The Response

Nick Anderson

It took 33 hours to capture the killer of MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk. We are learning more about him.

Not only was he not a "radical leftist," he killed Kirk because Kirk was not far right enough. 

We still don't know a lot about the killer, but here is what we do know.

• He is a 22-year-old (apparently) straight, cisgender white man who lives in Utah who grew up in a family with guns.
• His family is all registered Republican and according to Grandma, Drumpf supporters. 
• He is registered to vote but not registered with a party, and he did not vote in the 2024 general election, which would have been the first since he turned 18.
• He is a Mormon but has not regularly attended church lately.
• He has one semester of university education at Utah State University. At the time of his arrest he was in his third year at an electrician trade school. 
• His family is a hunting family, and he has experience with firearms.
• He has no criminal history.
• He talked about Kirk being "full of hate and spreading hate" in the days before the incident.
• The markings on his ammunition, on first glance, seem to be left-leaning and anti-fascist, but people in the know say that the words and phrases are found in meme culture and video game culture and used ironically by ultra conservative sites.

Not trans. Not foreign. Not woke. Not any of the vilified "other." No, he was one of their own. Again.

Though we don't know much more, I would be willing to wager that he has these traits: I bet he is another disaffected, isolated, lonely young man, incel-adjacent, with few friends. 

Based on what people have been saying about the messages that he left on his ammunition, it's apparent that his ideology is not just to the right of The Right, but as a fan of Nick Fuentes and that ilk, he lives on the really super icky bad-news right of Ultra-right. 

In fact, the "Groypers," an alt-Right group led by Fuentes, uses the language that was on the ammunition. The Groypers thought that Charlie Kirk was too moderate and regularly vilified him.  

You won't hear the sitting president or anyone else apologize for blaming the "radical left" and calling for war with them. (By the way, how does one denounce political violence in one breath and call for war in the next?)

The Inciter-in-Chief won't say anything more, let alone something preposterous like an apology, because he accomplished what he wanted to do. He fed misinformation to his followers early and loudly, because no matter what facts that come out later, they will lap it up and instill it in their brains. Whatever truth comes out later simply doesn't matter. 

The Responses

The Right has pretty much labeled the shooting "an act of war," and they are getting the base worked up. 

You saw 47 saying, "We have to beat the hell" out of the "radical Left." (No doubt still gunning for that Peace Prize). 

When it came out that the killer grew up in a MAGA household and Kirk was perhaps not Right enough in the killer's eyes, there were crickets. 

In fact, after his initial statement that he "was filled with grief and anger," he seemed to move on quite quickly. 

A reporter asked about his dear friend's death and how he was holding up. The reporter asked, "My condolences on the loss of your friend Charlie Kirk. Can I ask you personally, how are you holding up in the last day and a half?" 

47's response: "I think very good and by the way, right there, you see all the trucks? They just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they've been trying to get, as you know for about a hundred and fifty years. And it's gonna be a beauty. It'll be an absolutely magnificent structure. And as you see all the trucks, we just started, so... It'll get done, uh, very nicely and it'll be one of the best anywhere in the world actually."

So very touching......

Here's the video:

He sure got over it quick. Has the man ever thought of anyone but himself? 

The Republican Governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, has been commendable in his calls for calm and his condemnation of violence. I've been impressed by him.*

He said, "It is an attack on the American experiment. It is an attack on our ideals. This cuts to the very foundation of who we are, of who we have been and who we could be in better times.

"We can return violence with fire and violence. We can return hate with hate. And that's the problem with political violence, is it metastasizes, because we can always point the finger at the other side, and at some point we have to find an off-ramp, or it's going to get much, much worse. These are choices that we can make."

*However, I learned at publishing that Cox, too, had some dangerous and divisive language when talking about the killer. He said, "For 33 hours, I was … I was praying that if this had to happen here, that it wouldn’t be one of us. That somebody drove from another state, somebody came from another country. Sadly, that prayer was not answered the way I hoped for. Just because I thought it would make it easier on us if we could just say ‘Hey, we don’t do that here.’"

Oh wouldn't it have been so much easier for the tar and feathering if the killer was just an "other." Dang.

The Rest of Us

Many people have posted on social media that they do not condone murder but Charlie Kirk was a bad person. Those people are in trouble.

MAGAts have been literally policing the response. Not grieving enough? Not praising Kirk enough? You may be doxxed, harassed, fired from your job, or worse. 

Look at this:

There have been many reports of this happening. I've heard of it in my own professional groups.

In fact, there is a website called charliesmurderers dot com, where people can report those who do not reach the standards of grief and/or praise of the dead man that they think is sufficient. Employers or others can search the database and then.... do what they will with the information. 

Scary stuff.

AltNPS is calling for people to help take down the website, as it clearly violates the hosts' terms of service. Here's the info:

Commentator Matthew Dowd on MSNBC was asked by an audience member about the Kirk killing. The question was about "the environment in which a shooting like this happens." 

Dowd said, "He's been one of the most divisive, especially divisive younger figures, in this, who's constantly sort of pushing this hate speech aimed at certain groups. I always go back to hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions."

He was fired. 

What a radical concept that hate begets hate!

You know who wasn't fired for comments made on air? (Side note, unrelated to Kirk's murder.) Brian Kilmeade on Faux News said these words in a discussion about the how to manage the mentally ill unhoused population. "Or involuntary lethal injection or something. Just kill them."

Thoughts

As I think about the killer, I come back to the the thought that we've lost our young men. Many young men are socially isolated, dependent on the internet, and vulnerable to being radicalized. We've got to bring them back.

I am reminded of a post I wrote about the time of the Kavenaugh hearings when right-leaning people were oh-so-scared that their sons may someday be falsely accused of rape. 

I examined then that men have a very low chance of being falsely accused, but have a host of other life problems. The post is from October, 2018: A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.

Please revisit it.

As compassionate people and as feminists (yes, woke!), we need to find a way to solve the problems that men, and especially young men, are facing. If not, we'll find more of them becoming radicalized and deciding that they must act out. 

