Racism masquerading as another form of protest

 

      Because racism is perceived as inherently evil, racists have used other forms of validation to coverup their true beliefs.  For many years the "states rights" banner was used to represent the actions of racists. Then 12 years ago when the first African American president was elected racism hid behind the Tea Party banner of a tax revolt and deficit spending.  It was no mystery that the Tea Party went silent when Trump became president and had the largest increase in the national debt in our country's history.  It never was about taxes it was always a platform for racism against Obama.  Over the past couple of months, the new racist banner has morphed into ballot integrity and stolen elections.  As shown in the pictures above taken at the Capitol riot sometimes the racism of the protest comes out into the open.

       The changing color of our population is causing the same backlash as the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.  Violent pushback of the 1960s with killings by racists led by leaders like George Wallace is now upon us again led a racist like Donald Trump. I fear for our political leaders today as they will likely be targets for assassination just like Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy.  We shouldn't be surprised that the Speaker of the House informed House members that purchasing bulletproof vests could be charged to their office expenses.  We are just beginning on a rough ride as a country as right-wing militias mount a war on the democracy in our country.

P.S.

       

     I was saddened to see the fences topped with razor wire go up around the Capitol after the January 6th riot.  I remember spending a warm summer evening in the early 1970s taking the bus down to the Capitol to listen to a concert on the steps of the Capitol with one of the military bands.  Watching the sunset on the Capitol while listening to the bands was some of my earliest memories of being a new resident of DC.

Weekend funnies

 

I am sure that the owner of this cat had to put up this sign after people started knocking on his door about the cat.

                                    

Vaccine distribution in Maryland is one of the dozen worst in the United States

    While the reasons for the poor performance of Maryland in distributing its supply of vaccines may be unclear right now I would suggest that the decentralized system of distribution may be a factor.  If you want to try and get an appointment for the vaccine you now have to go onto a Maryland.gov website and register at a variety of locations administering the shots.  You don't know which one gives you the best chance to get an actual appointment.  Some locations are at the public health department, some at Giant grocery stores or Walmart, and others are at hospitals.  The priority at each location can be determined differently and there is no information on how much vaccine each has or when they will have it.  This uncertainty isn't always the fault of the locations as they don't know from week to week how many vaccines they will have either.  When you have a decentralized distribution system from the federal level down to the local distribution sites you shouldn't expect to have a well-functioning operation.  This decentralized system attempting to deliver a complex vaccine with a short unfrozen shelf life will result in a distribution that may not be equitable or efficient.  The frustration of people seeing this as a life-saving vaccine or just a possible way to resume some normalcy to their lives may cause some political costs to elected officials just as a snowstorm with unplowed streets has defeated mayors in the past.

    As we deal with a troubled distribution system we see a similar decentralized system of social distance restrictions being applied from state to state and county to county often based on the political party in power in each.  Republicans take a more liberal position of keeping businesses open and Democrats take a more restrictive position.  Here in Maryland, as in many other states, we seem anxious to relax restrictions much quicker than reapplying restrictions.  Any dip in the number of cases seems to be enough justification to quickly relax restrictions but the lag in reimposing restrictions seems to take a longer period of increase in cases.  The scientists had been warning of the surge that was coming after the holidays but new restrictions were not imposed during the holidays to limit the surge but only after the holidays when the surge occurred.  I can understand the political calculations of elected officials not wanting to deal with the public wrath at having holiday plans limited but profiles in courage are not made by doing the popular thing but the rational course of action.  What is the cost in deaths that we choose to keep bars and restaurants open?  Maybe we can split hairs and be comfortable with our choice to make them close at 10 pm since we know that the virus only spreads after 10 pm.

 P.S.

     The poor performance of the state in getting people vaccinated is not the case fortunately in Howard County that has distributed 98% of the vaccine they have received.  We should once again be proud of living in a County as well run as Howard County. 

