa but because of the bravery shown by people living in an occupied country.

Casablanca is in Morocco and was occupied by the Nazis. There was a Vichy French presence in the country, but they usually gave in to Nazi rules. Rick ran an international club frequented by Nazis, Vichy, citizens of Casablanca and refugees desperate to escape the country to places of freedom. Rick’s former lover Ilsa and her husband Laszlo are two of those seeking to flee. Rick’s conflict was whether to help them escape. If you have seen this impressive movie, you know the outcome.

Living under a Nazi regime is terrifying and life threatening and, yet there was a time during the movie when people stood up for freedom. This is one of the most moving scenes I have ever seen:

The clear message is yes, we reject Nazism’s oppression and horrors.

I think about how things are and the threat to our own democracy.

Even before tRumpism and January 6, 2021, there have been forces moving on the ultra-conservative right-wing politicians and voters to reject democracy. They prefer fascism, offering discrimination and oppression of people of color, different religions, different gender identities, and, more generally, the middle and lower classes.

We could have lost our democracy on January 6, when tRumper violent militias stormed the Capitol. They dragged along with them tRump supporters that originally meant to just protest but got caught up in the destruction and violence at the Capitol. Thankfully, Capitol police helped legislators, staff, and reporters escape the insurrectionists.

That did not stop the insidious movement of those who would overturn democracy. They populated local governments and school boards with their followers. These people managed to have laws passed restricting the right to vote, our ultimate expression of freedom and choice. TFG appointed his loyal followers to the judiciary, and we began to see fundamental rights overturned and in danger of being overturned.

Despite that, we can save our democracy. Our recent midterm reminds me of that heroic scene from Casablanca. We did not have a huge win, but we prevented the tRumper election deniers from a big win that would allow them control of both legislative houses. It cannot end with the midterm victories though. I am sure the tRumpers and GQP are busily working. n their Plan B, so we have to keep fighting.

Our young people, those of Gen Z, significantly helped us save democracy. All of us must join with Gen Z to continue to protect our freedom.

 

A Whole Lot Of Stuff Going On

 

I thought my phone and text banking days would take a break for a while, but I’ve been signing up because Warnock/Walker inexplicably have to go in a run-off. It seems to me that there should have been no problem getting Sen Warnock re-elected but there’s just no counting on the intelligence of Walker voters. SMDH

I had minimally invasive surgery to fuse my right SI joint.  It’s amazing the pain relief it provides. I didn’t need anything more than a few puffs with my vape postop.  I am so glad I had this surgery even though my energy level has been a little low. It’s all part of the recovery; I’m taking it easy and find I’m napping every day.

I meant to update my blog after Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s speech.  How I admire her so! I think she’s been the most effective Speaker of the House in my lifetime. The first one I can remember is Sam Rayburn when I was still very young (early 60s). Following him the next couple are a blur in my mind. The next one I remember is Tip O’Neill.  Clueless about the next few until Newt Gingrich, who started this whole scorched earth business. Nancy Pelosi was sandwiched between John Boehner and Paul Ryan, who continued the scorched earth business and kiss-assed tRump.

Ah, but Nancy Pelosi!  I took notice of her especially during tRump’s administration. She was tough but spoke softly like Theodore Roosevelt suggested. She had that big stick because she could get the votes together to make Rethuglican passage of restrictive measures very difficult. I loved how she didn’t kowtow to tRump but remained calm, reasonable, and steadfast. There were times when she did make her opinion of tRump known, like “the clap” after his speech and ripping up his printed speech text.

I’ve seen the video taken by her granddaughter on January 6, 2021. The granddaughter happened to be filming a documentary. It shows Pelosi’s presence of mind during the rioting and evacuation that took place. She and Chuck Schumer were calming urging various officials to send help.  What was most touching was the concern she expressed to the Vice President when he told her he was still at the Capitol.

More details and speculation about what happen next from:

The Conversation

Dan Rather

Heather Cox Richardson

Robert Reich

I am really sad to see her stepping down as Speaker, but she will continue to represent her community and California.  She needs to be able to get out of the wicked spotlight that’s been on her, making her a target of tRumpers and the extreme far right.  Enough was enough when her husband Paul was brutally attacked.

Some people in this country just suck.

Speaking of which, in addition to the runoff in GA, we now have to deal with tRump again. Will justice ever prevail here? The man has committed enough crimes to land anyone else in jail for life, but he still walks free.  The Department of Justice has boat loads of evidence to charge him, yet Attorney General Merrick Garland chose a special prosecutor to investigate again, Jack Smith.  Investigate what? The evidence is all there already!

To make matters worse, tRump announced he is running for President again in 2024. I guess he thinks if he’s a candidate, the law can’t touch him.

Two more years of this clown spreading lies and hatred, inciting his followers to more violence. God help us all.