No more murders!

As ye sow, so shall ye reap

Charlie Kirk, the conservative wunderkind who built a huge platform for promoting his ultraconservative ideas, was shot and killed yesterday as he spoke on an Utah college campus. He was 31.

He was just 18 when he co-founded the conservative platform Turning Point USA and rocketed up as the Right became ultra-right. He became a darling of the MAGAsphere.

We do not know the facts of the murder other than Kirk was at one of his debate events on campus. He was speaking about mass shootings when a sniper shot him in the neck. We do not have a suspect, nor a motive. It's widely believed that it was a political assassination. But as of this writing we do not know the facts.

When I heard about Kirk's death, my first thought was "As ye sow, so shall ye reap." 

I did not feel sad. I did not mourn. 

I do not mourn his death, but I do not celebrate it. 

Against Charlie Kirk's very own wishes, though, I do feel empathy. I feel deeply for the people who loved him. He leaves behind a wife and two small children. Their lives have been torn apart and their hearts will never be whole again. Gun violence has entered their lives, a trauma that will last them forever. This is truly tragic. No one should have to endure that. My heart aches for them.

Also against Charlie Kirk's own beliefs, I believe that one gun death is too many. Every life is precious. We don't count lives as currency; no lives are expendable. 

Kirk himself would think that his own death was an acceptable "cost." He would be ok with being a victim of gun violence as he was for thousands of others, calling it a cost that is "worth it" to protect the Second Amendment.

"I think it's worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect out other God-given rights." (Charlie Kirk, 2023).

And so, I do not mourn the loss of this man. Would he want me to?

He made millions spreading ideas that were toxic, detestable, and demeaning. He was racist, misogynistic, and xenophobic. He embraced hate and advocated violence. 

I wish he had been silenced by louder, more righteous voices, but I do not mourn the silencing of his words. 

Today, the Right is shouting from the rooftops that the Left is "at war." It is as if the Left invented political violence, that they are the perpetrators of hate. 

Once again, they are simply holding up a mirror. 

Political violence? You wanna talk about it, MAGAts? 

Let's talk about January 6.

Let's talk about the beating of Paul Pelosi (which would have been the murder of Nancy Pelosi under a different circumstance).

Let's talk about the kidnapping attempt of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Witmer.

Let's talk about the assassinations of Minnesota State House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband and the attempted assassination of Hortman's colleague Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife.

Let's talk about the arson attack on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

All of those were met by shrugs at best or applause at worst from the Right, including the Apricot Pol Pot.

When it's one of their own – and I condemn the "assassination attempts" on djt – their outrage suddenly emerges (though some of it half baked, as it was for the man who actually lost his life at the shooting in Pennsylvania).

Let's talk about Dear Leader's rhetoric from day one. He has advocated for violence his whole political career – probably his whole life. His leadership for those who embrace violence has given permission for a legion of bad actors to commit hate crimes, and yes, political violence.

You know the stuff. There has been an abundance of violent rhetoric from his fetid maw. LSR outlined much of the crap in this post.

The most pertinent example: Candidate Cantaloupe called for "Second Amendment People" to stop Hilary Clinton from choosing Supreme Court candidates.

This is who they worship.

After Kirk's murder, Dear Leader went on TV, fanning the flames and riling up his base. No calls for calm, of course. No calls for waiting for the facts. He went straight to blaming the "radical left."

Political violence breeds political violence. It's not ever right. It does not solve problems. It is wrong in every instance. 

Charlie Kirk's murder by gun? It was just another day in the United States. One more gun death. His family mourns just as deeply as the families of the two children critically injured at Evergreen High School near Denver yesterday.

No, Charlie. It's not worth it.

"A lie doesn't become truth, wrong doesn't become right, and evil doesn't become good, just because it's accepted by a majority." – Booker T. Washington

Protesting Against Evil

"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today, two days before Martin Luther King Day, I realized as I stood among my sister and brother resisters at De La Guerra Plaza that it had been a long time since I've attended a demonstration. 

My Greatest International Scavenger Hunt (GISH) comrades and I did a virtual demonstration at the height of the pandemic as part of our GISH week in August 2020, and before that the last demonstration I took part in, I believe, was in June 2020 during the Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd's death. 

It's been a good, quiet four years, hasn't it?

I dug out my original sign that I used in Los Angeles eight years ago in the original Women's March, taped a new stick to it, and set out downtown for the People's March. I joined several hundred people here, and there were demonstrations and marches from coast to coast. 

To be honest, I was iffy going. I'm feeling the doldrums about our situation. I'm glad I went. I felt SO MUCH better standing there among like-minded people, being inspired by political leaders and organization leaders who are devoted to action. 

It was a convivial atmosphere! I enjoyed it. We are ready for action.

We heard from women's groups, gun safety groups, environmental groups, and local press who talked about misinformation and the importance of supporting local free press. I learned about a trio of local journalists who are working for media literacy, MomentofTruthTraining.org, and a local group of moms for gun safety with MomsDemandAction.org. We also heard from MLKSB.org, who are having a march on Monday to honor the memory of the great Martin Luther King, Jr.

Then we marched!

Here's me! And a video.

Here's more about our local march from Noozhawk.

And this, from the People's March in another town.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Janice Lanier (@janilani)

There were good turnouts across the country. Here's D.C.

The People's March turnout was greater than many expected. Keep fighting back! GREAT TURNOUT!

[image or embed]

— Krassensteins (@krassenstein.bsky.social) January 18, 2025 at 5:29 PM

Here are more cities on a playlist from YouTube. 

Keep up the resistance!

Violence Happened

 

God Dammit! 

There was a shooting toward T**** yesterday, and the world feels like it has gone cattywampus, if the world could be any cattywampuser than it already was. 

What we know: 

The Event

The former guy was at a open-air rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. A Pennsylvania man, Thomas Matthew Crooks, had "bear crawled" up an industrial building less than 200 yards from the riser where T**** was talking and used his AR-15 to fire off several rounds. 

