Asking us to become numb to mass death

Mark Sumner of Daily Kos discussed a couple articles from the Washington Post and one from the Los Angeles Times to discuss some first-person accounts of police battling the Capitol insurrectionists. The Capitol and DC police felt they were the last barrier between the attackers and mass murder of members of Congress. They saw many of their opponents were other police and former military. They also saw their opponents had planned for weeks and had trained. The DC and Capitol police had problems communicating with each other and saw the attackers communicate very well, able to call for reinforcements in one area or another. Their opponents had their own shields and batons and used them. They were beaten and outnumbered several hundred to one. And it was obvious their opponent’s intent was to assault members of Congress. Some perpetrators are now, through their lawyers, trying to claim it was a peaceful protest. No, it was not peaceful. It was horrific. David Neiwert of Kos says some state capitols, like Lansing, are prepared for the possibly violent mobs expected to show up in all 50 states starting on Sunday. But most capitols are not. There is a tool all states have that should be used. That tool is that private armies and paramilitary activities are banned by state constitutions or laws. Those who show up to protest or attack could be arrested for being in the militia. Alas, these bans are not enforced and haven’t been for a long time. One reason to back away is thinking the state might violate Second Amendment rights, even though in 2008 the Supreme Court decided that the Second Amendment is separate from banning paramilitary organizations. States are also stymied by “constitutional sheriffs” who refuse to enforce laws against militias. Alexander Sammon of The American Prospect noted a difference between the Squad and establishment Democrats. The Squad’s members are quite progressive and the membership doubled in the last election. The members are Marie Newman, Jamaal Bowman, Mondaire Jones, and Cori Bush who joined Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley. As the attack on the Capitol was winding down Bush tweeted:

I believe the Republican members of Congress who have incited this domestic terror attack through their attempts to overturn the election must face consequences. They have broken their sacred Oath of Office. I will be introducing a resolution calling for their expulsion.

Other squad member jumped in to be cosponsors. Just a bit later Omar tweeted:

I am drawing up Articles of Impeachment. Donald J. Trump should be impeached by the House of Representatives & removed from office by the United States Senate. We can’t allow him to remain in office, it’s a matter of preserving our Republic and we need to fulfill our oath.

Again, others declared support. Now contrast that with what establishment Democrats tweeted. First Joaquin Castro:

Senators @TedCruz and @HawleyMO should immediately resign.

Senator Mazie Hirono isn’t any better.

To Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and everyone who’s joined them in their stunt to try and overthrow a free and fair election: it’s past time for you to stand down too.

And from Speaker Pelosi

Sen. Schumer and I are calling on President Trump to demand that all protestors leave the U.S. Capitol and Capitol grounds immediately.

I’m glad the Squad is there for actual action. Joan McCarter of Kos thinks Moscow Mitch will try to slow down the impeachment trial. And he may have a way to do it – the Senate also has to confirm Biden’s cabinet and to pass the $1.9 trillion virus relief he just proposed. McCarter wrote about the possible benefit of delay:

The problem McConnell and those Republicans face is that every day that passes reveals more horrific details of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, and more implications that there was a level of Republican institutional support for it, from members of Congress who might have been complicit to the Republican Attorneys General Association. There's a whole lot of smoke right now obscuring just how deep the plotting for the insurrection went, and when it's cleared it could be exceedingly bad news for Republicans. That's where the delay—allowing for a lot more discovery—could help seal Trump's fate with Republicans.

Kerry Eleveld of Kos reported that after the second impeachment the nasty guy released a five minute video (on the White House Twitter account because his own has been turned off). The sequence of events is important, like he’s trying to polish his image just a bit. Here’s some of what he said:

“I want to be very clear: I unequivocally condemn the violence that we saw last week. Violence and vandalism have absolutely no place in our country. And no place in our movement. Making America great again has always been about defending the rule of law, supporting the men and women of law enforcement, and upholding our nation’s most sacred traditions and values. Mob violence goes against everything I believe in and everything our movement stands for. No true supporter of mine could ever endorse political violence. No true supporter of mine could ever disrespect law enforcement or our great American flag. No true supporter of mine could ever threaten or harass their fellow Americans.

It is amazing to hear him say that. It’s quite a flip from what he’s been saying. He must really feel his future is in jeopardy and that whatever violence has already been planned will be blamed on him, worsening his future. However, there are a few things he didn’t say, as others have pointed out (though I didn’t save the links). The important one: He did not say he lost the election. Ben Franklin tweeted a reminder:

The more extreme they become (like the capitol invasion), the more incentive there is to go for broke since they are digging themselves into more and more trouble if they lose power. … Now tie in a strike on Iran and maybe a little infrastructure failure and we’ve got ourselves a recipe for a full on coup attempt in the twilight days of the trump administration.

Sarah Kendzior tweeted:

Trump is asking Americans to become numb to mass death because that's his default mode. By tomorrow, over 400,000 Americans will be dead of covid. For decades, Trump confessed his apathy toward mass death, interrupted only at times by his glee over mass death. Officials ignored the profound danger of having and leaving him in office. None of this had to happen. It should go without saying, but apparently everything needs to be spelled out these days: Trump and his backers want people to be numb to mass death so that they are also numb to mass murder.

Mark Sumner of Kos reported that the political ads for 2022 have already started. They’re running against the GOP members who helped the insurrection. The post had a photo of a billboard with the words “Josh Hawley is a traitor.” It’s been a while since I had on an opera from the Met’s free streaming service. Today it was Capriccio by Richard Strauss. It was his last opera, premiered in 1942. Strangely for the time, it is set in Paris, though the words are German. It is an opera about opera and wrestles with the question: Which is more important, poetry or music? I personally wouldn’t have bothered with the question. But I write music, not poetry. The question is personified by a countess in love with two men, a poet and a composer. Both are trying to woo her. It is her birthday and in the background is a theater director trying to turn the poet’s latest work into play. The countess comes across a solution: combine the words and the music and create … an opera. About themselves and the events of that day. Some of the discussion seems a bit tedious. But as part of the festivities the director brings in a ballet couple to the drawing room and that was humorous. The ballerina flirted with all the men and annoyed the women in the room and her male partner showed his annoyance as she strayed from the choreography. Then there was the ensemble of butlers commenting as they clean up while the others leave and the countess prepares for dinner. They’re writing an opera? Next thing you know they’ll want to put butlers in it. Then the prompter appears, declaring nothing would happen without him. The last 20 minutes is the countess alone on stage trying to decide whether to marry the poet or the musician, as she sings beautiful music. For an idea of Strauss’ style listen to the tone poem Don Juan or the opera Der Rosenkavalier or his Four Last Songs. For something more challenging there are the operas Elektra and Salome.