The New York Times created a 17-minute video showing conversations and actions among the leaders of the odious Proud Boys as they directed the mob on 1/6/21. The PB referred to the other members of the mob as “normies,” people who were naively swept up in their efforts to storm and capture the U.S. Capitol and stop the certification of the election.
It is a dramatic video of those who nearly carried out a coup intended to keep Trump in power.
A recent poll shows that most Republicans believe that the insurrection was the work of Antifa and other enemies of Trump. If that were true, Trump would have sent in the National Guard at once. Anyone who believes that Antifa was running the riot is delusional.
The video reminds us how close we came to a coup.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Breathtaking.
“I can’t breathe.”
FYI
The state of Massachusetts under Jeffry Riley is making a final decision about taking over the Boston Schools very soon. The charter advocates appear to have too much influence in the decision. The Mayor of Boston is opposed to state takeover.
Thank you for all your hard and necessary work for the people and their schools
Susan Donlan
The video explains quite clearly why small groups of reactionaries believe their actions will create a national civil war. It does not comfort in any way. It would be one thing if they were the only ones, but it’s clear people will follow them either in public or in their innermost, unspoken convictions that they dare not say out loud. Yet. As we have seen, the number of those who willingly spew this in public is growing every day, even as we try to convince ourselves they are a minority of our neighbors.
The coup is ongoing from corporate funding to packing courts. Too many still believe such extremism is over stated, but the evidence is right in front of us.
The description for the U.S., “Christo-fascist”
It’s a pretense at fighting Christo-fascism if the conservative Catholic powerhouse is ignored.
Along with this video, I think we can state that Pence behaved quite heroically on Jan. 6, can’t we?
That is indeed very heroic, reminiscent of Ukraine’s leader refusing to leave
Imagine if things had been reversed and Trump had been VP: Trump would have left in a heartbeat.
Can we agree that whatever heroism he may have displayed on Jan 6, he has been distancing himself from his actions as much as possible and continues to behave in a Stockholm-Syndrome-ish manner. Everything he has done since Jan 6 has diminished whatever heroism he displayed and all the evidence points to the fact that he was looking for a way to avoid doing his ceremonial duty prior to Jan 6. So no, I would not call him a hero. He was doing the minimum that was required of him to do his job, just like millions of Americans do every day.
He was avoiding the prospect of a charge for sedition.
Secondly, he was afraid to get in the car with the Secret Service for fear he would have been taken somewhere without witnesses and shot. In the past few weeks, Lindsay Graham said, “What I liked about Pres. Trump was we were all afraid of him.” Pence knew Trump had said he could kill someone on Fifth Ave. and get away with it.
While many Americans believe in democracy, Pence’s form of government is theocracy.
Much as it sounds (and is) out of character for Pence and regardless of how he has behaved since, it appears to me that, at the time, Pence actually did behave in a heroic manner by not acceding to Trump’s demands to throw the election. That was no small thing to resist, particularly when he had no idea what the outcome would be.
Along with a few others — particularly General Mark Milley — he stopped the coup.
I’m not ready to give Pence credit. It’s not that he did the right thing so much as he didn’t do the wrong thing.
What’s the difference? He was under tremendous pressure and he didn’t panic, acted coolly. You do not have to say “Pence is a good guy” but he did act as a VP was supposed to act at the time: he stood up to Trump and the very scary, out of control crowd which wanted to hang him. This is not a fairy tale with villains always acting villainously.
Pence did not invoke the 25th Amendment for example. He has continued to fawn at Trump’s feet. His leadership might have changed the outcome.
With losing objectivity, we are also losing credibility.
The coup was successful.
The Supreme Court of the United States has fallen.
Yes.
Have Pelosi, Schumer, Harris or Biden spoken about the role that the right wing Catholic church played in the takeover of SCOTUS?
One could say, at this late date, it would be closing the gate after the horse is out. But, women can still lose their rights to pharmaceutical birth control, can lose their right to dress without Taliban-like restrictions and lose the right to travel without a man accompanying them. Black people and women can have their votes not just suppressed but, taken away. And gay people can lose equal rights.
A pundit made the rounds on T.V. yesterday saying that there is no reason to fear Clarence Thomas’ plans. She omitted the fact that the other jurists lied in order to be confirmed indicating they are not to be trusted.
The only thing we have to fear is the Supreme Court itself
Who hasn’t enhanced their resume a little bit by adding an additional month of experience?
Let the one who has never told a little fib be the first to throw the book at Special K and the others.
Sonia Sotomayor is also Catholic, but apparently not a member of the Opus Dei cult. Likely why she ruled based on the law.
The public is able to distinguish the differences within a religious group that is less than 3% of the population, Orthodox Jews contrasted with reform Jews. (In total, 85+% of Jews vote Democratic.)
Do the 63% of white Catholics who attended church regularly and voted for Trump in 2020 have to dress differently in order for Americans to understand where the attacks on their civil liberties are coming from? The public is to be forgiven, the Church’s PR is very good at what it does.