One round grazed T****'s right ear. An inch or two to the right, and we'd be having a much different conversation today. 

Two other rounds found innocent victims in the stands.

T**** ducked behind the podium and was instantly swarmed by a half-dozen Secret Service members, who ushered him offstage and into his waiting vehicle. Not before he asked to retrieve his shoes, though, and after he was able to raise his head high (WTAF, Secret Service??) and give a defiant fist-pump, mouthing, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" You can see the full video of the event here. 

Sadly, a bystander, Corey Comperatore, aged 50, was killed and another two were critically wounded. 

In the moments after Crooks got his rounds off, Secret Service snipers shot back and killed him on site. You can hear the gunman's three shots and the Secret Service's four shots (at least) in this video. I'm sure we'll have more and more evidence coming out in the next hours and days.

The Gunman

Crooks had no identification on him, but the FBI was able to pretty quickly identify him. He was white. He was 20 years old. He lived with his parents in suburban Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, which is not too far from the rally site. The weapon had been purchased legally by his father. No motive is known. Crooks was a registered Republican and had donated $15 to a Democratic cause when he was 17. He had graduated high school in 2022. He worked as a dietary aide in a local skilled nursing facility. He had no criminal history. At this point, we don't know much more.

The FBI has begun their investigation and found explosive material in his car that was parked nearby. They've conducted a search of his home; results are unknown at this time.

LSR's Thoughts

Sadness and Dismay

Firstly, I'm very sad for all of the families of the victims, including the family of the gunman. Violence is never, ever right. It's a sad day when someone dies from any kind of violence.

Violence is wrong. Gun violence is odious. Political violence has no place in our country.

Admittedly, one of my first thoughts was one that was shared by many of you. It's no secret that plenty of people believe we'd be better off if he was no longer around.

"A man reaps what he sows." – Galatians 6:7 

The blunt truth is that this type of violence has been ushered in, sadly, by the very intended victim. You can't marshal laws protecting high-powered semi-automatic firearms, mount and justify violent attacks on lawmakers in Washington, and continually use violent rhetoric without having gun violence happen. It's that simple. 

Just a week ago, MAGAt gubernatorial candidate from North Carolina Mark Robinson said this, in a church sermon no less: "Some folks need killing! It’s time for somebody to say it. It’s not a matter of vengeance. It’s not a matter of being mean or spiteful. It’s a matter of necessity!" 

This, just after Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts said,  “We are in the process of the second American revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be."

When it comes to you? Well, let the hypocrisy begin.

Will it change the political fabric?

I know collectively we started to panic. This will rile up his base - things will get worse - he just won the election.

I say balderdash! Politically, I don't think it will change much for the election. Yes, this is a great photo op (ever the showman, he had the presence of mind to pose for a photo as he was ushered off), and he'll milk every ounce of victimhood that he can out of the event.

His minions will be loud and feign indignation. They'll blame the liberals, Antifa, the woke. They'll whip up new conspiracy theories. More of the same. Whatever. It's just noise. 

Ear, no ear, or pierced ear, T**** hasn't changed. The issues haven't changed. Our work continues. 

More violence? I doubt it. If anything, security will be even greater for political events going forward. The Secret Service, who was to protect him with their very lives? They failed. It's a condemnation of them as much as all the rest. 

I truly believe that there will be no increased violence. How do I know? It's mostly just my Pollyanna heart. When there are two possibilities for an unknown, I tend to choose the positive one. When it's unknown, why not pull out the stops for hope? 

We must keep the fire under our hope. It will die only if we let it. Without it, we are truly paralyzed, and we can't afford that. Rest easy on that thought, Resisters, and let's pick up and keep going. 

Love to all. 

RESIST!

Mary Poppins's Bag

The unpacking of the events of January 6 feels like Mary Poppins's bag. We just keep pulling more and more and more out. 

The Insurrection.
Details about the events on January 6 continue to emerge. Every day comes the headline: "It was worse than we thought and it could've been a lot worse." 

Here's just a few stories that we read this week that illustrate the horrors that our lawmakers and police faced.

It's now clear that Vice President Pence was seconds away from being found by the murderous mob. He was just 100 feet away seconds before Officer Goodman led the mob away from the Senate chamber. Pence was moved from the Senate floor to an office with his wife and daughter, but once there, he refused twice to move to a more secure location. The third time the Secret Service did not ask but whisked him and his family away to a more secure room before the mob could find them.

It's shocking to read how the police held off the mob. This article is upsetting, but it's important to know what happened. Badly outnumbered, the police tried their best to hold off the insurrectionists, at great peril to their own safety. 

Two of the most badly injured were Officer Daniel Hodge and Officer Michael Fanone. Hodge was the one crushed and beaten, stuck between two doors. You remember the mob brutally beating Fanone with sticks and a flagpole outside the building. I hope that someday they and all of the courageous officers can have an official commendation for their service to our nation. 

By the way, suspects in both of those officers assaults have been arrested. Here is information about the thug who assaulted Officer Hodge and here is a story about the scumbag who beat Officer Fanone. Here is another article about the two officers and their colleague Officer Christina Laury.

There is more evidence that the insurrectionists had assistance from the inside. Here is a new video in which they discuss floor plans. One woman who is still outside uses a bullhorn to describe the layout and how to access other parts of the building. She says, "Guys I've been in the other room...."

Suspiciously, it appears that the panic button was removed from Rep. Ayanna Pressley's (D-MA) office. It was found so when Pressley and her staff barricaded themselves into her office. There is an investigation underway.

Another of the squad, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was afraid for her life during the insurrection. She made a video describing her traumatizing experience. She does not describe specifics, but states she and other members were close to being killed. She also states that she did not feel safe being with other members of Congress while they were together in a secure room. Someday we'll hear the details of her trauma. 

The terrorists arrived well-armed. The police have seized a large number and variety of weapons. It was obvious that the mob went to the Capitol to cause violence and injury. It's amazing that there weren't more deaths.