What is the value of a life?--it all depends

 

    What we are seeing played out with the vaccine distribution reminds me of an exercise that I had in a philosophy course that had a section on ethics.  The exercise would be familiar to anyone who has an ethics course.  The excise is designed to have you place a value on the lives of a diverse group of people who find themselves in a boat that is sinking and there is only one lifeboat.  Who do you put in the lifeboat and who do you sacrifice on the sinking boat.  Replace the sinking lifeboat for the COVID virus and the vaccine as the lifeboat and you have the decisions that states and localities are making with the vaccine distribution.  Florida prioritized people 65+ over almost every other group.  Here in Maryland we now see healthy 25-year-old teachers getting the vaccine through their school while senior citizens spend frustrating hours trying to find an appointment online and getting the message that no shots are available that day.  Wealthy people are traveling in their private jets to states where they have a greater chance to get a vaccine shot.  Donors to hospitals are trying to see if they can bribe the hospital for a shot by making a large donation.  We saw a similar situation last year when the National Basketball Association was able to purchase the rapid test strips for COVID when they were very difficult to get for the general public.  We shouldn't be surprised that this exists in our health care system that relies on private health care providers who have to look at their bottom line. Having said all of that we should remember that living in the United States or in any other developed country puts us months ahead of people in the undeveloped world who may be even more at risk of dying from COVID.  Even within the United States we in Howard County are better positioned to get a shot than some of the poorer parts of this country.  We are the wealthy people in many regards that I was referring to earlier even if we don't have a private jet.

P.S.

        Another aspect of our health care system was shown in a sign I saw along the road the other day.  There are companies that buy surplus diabetic test strips from people to resell to people who have to pay for the strips with our health insurance.  People without health insurance are pushed into a black market to buy needed health care products.  I saw this first hand when I started a Type 1 diabetes support group after my daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.  Being fortunate to work for Howard County Government and having excellent health coverage my experience with obtaining all the needed medical supplies that my daughter needed was not the situation other families faced.  I remember a family using this black market to buy their test strips.  When I told about my daughter being the youngest patient in the country to be fitted with an insulin pump that was obtained because our pediatric endocrinologist was working with the developer of the pump model I was asked how much it cost.  When I said my insurance covered the entire cost is was surprising to most everyone in the group.  I felt guilty even talking about our situation after hearing of the struggles of the other families who had harrowing stories of frequent visits to the ER and other medical issues that were stressful in managing a scary childhood disease.  Cost was a factor they had to consider in trying to manage an important medical situation with their child.  Anyone with a social conscience should be troubled with the situation of healthcare in the United States.

     

Recycle your books at the Alpha Ridge Landfill

AIlpha Ridge Landfill - Book Recycling! Just found out that the Alpha Ridge Landfill has a new book recycling system - here is what is posted in the Resident's Convenience Center out this new service -

"As you clear off your shelves to make room for new books, consider giving the old ones a second life! Check out our newest book recycling drop-off at the Residents' Convenience Center! Partnering with Discover Books has allowed us to accept both paperback and hardback books. Once sorted and processed, books are redistributed to support literacy efforts or resold. Any remaining books that are not fit for redistribution are recycled into new products."

#hocoblogs

 

The assault on our democracy is still happening after January 6th

      We saw an unimaginable assault on our democracy on January 6th.  It will go down in American history along with September 11th.  One marks a foreign assault on our democracy and the second was a presidential led internal assault.  We shouldn't forget that the forces that created the January 6th assault have been using undemocratic methods to undermine our democracy for a long time.  Our founding fathers were sensitive to the tyranny of the majority.  We now know that tyranny of a minority is just as dangerous.  Here are the other means of assault by a minority.

      We have seen the electoral college hand the executive branch of our government to the person who came in second in the election.  The winner takes all aspects of the college gives states with small populations an undue influence in presidential elections.  When a Democrat candidate wins California by 4 million votes 3,999,999 votes are meaningless in counting in the electoral college.  We shouldn't forget that with a change of 77,000 votes out of over 150 million votes we would have seen the swearing-in of Trump for a second term because of the electoral college.

     The Senate gives states with small populations undemocratic influence.  Since small population states tend to be Republican and conservative this makes liberal legislation an uphill fight to get passed.  The people of Wyoming, North, and South Dakota have 1/20 the population of California but 3 times the number of votes in the Senate.  Add to the use of the filibuster in the Senate requiring 60 votes for much of the legislation and conservatives in the Senate can defeat legislation supported by strong majorities of the citizens of the United States.

