General Russel Honore needs to be put in charge of everything.  I swear to goodness that if we put him in charge of vaccines, we’d all have a shot by next Thursday.

Here’s a shot from last night where he uses words like “super stupid” and “complicity.”

On MSNBC last night, he said the FBI and the Pentagon were complicit in this. That takes a ton and half of guts.

By the way, different topic – they pooped and urinated on the floor of the capitol. Thanks for the DNA, you jumbo jerks.

Written by Elizabeth Moon.

4,012 Americans died of COVID-19 on Thursday, January 7.  Or, more accurately, 4,012 deaths from COVID were *reported* and showed up on this morning’s national COVID-death. Probably more were reported but too late to make the cut.  Our national death-from-COVID total is now over 365,000.

On Wednesday, when Tuesday’s count had brought the deaths up to around 361,000, with a daily increase of 3,964, and a violent mob broke into the Capitol, disrupted the reading of the Electoral College votes, trashed Congress members’ offices, urinating on the carpets of many, stole uncounted items (a podium from the Capitol showed up on e-Bay), murdered a Capitol Police officer, injured others…at least 50 Republicans in Congress, after being moved to a safer place to finish that reading, refused to wear masks.  Still. 

They showed the same stubborn unconcern for the welfare of their colleagues as the mob showed for the welfare of Congressmembers and staff.  They continued with their obdurate resistance to the results of the general election, insisting on slowing down the process–even in the midst of an emergency–to voice their asinine objections to what has heretofore been a routine part of an election cycle.  Hours and hours of talking angrily (emotion spreads more virus farther.) Maskless and spreading a dangerous virus, if they happened to be contaminated (which they have been before.)

A mandatory COVID test should be given to every person who refused to mask, every day for the next 14 days, whether they’ve received the vaccine or not.  Every one who tests positive should be immediately placed in mandatory quarantine under the observation of police.  

Yeah, I know that won’t happen.  It should, though. Moving on, selfie videos put on social media by the insurgents include a gal from Carolina who wants someone to shoot Joe Biden “between the eyes”, and it’s clear in the video she’s all for it and eager to watch.  Others who want to “find Mike Pence and hang him.”  (Personally, I’d like to find Mike Pence, lock him up in the same prison as Trump, and throw away the key, but since I’m committed to defending the Constitution, that option is a no-go. Funny thing about oaths of office: some of us take them seriously.)

We now know that Trump’s Pentagon purge and insertion of his agents resulted in the National Guard being barred from interrupting Wednesday’s attack on the Capitol.  Maryland was willing to have their National Guard help…but they were refused.  Capitol Police’s reasons still not clear, but obviously they were not briefed on the clear and known dangers and left out in the wind. How much of that was internal (Trump agents within the department) and how much from Congress itself (idiots like Hawley and Cruz) or from Trump down the chain of command, we don’t yet know, and must learn, down to every single name in every single chain of command.

Since Pence is unwilling to initiate Article 25, and Trump’s cabinet is fleeing away to cover their own butts and plot their return to power, while coordinating more skullduggery from a distance, I strongly urge including Pence in impeachment processes…if he cannot see, or doesn’t care, that Trump is now a clear and present danger to everyone’s security, worldwide, he’s either stupid or complicit.  In either case he could do damage in the remaining days.

And in the meantime, a secure, private, but very well documented Inauguration is more appropriate than one on the Capitol steps with known assassins running around loose and security demonstrably as full of holes as the screen on the window beside me.

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Paxton tweeted this today —-

My question:  can we include him in that 25th Amendment deal?

Rudy Giuliani meant to call Sen. Tommy Tuberville last night to ask him to object to 10 states’ electoral votes in order to buy the Trump campaign more time and “slow it down.”

But, he called the wrong senator and left a voicemail on his phone.

It’s as charming as a bucket of hog slop so the anonymous senator who got the call decided to share it.

I will give you both the audio and the transcript because that’s just the kind of gal I am.