Some of the insurrectionists are hiding under "press" cover. This, along with all the rest of it, is an affront to our orderly society. Give me a break. Their organization is called "Murder the Media." Journalists? Just sickening.

Here is another first-hand account by a (real) journalist, written right after the insurrection.

The Abettors.

Sycophants

Rudy Giuliani had riled up the crowd during the rally by saying, "Let's have a trial by combat!" New York State has launched a disbarment inquiry. I wonder if he'll be disbarred before the impeachment trial? I was sort of hoping to watch the Rudy Clown Counsel Show. Besides disbarment, he needs to be indicted. Rep. Mo Brooks (AL) was also in front of the crowd getting them going.

Members of Congress

We know that many in Congress gave voice to the lies that fueled the insurrection, but it's becoming more apparent that Members of Congress directly helped plan the insurrection. One of the main scum-sucking architects of the insurrection, Ali Alexander, has named three Repug MoC as having aided: Reps. Andy Biggs (AZ), Mo Brooks (AL) and Paul A. Gosar (AZ). Of course, other Representatives need to be investigated as well. There's an investigation underway into Rep. Mikie Shirrell's (D-NJ) observations of suspicious tours being made on January 5. This is such a sad part of the story. It's hard to think that elected representatives would do such a thing. I hope that they are censured and ejected from the House and called to bear consequences by the law. 

Side note: when I was watching the House proceedings that morning, I saw Rep. Gosar declare his objection to Arizona's certification. He was so nervous that he stuttered. It was so apparent to me that in the moment, I even Googled if he is a stutterer. Now I wonder just why he was so nervous. 

Veterans, Active Military, and Police

Also deeply disheartening is that more than a few in the mob were current or former police and military. White supremacy is everywhere. It's angering. Every single one of them took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. They received training in order to fulfill that oath, and they took that training to the Capitol to try to destroy it. They each need to be brought to justice. It's just too much to bear. Here are some articles about them.

• The Atlantic: The Inaction of Capitol Police Was by Design
• CNN: Some national veterans organizations vow to remove members charged in the Capitol riots
• Los Angeles Times: Why veterans of the military and law enforcement joined the Capitol insurrection
• Military Times: How many troops were involved in the Capitol riot? Figuring that out won’t be easy
• ABC News: Military investigating whether service members participated in US Capitol assault

The Heroes.

There were many heroes that day. The jounalists covering the debates who kept taking notes as their lives were being threatened; the Members of Congress themselves; the police outside and inside the building. Other heroes are emerging. 

Geeks save the day! A hacker who goes by "donk_enby" worked fast to archive nearly all of Parler's content since it was launched. This included conversations about the insurrection plans, as well as videos and photos during the riots, complete with metadata such as time and GPS coordinates. donk_enby assures us that all the info she gathered was publicly available. Go, donk! A grateful nation thanks you.

Similarly, props to the people behind Sedition Tracker, your one-stop shop for insurrection investigation information. 

The Capitol Building was, of course, left a mess, once the coup failed and the insurrectionists filed out. They had left trash, debris, and human excrement. Who was left to clean up? Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ), for one. After the business of the day, the tally of Electoral College votes, had been completed, Rep. Kim stayed. Trash bag in hand, Rep. Kim picked up trash into the wee hours of the morning. 

A veterans group, disgusted by the news that some of their former brethren had been in the mob, organized a clean up around the Capitol grounds and throughout D.C. 

And of course, the regular custodial staff that keeps the Capitol gleaming day in and day out. Mostly people of color, they bore the burden of washing the blood, sweat, tears, and shit from every surface in that building. There is a movement to write thank-you notes to them. If you write, I encourage postcards vs. letters. Postcards are safer and will be delivered more timely.

I've written numerous times about Officer Eugene Goodman, who used himself as a decoy to draw the mob away from the Senate chamber. Some lawmakers want to award Goodman a Congressional Gold Medal. Well deserved. 

The Fourth Branch of Government: Corporate America. Heroes?!

Putting financial pressure on the wayward Members of Congress may help get the GOP back on track. Money talks and bullshit walks.

Here are a couple reads on how they are doing this. 

• Business Insider: Top CEOs may cut off funding to Republicans who have supported Trump's election challenge: 'Money is the key way'
• Bloomberg: Here are the U.S. companies hitting pause on political donations.
• The Wall Street Journal: How the Capitol Riot Thrust Big American Companies Deeper Into Politics
• New York Times: Companies Pull Back Political Giving Following Capitol Violence
• And as I noted before, businesses are abandoning their associations with ***** and his brand. 

Ok, ok, I'll allow Big Business getting into the people's business just this once. Next month, let's reverse Citizens United!

The Aftermath. 

Impeachment trial calendar is still up in the air. It is possible that Speaker Pelosi will send the Article of Impeachment over immediately upon the 117th Senate's convening. It's the best way to do it: try him immediately. It may land on the Majority Leader's desk on Inaguration Day. They are smart people; I bet they can figure out a way to conduct a trial at the same time as they conduct other business. 

Preventing him from running again. If the Impeachment² doesn't work to convict, then Congress still has something in their back pocket. The 14th Amendment of the Constitution. It states:

No Person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

It's pretty straightforward, and needs just a simple majority vote. So if the Senate fails to convict him on his impeachment charge, the 14th Amendment could be enacted. Congress should also put it to use for the Members of Congress who participated. 

A man* without a country (I hardly can even call ***** a man). He may have a hard time finding a place to live. Neighbors of his Mar-a-Lago estate, where he plans to go, don't want them there, and they may have him over a legal barrel because of an agreement he signed decades ago. Scotland has said, "Don't come here." He burned his bridges in New York all through the years with his odious behavior, and most recently when he left for Florida and started hating on them. Now, the Mayor of NYC says that ***** is not welcome there. My hope is that New York State and Florida cooperate to get him into cuffs on Day 1 of his civilianhood. There's plenty of room at the Graybar Inn. 