     We now see that the Republicans are planning on limiting the ease of voting after Trump's defeat and the loss of 2 Senate seats in Georgia.  They will make it harder to vote by mail and restrict the number of days to vote.  Republicans know that if voting is restricted to one day they have a better chance to win. Requiring voter ID is also likely to be pushed by Republicans because Democrat voters are less likely to have valid ID's.  Watch for not allowing student IDs but allowing handgun IDs.  Restricting Democrat voters is preferable to try to expand their base to a broader segment of the country because those segments are of a different color than white.  Racism is still a cancer eating at the Republican Party that Trump leads.  Notice how many Confederate flags and Nazi symbols were apparent when the mob attacked the Capitol?

    The final assault on our democracy is the gerrymandering of electoral districts.  While gerrymandering has been done by both Democrats and Republicans it has been used far more by Republicans to limit the votes of minority populations.

    The demographics of our country are creating more Democrat voters that should lead to more victories for Democrats but we should expect that Republicans will use every undemocratic tool to retain power even if it uses autocratic methods.  We just saw it most dramatically on January 6th.

P.S.

Sanders memes are so funny

Images of the Mall the night before the Inauguration

   I have to say that the Democrats pulled off the best virtual convention and now they did it again with the virtual inauguration last week.  More meaningful than past ones.  Trump can keep his rioters.

Visual representation of the toll of the COVID virus

 

    We saw the 400 lighted lanterns around the Reflection Pool each representing 1000 COVID deaths.  There is another example of what 400,000 deaths looks like.

      Arlington Cemetary has 400,000 people buried there.  It has taken 157 years to get to that number and a year to get to that number of COVID deaths.

   

P.S.

     We have been so desensitized to the number of deaths that when we hear that in the next month an additional 100,000 Americans may die we just accept it as just another month in this American pandemic. Where is the outrage that our political institutions have been made so incompetent that we are looked upon by the rest of the world as a failing country?  When 5,000 people were killed on 9/11 we fought wars and spent trillions of dollars to address a foreign threat.  What are we willing to commit to addressing the internal extremist threat that brought the attempt by the president of the United States to violently overturn a valid constitutional event at the US Capitol on December 6th?  Addressing an internal threat will be more difficult than an external threat but the consequences of not addressing the threat may determine if we remain a democratic country in any form.

Welcome to Columbia

    

     I recently came across this introduction to Columbia that was very good.  Now if we could just recreate the Visitor Center.

An image to define two different men and political philosophies

 

       The image above should be representative of the cost of a person and political party that degrades the value of having a functional government to protect its citizens.  On Trump's last full day in office, the 400,000th person died from the virus.  He was not the first person in his party to follow this political path and he will not be the last.  How many American citizens had to die because of Trump and his Republican allies is hard to determine but a comparison with one other country that took a different approach to handle a pandemic is worth looking at.   Taiwan took an aggressive approach to the virus and has had less than 200 of its citizens dying from the virus.  I know that comparing a country like the United States with over 330 million citizens to an island country with a population of 5 million isn't exactly comparable.  Even factoring in the differences between the two countries the reality is that if the United States would have been as successful as Taiwan in handling the virus we would have had around 8,000 deaths rather than 400,000. Attribute many of those additional deaths to the efforts over the past 40 years to degrade any value in establishing a competent necessary government to handle a crisis like the pandemic.

P.S.

The darkness of a period of "American carnage" of one incompetent administration is ending as the dawn of a new administration begins.  Many of us have endured 4 years waiting for this day.  Trump is finally slinking out of town.

Racism still alive at the Capitol riot

     As we start this week celebrating Martin Luther King as the non-violent civil rights hero and leading up to the inauguration we should remember that the racism that he fought against is still very much a cancer in the American fabric.  We may not have police with dogs and water cannons used against demonstrators like we saw in the 1960s but the symbols of racism were still very evident at the Capitol riot of January 6th.  The election of Obama brought the racism out under the cover of the Tea Party which used fiscal responsibility to hide its true racist beliefs.  The racists on the right have coalesced under their support for Trump, our racist president.  To understand today's racist symbols here is a description of each of the ones displayed on January 6th.