Transcript:

Senator Tuberville? Or I should say Coach Tuberville. This is Rudy Giuliani, the president’s lawyer. I’m calling you because I want to discuss with you how they’re trying to rush this hearing and how we need you, our Republican friends, to try to just slow it down so we can get these legislatures to get more information to you. And I know they’re reconvening at 8 tonight, but it …  the only strategy we can follow is to object to numerous states and raise issues so that we get ourselves into tomorrow—ideally until the end of tomorrow.

I know McConnell is doing everything he can to rush it, which is kind of a kick in the head because it’s one thing to oppose us, it’s another thing not to give us a fair opportunity to contest it. And he wants to try to get it down to only three states that we contest. But there are 10 states that we contest, not three. So if you could object to every state and, along with a congressman, get a hearing for every state, I know we would delay you a lot, but it would give us the opportunity to get the legislators who are very, very close to pulling their vote, particularly after what McConnell did today. It angered them, because they have written letters asking that you guys adjourn and send them back the questionable ones and they’ll fix them up.

So, this phone number, I’m available on all night, and it would be an honor to talk to you. Thank you.

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Written by Elizabeth Moon

Yesterday’s attack on the U.S. Capitol building is not the first time in recent years that an armed mob intent on overturning a legitimate government has been successful.  Local police and other forces responsible for the security of state houses have “stood down” in the face of these mobs in multiple states this year, while quite willing to target gatherings that are not aimed at overturning a governor or legislature. Despite the FBI’s repeated statements that white, right wing groups were acting just like foreign terrorists, right-wing politicians have continued to back police attacking “antifa thugs,” and “lawless Blacks/Mexicans/immigrants” for any damage done.

Many people have pointed out that the roots of police violence in this country go back to the slave patrols of the 18th and 19th century…but police brutality and police attachment to “control” over justice has existed widely across history and geography.  Police work attracts those who want to control others.  Thus having good law enforcement means selecting and training law officers in ways that develop their commitment to citizens’ welfare and their duty to “protect and serve” rather than “dominate and harm” citizens.  We cannot expect police to be more selfless and idealistic than everyone else, but we can’t let them be more dangerous, worse, than the criminals we want protection from.

When police welcome one mob, but are prepared to fire on another, and when legitimate government activities are disrupted because the security of governors and legislators and courtrooms is breached through the inaction or cooperation with a mob, it’s imperative that investigation get to the bottom of whose laws and whose orders the police have committed to.  The only way to have a democratic republic, a healthy one, is to have police that know and will obey all the laws all the time, and follow the lawful orders to protect elected officials from violence.  

We have in the past few years seen Capitol Police yanking disabled people out of their wheelchairs, which is of course easier than confronting a large guy carrying a big stick. Images taken of the Capitol steps during a Black Lives Matter march show fully kitted out police, heavily armed, arrayed on the steps, defending the Capitol.  Images taken yesterday show a thin group of Capitol Police, not in riot gear, opening the gates to let a violent and armed mob into the Capitol, where they easily penetrated the Senate and House chambers.

 Thousands were arrested at the Black Lives Matter march; only 56 were arrested for the Capitol invasion.  In some states invasion of offices and legislative chambers has not been opposed at all by the law enforcement supposedly taxed with their protection.  Cities and towns attempting to curb police misbehavior have been threatened with violence as well.  This suggests a widespread revolt by law enforcement, along with some citizens–and the FBI has previous said our various police departments have been infiltrated by right wing groups.

So what do we do?  We defend–with our tax dollars, with our contributions to political campaigns–democratic principles across the board.  The rule of law, not persons, is fundamental to a democratic society, so we start with that, in regards to biased and unjust policing.  

We insist on training, in all LEO courses in colleges and individual PDs, that adheres to the these principles.  We insist on local communities hiring only individuals qualified by such training, and demonstrating that attitude from the get-go.  We insist that law enforcement exists for the welfare and safety of citizens, not just PDs.   

And by “we” I mean white citizens, since it is white citizens who have been running the country for more than two centuries.  It’s the desire of white citizens for privilege and the exclusion of others that’s shoved policing in the wrong direction.  As Jim Wright of Stonekettle Station puts it “If you want a better country, be better citizens.”