A Day of Reckoning for the Republican Party. It will be interesting to see how they sort themselves out. The old saying about not being able to truly grow until you hit rock bottom may be true here. How rock-bottomer can they get? If they can purge the fringe members and vote to convict, they may start to right their ship. 

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is moaning that if the Senate Republicans vote to convict, a third of the party will leave and destroy the party. And this is bad how.....?

Mike Luckovich

Security Measures forever changed? How long will we have concertina wire around our beloved beacon of freedom? When will it feel safe again? Our government operates openly and publicly. It's important that this tradition continues. How depressing is this photo?

Radio.com

The Investigation.

Here are some of the latest arrests from The Washington Post.

Here is a damn good source. You can follow every arrest, criminal charges, and court proceedings. Follow Sedition Tracker on Twitter or on the web. It's updated frequently. Great stuff! They're coming for you, traitors. “To those of you who took part in the violence, here’s something you should know: Every FBI field office in the country is looking for you,” said Steven M. D’Antuono, head of the FBI’s Washington Field Office. “As a matter of fact, even your friends and family are tipping us off.” (from WaPo)

Four federal departments, the departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Defense, and the Interior, have launched investigations into the security failures. Was it a lack of intelligence? Or a failure to act on the intelligence they had? 

An investigation of the whole set of circumstances is huge. The lead-up and the insurrection itself is a large Fibonacci sequence intertwined with interlinking circles, overlaid by a set of Dali stairs. We know how federal agencies cooperate. They don't. There is a risk of numerous agencies involved in individual investigations not sharing information. I think there needs to be an independent commission to investigate the event in depth and deliver one comprehensive report on how this all came to happen. It was done after the Challenger disaster as well as after 9/11. Both of those tragedies were fairly straight lines compared to this. I'm suggesting this idea to my Members of Congress. 

Drew Sheneman

The Future. In the immediate future, we still face threats against the U.S.Capitol as well as state capitol buildings coast to coast. We're all on edge about the Inaguration ceremony. For the foreseeable future, the National Mall and Capitol grounds have fencing, razor wire (!) and 25,000 National Guard troops milling about. And those troops have authorization to use lethal force if necessary. States also have beefed up security and National Guard troops out in force.

We have a presidential President-elect in the on-deck circle. Biden is laying out plans for COVID response and economic stimulus. He is talking straight-talk to us. It's going to be be fine!

And speaking of presidential. V.P. Pence is acting all presidential the last couple days. He finally called and congratulated Vice President-elect Harris, and also made a surprise visit to the National Guard troops at the Capitol. 

***** has decided he wants a dictator-style military send-off, complete with military band and 21-gun salute, on Wednesday morning. Given that there will be 25,000 armed troops standing around, he will have more attendees than he did at his inauguration. And he gets one more ride in Air Force One! Maybe the flight attendant will let him work the intercom! 

Really? He leaves Washington burning and rides off into the sunset? I hope the Feds are waiting for him at the Palm Beach Airport when he lands. Hmmmm....Sounds like a good movie plot.... Can we cast Kevin Bacon as Christopher Wray? 

For the longer term, we may be able to regain our course when the lies have ended and ***** is gone for good. We made a baby inroad into stopping the lies. The Washington Post reports that since ***** was banned from Twitter, misinformation emanating from the site has dropped a ton. 

Speaking of which....

Corrections and a Cautionary Tale.

I've been proud of my research and dependence on least-biased sources, but lately with the frenzy of information about the January 6 Insurrection, I'm ashamed to say I made errors. I found myself where so many of the actual insurrectionists live. I posted a couple items that I need to correct.

In my last post, I shared a photo of Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) that had been miscaptioned as being taken in from of the Capitol the day before the riot. The photo was actually from December 2019 and was taken at the Colorado statehouse, not at the U.S. Capitol. The photo is real, though. And the people are really flashing white supremacy signs. I apologize for failing to fact-check this photo. 

I also failed to research Melania's weird statement five days after the January 6 Insurrection, a statement that she turned around to make it about her. I got lazy in finding out more about her statement about "salacious gossip, unwarranted personal attacks, and false misleading accusations on me." Luckily, I have a good cadre of Sisters Resisters who pointed me to the correct info. Melania had been conducting a photo shoot inside the Whitewash House that day. She couldn't be bothered to pause for an insurrection of all things. CNN reported this fact. Also, Mel was probably steamed by an op/ed from an old pal.

I confess I also shared that video that Donny Jr. posted of a green-room party before the "rally" on January 6. It was miscaptioned as being taken during the riots. I believed the miscaption and shared it on a couple Facebook groups before learning that it was fake news. 

I apologize for feeding misinformation here. The bigger point is that it is easy to get sucked in by provoking, but incorrect, information. If you don't keep skepticism intact and follow-up with a bit of research, misinformation and lies can quickly lead down a dark path. 

We saw a culmination of that 10 days ago. 

The Past.

I was a little Little Sister Resister when I made my one and only visit to the Capitol Building. My mom and I took a trip to Washington D.C. to visit my sister in 1975. Even then, I was honored to be able to visit the House and Senate Chambers. I aim to get back there and observe again. Here are my passes to the White House, Senate, and House.

The more recent past: In my post of October 29, 2020 which was titled, "Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown" I mentioned a report made by the Transition Integrity Project. The TIP is a bipartisan think tank group. They used gaming theory to predict outcomes after the election. Last summer, they published an extensive report of possible scenarios of a contested election. 

Below is a quote from their report, released on August 2, 2020. (from page 6)

2. A close and contested election may be resolved through the exercise of power, not through the courts.

The scenario exercises developed by TIP were designed to encourage both the Biden and Trump teams to pursue plausible but aggressive actions in order to win. The exercises demonstrated that the very first “move” by each campaign was often decisive; it established a narrative and the overall strategy. In all four of the exercises TIP conducted, Team Trump immediately adopted a strategy of casting doubt on the official election results, even in the one scenario where he later accepted a loss. Team Trump also encouraged chaos and violence in the streets and aimed to provoke Team Biden into subverting norms — even as Team Trump itself sabotaged traditional norms— so that Team Biden could be accused of hypocrisy or illegality.

