Most of us watching the House Select Committee yesterday (judging from social media chatter) didn’t expect to react as we did when we watched the videos (which we’ve seen before) and listened to the testimony (which we’ve read in part in news stories). It’s hard to choose just one moment that summed up yesterday’s examination of that horrible day, but here’s what stuck in my net:
The utter gravitas of this committee. Prior to gaveling in, as the participants moved their water bottles around and checked their mics, I thought about history unfurling. And then committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson began to speak, low, slow and mellifluous, followed by Rep. Liz Cheney, who sounded like an old-school Republican, willing to work across the aisles no matter the disagreements. Do we hate our political adversaries more than we love our country, she asked. Great question.
Those still-enraging videos.
This story: On Jan. 6, Officer Michael Fanone (DC Metropolitan Police) was pleading for his life as he was being beaten by the crowd: “I got kids,” he yelled, and only then did some of the insurrectionists step in to help him. After the attack, Officer Fanone suffered a heart attack, a TBI, and a concussion. And on Tuesday, when his hand hit the hearing table to emphasis when he said the treatment was disgraceful, I cheered.
Capitol Police Officer Dunn asked, “Why is telling the truth heroic?”
In an age of COVID-deniers, Climate Change dismissers, Inequality ignorers and Trickledown defenders, our lives, our liberty and our ability to pursue happiness in any form continue to be jeopardized by alternate facts and the parallel universe of Trumpland, where self-styled Christians and Conservatives and Defenders of Liberty can mock their fellow Americans who live these values while defending others whose actions are antithetical fo them.
When I saw Officer Fanone's hand slam the table, when I saw his eyes steel in that moment, when I heard the silence that followed, I wept. I wept for all of us.
Especially after hearing the phone message left for Officer Fanone while he testified, I've been thinking about how much public framing of people's utterances establishes how they're heard by casual readers, who are the majority of us. (I often think about that, but now especially on the current national-partisan basis.)
We are currently so dominated by shit-flinging human primates.
Treating their jeers as substantive objections to be addressed in carefully researched and reasoned responses isn't working: the shit keeps flying much faster than it can be carefully and publicly identified and refuted, and people's taste for shit is being fueled and cultivated by the shit-flingers.
I don't recommend responding in kind. It would (does, when practiced) simply delight the first shit-flingers and make the environment worse in short and long runs.
I hope that jeering gangs go out of fashion. I've never been good at fashion, and have no idea how to promote that end.
Mary Ann, your reply evokes powerful images ranging from "An Enemy Of The People" t "Lord Of The Flies" to "2001"; like you I hope yesterday was a turning point and we can all look at those jeering and say "Have you no sense of decency, at long last?"
We only caught a few shorter replays. What Officer Fanone shared stuck with me. Why aren't people like Trump and some others held responsible for inciting a riot and then for failing to act to stop it? And now McCarthy & his crew are trying to sabotage any efforts on bringing about justice for these officers, government employees, and the country. Why can't these people be fired for failing to act and purposefully lying to the public?
McCarthy and McConnell saying they were too busy to watch the hearing remind me of witnesses to a gang murder who say they didn’t see anything because they’re afraid of reprisals.
I couldn't possibly think any less of you...oh, wait. I wish for these comments there was a way to edit or take away a like. I'm brilliant when I've had a little time to think -- generally a few hours after I post comments.
They are. It kills me we (the country) don't have better protections against and minimum requirements for scum like them staying in the position, beyond waiting years for an election. They know they can get away with acting in selfish ways that bring harm to segments of our population with little to no consequence. It's a huge flaw in our system. With the responsibility, there should be accountability.
The First Amendment would have protected the rights of those people to stand outside and whine and whinge all they wanted. When things got violent, well, buh-bye Constitutional protection.