Noose and gallows

While a noose on its own is often used as a form of racial intimidation, the gallows were to suggest punishment for committing treason. It is suggesting that representatives and senators who vote to certify the election results, and possibly Vice President Pence, are committing treason and should be tried and hanged.

That treason rhetoric was seen on right-wing message boards in days leading up to the event.

Three Percenters flag

The Three Percenters (also known as III%ers, 3%ers or Threepers) are part of the militia movement in the United States and are anti-government extremists, according to the ADL.

Like others in the militia movement, Three Percenters view themselves as defending the American people against government tyranny.

"Because many adherents to the militia movement strongly support President Trump, in recent years, Three Percenters have not been as active in opposing the federal government, directing their ire at other perceived foes,including leftists/antifa, Muslims and immigrants," according to the ADL.

The group's name comes from an inaccurate claim that only three percent of the people in the colonies armed themselves and fought against the British during the Revolutionary War.

The flag seen above is their logo on the traditional Betsy Ross flag. Pitcavage says right-wing groups (mainstream or extreme), which think of themselves as patriotic, sometimes co-opt America's first flag.

"Release the Kraken" flag

The flag references former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell's comments that she was going to "release the Kraken." Powell falsely said she had evidence that would destroy the idea that Joe Biden won the presidency.

The "Kraken," a mammoth sea creature from Scandinavian folklore, has turned into a meme in circles that believe the election was stolen. The Kraken, they say, is a cache of evidence that there was widespread fraud. On social media, QAnon conspiracy and fringe sites #ReleaseTheKraken has been widely shared along with false theories of fraud.

The Oath Keepers and Three Percenters are two of the main right-wing militia groups in the US that were founded in the wake of Barack Obama’s 2008 election. “While [The Oath Keepers] claims only to be defending the Constitution, the entire organization is based on a set of baseless conspiracy theories about the federal government working to destroy the liberties of Americans,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The OK sign

The far right has co-opted the OK sign as a trolling gesture and, for some, as a symbol of white power. The ADLadded that symbol to its long-standing database of slogans and symbols used by extremists.

"Kekistan" flags

The green, white and black flag was created by some members of the 4chan online community to represent a made-up joke country named for "Kek," a fictional god they also created. It has long been present at right-wing and far-right rallies.

"The Kekistan flag is controversial because its design was partially derived from a Nazi-era flag; this was apparently done on purpose as a joke," Pitcavage explained. "Younger right-wingers coming from the 4chan subculture (both mainstream right and extreme right) often like to display the Kekistan flag at rallies and events."

Gadsden Flag

Flown by many protesters at the United States Capitol on January 6, the Gadsden flag has a design that is simple and graphic: a coiled rattlesnake on a yellow field with the text “Don’t Tread On Me”. But that simple design hides some important complexities, both historically and today, as it appears in rallies demanding US President Donald Trump be allowed to remain in office.

The flag originated well before the American Revolution, and in recent years it has been used by the tea party movement and, at times, members of the militia movement.

Confederate Battle Flag

During the American Civil War (1861–65), the Confederate States of America began to use its first flag, the Stars and Bars, on March 5, 1861. After the First Battle of Bull Run, when similarity between the Stars and Bars and the Union Stars and Stripes made it difficult for troops to distinguish friend from foe, Confederate commanders petitioned for a new flag. In November 1861 the first Confederate Battle Flags were issued. Although variations of the Battle Flag pattern were numerous and widespread, the most common design, known as the “Southern Cross,” featured a blue saltire (diagonal cross), trimmed with white, with 13 white stars—representing the 11 states of the Confederacy plus Missouri and Kentucky—on a field of red.

P.S.

       Martin Luther King "I have a Dream " speech

It could have been worse on January 6th

    As Trump tries to backtrack and say he only wanted peaceful protest on the 6th it is hard to believe his words when many of his supporters came dressed for combat.  