During the exercises, Team Trump and GOP elected officials took the following steps:

• Calling for recounts in all states in which victory was not already apparent.

• Launching coordinated investigations at the state and federal levels into alleged “voting irregularities” in an effort to undermine public confidence in results that did not go Trump’s way and/or alter the results.

• Attempting to halt the counting of mail-in ballots by filing cases in state court or leaning on Republican leaders to stop vote counting or to certify a result early, without waiting for the certified results from the Secretary of State.

• Turning out their well-organized and committed base to take to the streets in Trump’s favor, in part by disseminating disinformation about the danger posed by pro-Biden demonstrators (e.g., by suggesting likely Antifa violence, etc.).

• Relying on both FOX News and right-wing social media to echo and amplify pro-Trump messages and facilitate the harassment and bullying of election officials, to cause chaos and delay and/or to intimidate officials into taking actions that benefited Team Trump.

• Using federal agencies to justify or support Trump campaign tactics. In one of the more aggressive moves undertaken in one of the TIP exercises, Team Trump had Attorney General Bill Barr order the seizure of mail-in ballots to ensure that vote counting would stop.

And a memory from four years ago:

Facebook reminded me that four years ago today, we were preparing for our own protest. I had posted the above graphic. We, too, felt that an election had been "stolen" from us. ***** had garnered 3,000,000 fewer votes nationally, but was getting ready to occupy the office. But guess what? I was one of 750,000 marchers in Los Angeles, and there was not one. Single. Arrest. 

#ThreeDaysToGo

Dribs and Drabs

One of the reasons I started this blog was to keep me from continually posting political stuff on Facebook, as it is already supersaturated. I don't always succeed. Today, instead of a posting in dribs and drabs, here is one big flush!


Let's resist furthering Epstein conspiracy theories (Be better than SCROTUS). First of all, nothing is stinkier than the whole cushy deal and sealed case from 2007. He got a "jail term" that included going to the office six days a week, while his victims got no justice. Secondly, there is no reason for anyone to murder Epstein. Both Bill Clinton and the Alpha Molester have already been implicated in umpteen other sexual assaults with no consequences, and they haven't had to resort to murdering witnesses. Investigations will continue with or without Epstein. I'm confident that the scum that associated with Epstein will see their day of reckoning regardless.


More about guns and misogyny. Along with white supremacy, power over women and hatred of women is a common trait among mass shooters, including apparently the Dayton shooter. Here is a really good analysis from The New York Times about the link between misogyny and mass violence. The writers note how scumbag "incels" worship the mass shooter who devastated my own community of Isla Vista, CA a few years ago. It's time to stop giving attention to mass shooters. Let their names stay out of the papers. Let's focus on the victims and finding solutions. Frank Shyong of the Los Angeles Times describes the tricky path that journalists walk on this matter. I'd like to see more movement toward neutralizing shooters' motive of acquiring fame.


Texas is turning a beautiful shade of purple, on its way to going full blue. There's a wonderful trend in Texas. Get ready for a blue wave in a place we never thought we'd see it. It reminds me of our own li'l Orange County, a Republican stronghold for many years here in California, before turning decidedly blue in 2018. It's my election-year mission to fight for enfranchising voters in traditionally red states, and Texas is one state I'll work to help. (Watch for future topic)

And in fact, new polling shows 45 is underwater in approval ratings in most of the country, and if you plot the results in an electoral college style map, you get this wonderful sight:

Matt Rogers on Twitter

Christian evangelicals have apparently found their red line with Donald Drumpf. It isn't his proclivity for sexual assault. It isn't his overt racism. It isn't his 10,000-plus lies since occupying the WhitesOnly House. It isn't his inciting hatred and violence. It isn't his love affair with the most brutal dictator in the world's history. It isn't his ripping babies from their mothers. Nope. None of that matters as much as his saying "goddamn."


Speaking of dreamy dictator love affairs, the Mango Mussolini received another love letter from his sweetie in North Korea. I'll let Stephen Colbert explain.





Here's an interesting tidbit from the Scumbag-in-Chief. A couple weeks ago, in the wake of yet another cabinet position fiasco, he admitted that he doesn't vet his cabinet nominees. He uses he media to do the job for him. It "saves a lot of money." Really? So suddenly the press can be depended upon to find the facts, can they? Cheap, lazy bastard. I detest this man.






Today the Racist-in-Chief proposed changes in the rules for legal immigrants. He is targeting the poorer immigrants by denying green cards to immigrants who use or even qualify for public assistance in the form of food assistance or housing assistance. "Give me your tired, your poor financially independent, your huddled masses..."


And today he also gutted protections for endangered species. <Little Sister Resister wipes a tear> Just why? Oh yeah. Big oil.


Farmers are also hurting. The trade war with China has decimated farmers. China is no longer buying American soybeans, for example, and though the government is throwing money at farmers, they are not going to recover easily. Brace for ripple effects.



Today marks the second anniversary of Heather Heyer's murder in Charlottesville, Virginia. We mourn Heather every day as we continue the fight against white supremacists. Keep her alive in your heart.

Terrible things are happening outside.

John Deering

Deep breath.

There is a lot to unpack from the last two weeks. Our country, having reaching the tipping point, is skidding down the dark side.

We possess a complex set of problems with a long history and no easy answers. There are some simple answers but they aren't easy. I'll get to that.

In the span of one week, we had three mass shootings in our country: Gilroy, California; El Paso, Texas; and Dayton, Ohio.

Mass shootings are sadly not new, nor are they few. It depends on how you define "mass shooting," but if you count five or more deaths, there have been 88 mass shootings in the U.S. in the 20 years since Columbine. If you broaden the definition to include four or more injuries, there have been 248 mass shootings in 2019 alone. As the Washington Post has found, mass shootings are becoming more common and more deadly.