You have wonderful fans here and I agree with all of their comments. Though we won’t engage in lynching the liars and proponents of Trumpism, there should be a legal way to rid our government of their “unconstitutional” behavior and statements. Waiting for the next election or hoping there can be some charges brought against them has only harmed our country and detailed the efforts to make us a true democracy. I fear we are sliding so far back from what our country was meant to be, that we may never fully recover. 😥💔
Capitol Police Officer Dunn asked, “Why is telling the truth heroic?”
In an age of COVID-deniers, Climate Change dismissers, Inequality ignorers and Trickledown defenders, our lives, our liberty and our ability to pursue happiness in any form continue to be jeopardized by alternate facts and the parallel universe of Trumpland, where self-styled Christians and Conservatives and Defenders of Liberty can mock their fellow Americans who live these values while defending others whose actions are antithetical fo them.
Orwell got everything right but the date.
That really struck me, when he said that. Telling the truth is easy, unless you’re crooked. Then it’s harder than yodeling.
When I saw Officer Fanone's hand slam the table, when I saw his eyes steel in that moment, when I heard the silence that followed, I wept. I wept for all of us.
I'm crawling my way through it.
Especially after hearing the phone message left for Officer Fanone while he testified, I've been thinking about how much public framing of people's utterances establishes how they're heard by casual readers, who are the majority of us. (I often think about that, but now especially on the current national-partisan basis.)
We are currently so dominated by shit-flinging human primates.
Treating their jeers as substantive objections to be addressed in carefully researched and reasoned responses isn't working: the shit keeps flying much faster than it can be carefully and publicly identified and refuted, and people's taste for shit is being fueled and cultivated by the shit-flingers.
I don't recommend responding in kind. It would (does, when practiced) simply delight the first shit-flingers and make the environment worse in short and long runs.
I hope that jeering gangs go out of fashion. I've never been good at fashion, and have no idea how to promote that end.
Mary Ann, your reply evokes powerful images ranging from "An Enemy Of The People" t "Lord Of The Flies" to "2001"; like you I hope yesterday was a turning point and we can all look at those jeering and say "Have you no sense of decency, at long last?"
We only caught a few shorter replays. What Officer Fanone shared stuck with me. Why aren't people like Trump and some others held responsible for inciting a riot and then for failing to act to stop it? And now McCarthy & his crew are trying to sabotage any efforts on bringing about justice for these officers, government employees, and the country. Why can't these people be fired for failing to act and purposefully lying to the public?
McCarthy and McConnell saying they were too busy to watch the hearing remind me of witnesses to a gang murder who say they didn’t see anything because they’re afraid of reprisals.
Chicken shittery at its finest.
I just “liked” my own comment by mistake. I don’t want you to think any less of me.
I couldn't possibly think any less of you...oh, wait. I wish for these comments there was a way to edit or take away a like. I'm brilliant when I've had a little time to think -- generally a few hours after I post comments.
Well good. I wouldn’t want to belong to a blog that would want me anyway.
They're disgusting.
They are. It kills me we (the country) don't have better protections against and minimum requirements for scum like them staying in the position, beyond waiting years for an election. They know they can get away with acting in selfish ways that bring harm to segments of our population with little to no consequence. It's a huge flaw in our system. With the responsibility, there should be accountability.
The First Amendment would have protected the rights of those people to stand outside and whine and whinge all they wanted. When things got violent, well, buh-bye Constitutional protection.
I still have an hour to go, and have to pause there. But I'd say:
1. the videos, which really bring back how terrifying that day was even from central Colorado,
2. the stark sense of abandonment the law officers spoke from.
That was painful to hear.
"It shouldn't be this hard to tell the truth, but I guess in this America it is."
That broke my heart.
You have wonderful fans here and I agree with all of their comments. Though we won’t engage in lynching the liars and proponents of Trumpism, there should be a legal way to rid our government of their “unconstitutional” behavior and statements. Waiting for the next election or hoping there can be some charges brought against them has only harmed our country and detailed the efforts to make us a true democracy. I fear we are sliding so far back from what our country was meant to be, that we may never fully recover. 😥💔
These are not fans. They are co-conspirators.