      What type of demonstrators come dressed that way.  His words to a crowd of military-trained protesters who had been trained in combat to kill say something else.  We now know that the deaths of the Speaker of the House and the Vice-President can too close to reality on the 6th.  I wonder how the VP feels for being a partner with someone who could have gotten him killed.  Read about it in this link to an Associated Press report. 

P.S.

This gallows maybe wasn't just planned to be symbolic.

Support Bridges to Housing Stability and enjoy some great pizza

     

      Enjoy great food & support an end to homelessness! Bridges to Housing Stability is partnering with Coal Fire to provide you a safe & hassle-free way to make a difference in your community. Place a take-out order & show our event flyer during pickup, & Coal Fire will donate 20% of your order to Bridges. Take a break from cooking & assist your neighbors experiencing housing instability during these difficult times. Save this event flyer at remember to show it on 1/25/2021. 

#hocoblogs

American carnage Trump style

      Four years ago when we heard Trump talk about "American carnage" we thought he was talking about the past and we didn't realize he was talking about what he was bringing to Washington DC in four years.

  Right now we have more National Guard troops in Washington DC than in Iraq and Afganistan. 

 

P.S.

    50 years ago I was writing a paper for high school on political extremism in the United States. I had an uncle who belonged to the John Birch Society which was a crazy conservative group that promoted many right-wing conspiracies.   They grew out of the anti-communist movement of the 1950s that followed Joseph McCarthy's effort to identify communists in the American government.  I met with the leader of the Society in my area, Scranton PA, to gain information for my paper.  What I learned was that their movement saw the changing society that resulted in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s as fueling much of their anger.  They talked more about "negros" than they did about communists. They talked about how their resistance sometimes meant violent confrontation.  Shortly after my meeting, we saw the assassinations of both Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy.  The resistance had begun to target political and cultural figures.  We look back on that time as a troubled time in our history that we hoped would never return but I am afraid that we are in that same situation today.  What happened at the Capitol last week is not the end of this process but the beginning.  We now have a resistance that feels threatened by foreign immigrants and people of color that are changing the demographics of our Country and the electorate. Elected officials and other leaders have a right to fear for their safety in the future.  They will be targets now of a  resistance movement that sees them as representing the changes in our society that threaten them.   If the 1960s taught us anything violent confrontations and political assassinations are a real possibility in the near future.

They weren't concerned until they came for them

  

    I have written before about my belief that the difference between a conservative and a liberal is that liberals have a social conscious that is lacking in most conservatives.   We are seeing that played out right now.  Here is the case I am making.

     Conservatives didn't say anything when Trump called Mexicans rapist and murderers because they didn't know any Mexicans

     Conservatives didn't say anything when Trump talked about physically assaulting women because Trump hadn't assaulted anyone they knew.

     Conservatives didn't say anything when Trump tried to ban Muslims from entering the United States because they didn't know any Muslims.

     Conservatives didn't say anything when Trump ordered children separated from their parents and put them in cages because they didn't know any of these families.

     Conservatives didn't say anything when he dismissed the seriousness of the COVID virus because they didn't know anyone who died of the virus.

      But when Trump-provoked mobs attacked the Capitol and threatened their lives that was finally a bridge too far.  Now it wasn't "others" it was "them."  Suddenly they feel the need to address the tyranny of Trump.  Once this situation passes don't expect them to have any "profiles in courage" social conscience moments.  Developing a social conscience on your deathbed is a life of wasted opportunities.

Best plan yet to distribute the vaccine

 

Trump described clinically

   This may explain how Trump can overlook the deaths of hundreds of thousands of his citizens to a virus or feel no shame that he instigated a riot that leads to more deaths at the US Capitol.  

Here is the clinical definition of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD):

The psychology world is not absolutely sure what causes a person to have Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) it is generally felt the development in childhood is the result of living with a narcissistic parent(s) or caretaker or a parenting style like an authoritarian. The child was damaged between the ages of 2–7 when they are developing their personality. Narcissism is a mental disorder that begins its origin in childhood but does not manifest symptoms till the early adulthood of the twenties.

A NARCISSIST’S CHILDHOOD

As a child of a Narcissist they are most likely treated to abuse/neglect, abandonment or overindulgence when very young, people who develop NPD fail to form a core sense of self or empathy. Narcissists do not establish emotional maturity and stable identities, self-esteem, and feelings of compassion for others. Their fundamental psycho-emotional emptiness leads them to continuously seek validation externally rather than from within. Their parasitic need for validation from others exacerbates their lack of empathy, leading to highly manipulative and abusive behavior to feed their endless need for attention, admiration, power, superiority and control.

A NARCISSIST’S EARLY ADULTHOOD

As the NPD reaches early adulthood they develop an unstable identity with a lack of self-esteem with low empathy. This results in the NPD being pathological or manipulative, exploitative, abusive personality that creates insidious devastation. People with NPD are exceptionally skilled abusers with a kind of technique that makes their abuse particularly destructive.

RELATIONSHIP WITH A NARCISSIST

Those who are in a relationship with an NPD are familiar with Narcissists knowing too well their emotionally, psychologically, socially, financially and often physically abusive behaviors that surface day to day, hour to hour. For those on the receiving end, people with NPD often seem monstrous, evil and unrelenting. They cause extraordinary trauma, particularly in the lives of those closest to them, with little to no remorse but instead the belief that their behavior is justified.

NARCISSISTIC TYPICAL ABUSE

Narcissists have different personalities however their abusive behavior manifests in remarkably consistent ways, including the following ways:

1. Pitting people, particularly their family members, against one another (e.g., divide and conquer) as a means of control and to deflect blame and accountability.
2. Refusal to take responsibility and blames the victim instead.
3. Projection of abusive behavior and selfish motives onto others.
4. Shaming, mocking, baiting, and ridiculing (often presented as “teasing”) to gain an advantage and feel superior.
5. Sudden often rages with a hurricane’s ferocity which will drop you to your knees.
6. Endless demands for agreement and NPD admiration.
7. Inability to share attention with others, even their children.
8. Scapegoating “loved” ones;
9. Bragging, pathological and pathological lying, cheating, and bullying.
10. Gaslighting which makes you think you’re crazy but it is done to control you.
11. Entitled, arrogant abuse of those below them, such as employees, waitresses, clerks, and secretaries.
12. Grandiose assertions of superiority, omnipotence, and perfection by wearing the “Mask of Perfection.”
13. Indifference, impatience, anger, and disassociation with/from others’ illness, loss, misfortune, and so on.
14. Denial, often outrageous in the face of blatant truth.
15. Calculated charm on the surface to others in public and appalling treatment of family members behind closed doors.

SURPRISING HIDDEN NARCISSISTIC ABUSE

Those unfamiliar with NPD and narcissistic abuse typically find it incomprehensible that a person would act that way. This is because the Narcissist’s lack of a moral compass is difficult to imagine without direct experience with it and because people with NPD generally work to present a picture of normalcy or even an ideal while wearing their “Mask of Perfection” life to outsiders. They LACK EMOTIONAL EMPATHY which makes them incapable of ever loving someone, caring about anyone or their feelings. The same is true toward their children and this is why they make hideous parents to their children. I recommend getting full custody with no visitation. They are pathological liars who do not think twice about their behaviors only to use it to get their desired outcome. Even most therapists are unschooled in NPD except for psychiatrists and its damage to those who live with Narcissists, which nearly invariably leads to C-PTSD and a host of other long-lasting emotional and health effects like stress-related illnesses like heart disease and anxiety. Other serious symptoms that show up in victims are depression and trauma bonding,

OVERT VS. COVERT

Overt Narcissists are often publicly charismatic, making their family’s abusive experience invisible to others. Covert Narcissists are expert at keeping their pathology hidden in the shadows, often presenting themselves as a devoted family member or wronged victims with outsiders unaware of their morally bankrupt behavior behind closed doors.

NPD’S VICTIM’S SOCIETAL TRAUMA

As a consequence, those harmed by Narcissistic abuse are further traumatized by the isolation from family and friends and self-doubt that comes with it. And they are vulnerable to any judgment and ill-conceived advice from outsiders who don’t understand and may encourage them to forgive, confront, reconcile with, or otherwise open themselves to further more abuse.