A mass shooting, sadly, is not an unexpected occurrence. Maybe because they are not unexpected, each one punches us in the gut. Soon, each of us will have been affected by this type of gun violence. Have you been touched? I have. There have been two mass shootings in my community. I have police officer friends who were first responders to our shooting a few years ago in Isla Vista. I have a friend who survived Las Vegas. She was not injured physically, but she suffers PTSD which has affected every aspect of her life.


Our recent mass shootings were not unexpected, nor surprising. There will be another one before too long, probably within a few weeks. I hesitate to call one of these three recent shootings worse than the others, for families in all communities are missing their children, their mothers, their fathers, aunts, uncles, wives, husbands, friends, cousins, neighbors.... Survivors have a new hell of a reality to face. Each community hurts deeply for a long time.

The crime in El Paso, though, marks a black day for us, for the crime was committed at the bidding of the White Supremacist President* for reasons of hate. It was committed with a weapon of war. It was heinous. And we are sick and tired of saying:

TIME's new cover: "We are being eaten from within." Why America is losing the battle against white nationalist terrorism https://t.co/HYdDIqctb7 pic.twitter.com/63lEREH7Sr

— TIME (@TIME) August 8, 2019

Our not-new problem, which is now staring us in the face, emanating from the most powerful man in the world: white supremacy. 

Violence from white supremacy is not new, of course. We've mourned and condemned other mass shootings that have had white power as a motive. Now, it has been escalated. Now, the most powerful racist on Earth has been implicated. 

I've outlined here multiple times this man's racism. On election day 2016, I worried most for our friends and neighbors of color. Now, indeed, they are being murdered at the behest of this orange menace. 

His rally speeches and his mouthpieces at FAUX News were reflected in the El Paso shooter's manifesto, as illustrated below. And here is a video by the Daily Show illustrating the same thing. Today, it was reported that the shooter admitted to investigators that his goal was to kill Mexicans. 

from @bfriedmandc

Weeks before this incident, 45 had laughed at the suggestion from a supporter who shouted "shoot them" as a solution to his problem of "stopping these people" from entering the United States. He constantly devalues immigrants entering from the Southern border as invaders, infestation, rapists, murderers, animals. His dangerous rhetoric is not simply rhetoric. It's reality.

It doesn't stop at rhetoric. Besides the ugliness at the borders, with babies taken from their mothers and put in cages, with families in squalid conditions, many U.S. citizens have been held in immigration detention facilities, targeted and held solely based on the color of their skin. A Dallas-born teenager was held for nearly a month, despite showing proper "papers" documenting his U.S. citizenship. He's not the only United States citizen who has been held in custody by ICE. There have been other brown-skinned people held. Even U.S.-born children have been detained. 

Jimmy Aldaoud, a man born in Greece who had lived in the United States all his life, was targeted and deported to Iraq, a place he had never lived, where he didn't know the culture or the language, where he didn't have family. He died on the streets because he lacked access to insulin.

Add to these atrocities the frightening threats of ICE raids in cities across the country, and actual raids. This week nearly 700 people were arrested by ICE in Mississippi at their jobs in a poultry packing plant. Their arrest on the first day of school left dozens of children stranded after school with no one to pick them up, terrified and crying. We're at it again. Separating children from their parents.

"I need my dad"

The sum of this, my friends, is the very picture of a dark state-sponsored terrorist campaign. Like Hitler and Charles Manson, TRUMP is using stochastic terrorism to incite his followers, as well as official law enforcement departments, to cruelly demonize and terrorize people of color.

In 1943, Anne Frank wrote, “Terrible things are happening outside. At any time of night and day, poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. They're only allowed to take a knapsack and a little cash with them, and even then, they're robbed of these possessions on the way. Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated.”

Have we forgotten?

After the shootings in El Paso and Dayton, 13 hours apart, 45 read a speech that, on paper, sounds pretty presidential. His delivery was characteristically flat and stilted as it always is when he has to read something to sound presidential. His mouth was dry and he looked like a robot. He sniffed his sniffs. He mistakenly placed one of the shootings in Toledo, a different Ohio city. The fact that the error was on the teleprompter illustrates how very little the whole administration cares. No one caught the mistake. 

Here is the automaton:

It wasn't long before the real SCROTUS showed up. At a hospital visit (where, incidentally, almost all of the hospitalized survivors declined to meet him), he joked and bragged about his crowd size, and gave a smiley thumb's up in a photo op with an orphaned baby whose parents were shot and killed. Sickening. Shameful.

Photo tweeted by Melania Trump

And while he was on his official visit to affected communities, he couldn't resist a racist political jab, tweeting about Beto O'Rourke, "Beto (phony name to indicate Hispanic heritage) O’Rourke, who is embarrassed by my last visit to the Great State of Texas, where I trounced him, and is now even more embarrassed polling at 1% in the Democratic Primary, should respect the victims & law enforcement — & be quiet!" Behavior true to his despicable character. 

His white nationalist rhetoric will no doubt be front and center at his next rally. 

The larger problem of gun violence (and it's not just mass shootings that devastate us; gun violence happens to individuals on a daily basis in every county of every state) lays at the feet of the NRA and the spineless, soulless ones who have been purchased by them. Not the least of whom is Senator Turtle from Kentucky, who was purchased for $1.4 million. Wayne LaPierre, head of the NRA, phoned 45 almost immediately after the El Paso and Dayton shootings, stressing that he must not advance any gun regulatory legislation. The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a background check bill. McConnell has let it sit in the Senate. Though there have been calls from Senators for McConnell to reconvene the Senate during their break and pass this bill, he has not. I'm betting he'll keep letting it sit, and emotions will have quieted down before Congress reconvenes next month, letting him do the NRA's bidding and resist bringing the bill to a vote. 

But make no mistake: McConnell and TЯUMP are opposing Americans' will. A recent Quinnipiac poll showed that 94% of Americans support background checks for gun buyers. Ninety-four percent! Gun owners themselves – 90% of them – support background checks. 

