Reading the newspaper this morning (Fri., Jan. 8, 2021) is amazing. An angry mob of Trump supporters attacked and entered the US Capitol in Washington, DC on Wednesday, Jan. 6. A woman was shot and killed inside the US Capitol. It is amazing, and very sad, that this happened. A need to make a few comments/reflections.
The newspaper articles describing the experiences of 2 Illinois politicians who were in the capitol during the siege are amazing. I have to say first that it is incredible that the chaos (broken windows, shooting, riot, etc.) occurred in the afternoon (and the congress members, who were in session, got to safety) and that congress reconvened later. At 2:30 am (Central time, Thursday) the House and Senate affirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
- Darin Lahood (read the details here: https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/2021/01/07/rep-darin-lahood-left-house-floor-just-mob-approached-building/6585137002/) got a message on his phone from security. He walked to the window and saw the mob. He took some pictures with his phone. He then made for the tunnels that lead (underground) to the (separate) office building (which is across the street).
- Cheri Bustos (read details here [also, listen to video]: https://www.pjstar.com/videos/news/politics/2021/01/08/u-s-rep-cheri-bustos-speaks-capitol-siege/6589548002/) was in the chamber. Chaos ensued. The rioters were outside the chamber. She knew she had a gas mask under her seat, but didn’t know how to use it. Others helped out. Security personnel led congress members out of the chamber to a secure area.
Max Lucado had a nice video of assurance: “Is the chaos just too much?”
Interesting (and long) video interview, titled DarkHorse Podcast w/ Jeremy Lee Quinn & Bret Weinstein: The Capitol Insurrection, A View from Inside, reported on both sides. Here are some good quotes by the host:
“We are fiercely divided, so that we will not be fiercely united.”
He started unity movement.
38:02 “There is a general sense of frustration at the public basically being frozen out of the well-being that is generated by our system; increasingly, systematically being frozen out by a pervasive culture of corruption, much of which is legal.
If you have a legal culture of corruption [of the government], it will create massive unrest and distrust, and the fact that that unrest and distrust is divided into factions that are pointed at each other, rather than there being a broad recognition that Americans have a right to be angry at what has become of their governmental structure. Neither blue or red is the solution. Blue and red are the problem.” How we, as Americans, address a difficult puzzle.
39:27 reflecting on experiences of meeting many, varied people and has discovering they are not what was expected (and shared much common ground), and that a few are reporting more than one side of the story. “This is the greatest threat to the narrative engine that wants everybody to stick to one version of the events that tells them exactly who their enemy is and what danger that enemy poses, and then turns off their processes of reason so that that’s not even true.” But this is a good thing (to disagree with this narrative).