NARCISSISTIC VICTIM SYNDROME

Narcissistic Victim Syndrome is a set of symptoms that some partners experience due to ongoing abuse from Narcissistic partners. Some of the symptoms one may experience when suffering from Narcissistic Victim Syndrome may include: Fog of Confusion, anxiety, ‘loss of self’, panic attacks, depression, angry outbursts, tears; insomnia, weight gain or weight loss, obsessive thoughts, rapid heart rate, muscle aches, throwing up, stress-related illnesses, fibromyalgia, desiring death, possibly suicidal, no interest in previous interests or even loved ones, blaming self, second-guessing self, may seem desperate and trying to reach for help, fear of Narcissist annihilating them.” Abuse endured by partners of a Narcissist is often incredibly traumatic and greatly impacts one’s sense of self-worth and confidence. It will be the most insidious relationship anyone will ever experience.

P.S.

The backstory to the shooting of the protester at the Capitol on Wednesday

    With Trump telling his supporters to come to the rally on Dec. 6th because "it will be wild" you never know how much this motivated his supporters to riot at the Capitol.   In fact it is sometimes hard to know what motivates his more radical supporters. You might not be aware of what was being posted on radical social media before Wednesday's riot but plans were discussed of capturing Representatives, holding them hostage, trying them as traitors and condemning them to death by hanging.  The protester killed on Wednesday, Ashli Babbit, had followed the QAnon posts that talked of taking down the government.

    As Representatives took cover in the House chamber protesters try to break down the doors to the Speakers Gallery.  If you go through those doors and go to the right you can enter the chamber next to the area where the Speaker sits to preside over the chamber.

This was the scene in the gallery of the House as Representatives cover for fear of the impending invasion.

      Social media posts before the riot had indicated that the plan was to hold the Representatives hostage and conduct a trial that could sentence the Representatives to death unless they voted to overturn the election. This person was seen with ties that could be used to tie up people.  It is unclear if this was the intent of this protester but he obviously had an intent to contain someone.

      For whatever reason, this stage was set up in front of the Capitol with a hanging noose. Symbolic or was the display more of a plan on the part of the protesters.

   Just another day in Trump's America in 2021.

13 days without a President

   

      In October 1962 the United States experienced 13 days at the brink of nuclear war with the Cuban missile crisis.   Many books have been written about that dangerous time.  What we are currently experiencing will also have many books written about as the time when the United States military didn't have a President who was Commander in Chief.  Apparently, the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has asked the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley if there are safeguards in place to prevent Trump from ordering a nuclear strike and he indicated that there were those safeguards.  So for 13 days from January 7th until January 20, 2021, is unclear who would be in charge if we faced a nuclear attack from Russia.  Thank God it is not 1962 right now.

P.S.

Some culture was recently added to Columbia

   

      As Columbia has developed recently it seems as if we could become just another wealthy suburb. It feels at times that we have lost some of the idealism of our founding as a complete community with the assets that create the diverse, rich community of Rouse's vision.  A few days ago the County Council approved the creation of a cultural district in the Merriweather area that shows how our community will have a cultural asset that will enrich our community.  Here is the link to that project. 

#hocoblogs

White Supremist flag displayed at Capitol protest yesterday

This flag, which is known as the flag of “Kekistan,” represents a fictional country that has “existed” for several years, but has increasingly been used by white supremacy groups as a symbol of hatred and racism and it was flown by Trump supporters along with the Confederate flag.  Is there still any question of whether Trump is a racist?

 

Trump's "American Carnage" did come to DC yesterday

 

    It has been almost 4 years since Trump in his Inaugural Address talked about American carnage.  Today as his term is almost at an end we saw the carnage that he was talking about and that he brought.

P. S.

    All the Republicans that call out the protestors who invaded the Capitol and not the President who incited the violence are cowards who should face the consequences of their cowardice when they face their next election.

P.S. 1

 Is today the day we are supposed to continue to try and understand Trump supporters?

Is today when we are supposed to reach out and understand Trump supporters?