If you believe the NRA is funded solely by "law-abiding gun owners," you are mistaken. There has been Russian money flowing into the NRA as part of Russia's attempts to interfere in our election. The organization is trying hard to back-peddle away, but investigations are underway to unravel it. 

And if you believe the NRA has a pure Second Amendment rationale for their stance, again, you are sadly mistaken. You don't think their opposition to gun regulation is a race issue? You're wrong. The NRA are advocates for gun rights for white people. In the 60s, the NRA supported gun control when the Black Panthers were armed. Indeed, white supremacy has always been in the fabric of America's gun culture.

The United States gun problem is not easy to define, but Professor Eddie Glaude of Princeton had these amazing words in an attempt. Please listen.

"It’s easy for us to place it all on Donald Trump’s shoulders... This is us. And if we’re going to get past this we can’t blame it on him. He's a manifestation of the ugliness that’s in us." @esglaude says white people must reckon with the continued presence of racism in the U.S. pic.twitter.com/dclEaLsrK9

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 6, 2019

Consequences? They are far and wide. 

• Of course, gun violence destroys families of victims as well as damages survivors and their families, along with the members of each affected community and the country as a whole. 

• There are other consequences, too, such as travel warnings from Uruguay, Venezuela, and Japan, who warn their citizens from visiting the United States due to rampant gun violence. Our national reputation continues to be besmirched.

• There's a widespread increase in fear and anxiety after a mass shooting.

• The consequences to the Presidency: Peril. Community leaders in El Paso and Dayton told the President* to stay away. Right-leaning publications, like The Bulwark, are musing that perhaps indeed his days are numbered. He's looking "small and and isolated" according to Richard Parker in the New York Times. Republicans are also looking impotent in their silence or weak video game arguments.

• Children growing up with gun violence experience emotional and psychological trauma that lasts throughout their lives.

• There are huge direct and indirect economic impacts of gun violence. 

• Name your consequence here.

Solutions? We need them yesterday.

The Onion publishes this headline every time a mass shooting occurs: "No Way to Prevent This," Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens

I want my readers to know that I, as most Americans, do not advocate for the outright "banning" of guns. There are indeed legitimate reasons for owning a firearm. Hunting, self-protection, hobby. That's fine. But there's no doubt. When we are talking about a firearm, we're talking about an item that can and does kill very easily and is very easy to obtain. It's main purpose is for killing. Period. Doesn't that alone warrant some oversight?

We need strict regulations and licensing for "regular" firearms, and we must disallow civilian ownership of weapons of war. 

I cannot buy a hand grenade or a rocket launcher. I can't drive a tank to Trader Joe's. But I can go out and acquire an automatic assault rifle capable of firing 600 rounds a minute. There is no legitimate reason to own a weapon of war, designed for the killing and wounding of as many human beings as possible in as short a time as possible. If there is a legitimate reason, then let us buy hand grenades and mines, for there is no difference in the purpose for these weapons.

Gun advocates' favorite comparison is the automobile. "Cars are more dangerous! Automobile accidents kill xx number of Americans every day!" they cry. Well, ok. Let's take that comparison. Yes, vehicle accidents do kill and maim daily. And the number of deaths and injuries is mitigated by a myriad number of laws. You must be trained; you must be licensed; your vehicle must be registered in the state and maintained in safe operating condition; driver and passengers must wear safety belts; you must not operate a vehicle while under the influence of substances; you must be tested periodically; you must obey volumes of laws in order to operate this machine in public; you must maintain insurance coverage. Seriously, DUH! Regulations save lives! 

Boston has implemented a ground-breaking set of solutions for gun violence. Could they be a model for the rest of us?

Australia had one mass shooting in 1996, killing 35. Extensive gun regulations were immediately implemented, yet gun ownership in Australia is still robust. Rates of gun violence, including suicide, have drastically decreased there. There has been one mass shooting since then. Could Australia's system be implemented here?

Canada has a large gun-owning population. What Canada has: licensing, registration, safety requirements, restrictions, and background checks. Canada also has mentally ill citizens and plenty of people who play video games. What Canada does not have: mass shootings. Shall we develop a task force to study their system and work to develop something similar here?

Misinformed and misinforming leaders like to blame mental illness and video games each time there is a mass shooting. It's simply not the case; there are no strong connections between the individuals who commit these crimes and either of those convenient scapegoat reasons. Mental illness already has a dangerous stigma attached, and blaming mental illness is not helpful and furthers the stigma.. Folks with mental illness are more likely to be a victim of violence than perpetrate violence. And in truth, mass shootings create more need for mental health care for the individuals who are impacted by violence, mental health care which is sorely deficient in our country. I won't give it another word because these issues are red herrings.

What does impact the our nation of guns: The brainwashing from the NRA that somehow our rights as citizens will be severely impaired if we license, train, and manage firearm acquisition in our gun-loving country. But what about our inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? What about those rights? Today, I'm sitting here with my heart in my throat, and for me and millions of my countryfolk, those rights have been eroded. We must demand restoration of these inalienable rights!

Other factors that may influence gun violence: our culture of misogyny, xenophobia, white supremacy. Domestic violence. Isolation. Poverty. Unfortunately, however, we don't know a lot about how these issues impact gun violence. We don't know a lot about social impacts on gun violence in the United States, because since 1996's NRA-driven Dickey Amendment, research of gun violence by the CDC has been banned. We simply don't understand all the factors. 

What can be done, simply (but not always easily): 

• Support organizations that share your mission. Everytown, The Brady Campaign, the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence  are all fighting with you.

• Get money out of politics. Neuter the NRA. Then, pass firearm legislation based on its merits, not based on pleasing a powerful, wealthy lobby. We can then also resume research which will lead us to more solutions. 

• Take away weapons of war from the hands of civilians.

• Confront our white supremacist past and correct it. 

• Contact your Members of Congress

• Impeach the 45th President of the United States and remove him from office.

• Hold the Republicans accountable. VOTE BLUE. 

• Vote in a President that shares our values as Americans and as human beings. One that may write something like this: