YES!! It Was An Insurrection.

I don't know what you saw, but I saw:

Protestors flinging projectiles at police.

Protestors beating, shoving, and insulting police.

Protestors breaking windows and vandalizing property.

I heard threats of violence, death, and anarchy.

Protesters dragging the American flag across the floor of congress.*

Protesters wearing the flag like a blanket.*

Protesters using the flag and its staff as a weapon.*

The American flag heaped on someone's desk.*

American flags defaced with slogans, pictures, and discoloration.*

Few arrests.

Violence should always face consequences.

I never heard anyone explain any reasoning for the violent attack on our government other than those based on unproven lies and conspiracy. 

All references to the protestors' object or goal were expressed as destruction, injury, and overthrow.

To paraphrase critiques of attempts over the summer to raise awareness of rampant social injustices: "What sense does it make to vandalize their own neighborhood," substitute the word government for the word neighborhood. 

Did any of the speakers at the protest discourage violence, did they discuss how to proceed peacefully and legally? 

Where was the militarized law enforcement that was present at the June 1, 2020, Lafayette Park protest that saw peaceful protestors run over and gassed so that the President could have a photo op?

How many of those protestors (and their defenders) that stormed the Capitol were harsh critics of peaceful protestors over the summer? Where is the outrage from the so-called 'family values' law and order conservatives? They were outraged by a passive protest at football games and the disruption of traffic patterns at other peaceful protests but silent on armed attacks on the government and our constitutional principles.

The hypocrisy of the right-wing/conservative Republican'ts is never more obvious than when they express their self-serving views on patriotism and, in particular, when they claim their views on the American flag. They condemn protestors who do not follow their rigid view of the pledge of allegiance and the national anthem. Failure to stand or recite the pledge is vilified by them, but they're OK with improper display of the flag when they are doing so. They cringe and nash their teeth at any criticism of the anthem's words but don't even know the second and third verses. They condemn people who don't wave the flag and beat their chest in echoing their brand of patriotism but consider it OK to deface the flag with images, colors, and slogans that support their political views. Yet they condemn a man who chooses to kneel (a historical sign of respect) instead of stand during the anthem.

Flag desecration and proper protocols are laid out in the 4 U.S. Code § 8.Respect for the flag but it is not law; it is not enforceable by any degree other than society's level of acceptance. We are all free to accept it as protocol or reject it, but if you reject it, then what are the rules concerning 'respect' for the flag? 

That, obviously, is where the right-wing nationalist are: they feel they have the right to decide what patriotism is, what the proper respect for the flag is, what is right for the country. It is what they say it is. They are like the bully on the playground... his rules. 

The Bully in Chief 

Incited by the Bully in Chief and with the limited attitude of a mob, that is what they chose to do on January 6, 2021; takeover with no real objective other than violence, destruction, and bodily harm.

The June 1, 2020, Lafayette Park protest and the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol graphically demonstrate the divisive, illegitimate, and chaotic nature of Donald Trump's presidency and aspirations. 

GlennDL

Opinion: Political extremes hijack national symbols

POLITIFACT

*All of the items followed by the "*" are listed as disrespectful and desecration of the flag under the US Flag Code, but the so-called patriots" have little understanding of either our constitution or the flag code. The irony is that these same "patriots" probably are among those who skewered a black athlete who chose to kneel, a gesture which has never been viewed as a sign of disrespect in history, instead of standing.

Picture: By The White House from Washington, DC - President Trump Visits St. John's Episcopal Church, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=90897698

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New Cases Daily: Declines in China & South Korea

Health Care Costs Are a Top Priority for Most Voters

"As the 2020 election approaches, a new poll found that health care costs are the top issue for the majority of voters. In particular, Americans want health care and prescription drug costs cut, regardless of political affiliation."

"About 80 percent responded that lowering the cost of health care is extremely or very important, including 89 percent of Democrats and 76 percent of Republicans. Prescription drug prices saw similar responses, with 75 percent saying lowering costs is important and majorities in both parties ranking it as extremely or very important."

“Health care and drug costs are issues that affect every American,” said Robert Roach, Jr., President of the Alliance. “Elected officials should take note and take real action to lower skyrocketing prescription drug prices and out of pocket costs. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell must respond to the public’s demands and pass H.R. 3, the Lower Drug Costs Now Act, not block it.”

source: "The Alliance for Retired Americans"

Democratic Socialist are not Communist.

The Disparity and Deception of Labels and Party.

We often fail to see the many varied meanings and definitions of words. Especially words used in a religious or political context. This is why we sometimes promote bills, people and policies that we would never support if we looked beyond their titles and slogans to the minutia of their real intent.
We make the same mistake with people in politics by misinterpreting various labels attached to them:

liberal, conservative, progressive, socialist, social democrat, democratic socialist, communist… 

Can any of us give an informative and distinct definition of all these labels? I doubt it. In researching the difference between communism, socialism and social democrat I encountered 11 forms of socialism with an additional 23 sub-forms of those 11. Further complicating the labeling process is that most people who identify with the above labels and the additional labels of Democrat or Republican would be hard-pressed to define these labels to the satisfaction of everyone else who identifies with them.

It is the misuse of these labels that leads to applying the word socialism to any ideals that we find offensive. That, in turn, leads to the application of the word (as it suits us) to ideas that are not so offensive.

Case in point, the idea that welfare is socialism is an attack on welfare and any ideas that could be semantically traced back to socialism such as social security, tithing, charity, caring for the poor, public schools, etc. Consequently, this leads to defenders of welfare applying the same logic and semantics to point out the absurdity of linking everything to socialism. In truth, these ideals are all concepts that originated before the word socialism was ever spoken. But that is where we are. Labels like socialist, liberal, conservative are used to discredit a person or position in place of a convincing argument on the merits of a person or position.

With political labels comes a collection of people who are not monolithic in thought, in spite of their mutual acceptance of core principles differences will surface as they encounter specific solutions to the primary principle. While core principles may be agreed upon there are always layers of more nuanced thought. In other words with every specific issue there are varied position as to degree, commitment, solutions, etc.*

For decades, in every presidential election, Republicans have used the words 'leftist', liberal, socialist to describe every Democratic nominee. These words were 'dog whistles' for fears of communism and socialism. But socialism is not the same as communism and as mentioned above how do we accurately apply the label 'socialist'. We shouldn't because in the realm of politics even self-described labels are inaccurate and almost always used as a broad brush to misrepresent or denigrate.
What we should do is look at the party platform which is modified and restated every 4 years. We should also be familiar with their history. For individual candidates, we should look at their voting-record as well as their stated positions.

Labels and parties are meant to mislead us by accepting the whole without looking at the parts. Consider what they say about each other as less important than what they say on your issues, bolstered by their record. Decide based on what issues are important to you not by your impression of a party.

*All conservative republicans may think they agree on school prayer. That could almost be stated as a foregone conclusion except for one thing… Many religious people are actually in favor of the separation of church and state. If and when you get past 'we want school prayer' declaration there comes a more nuanced question, whose school prayer? Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Hebrew, etc. Once you go with the majority and decide on Christianity then you have to deal with which denomination,  Catholic or Protestant, and even after choosing between those two both include hundreds of denominations and sects to decide upon. In the end, the eventual solution will probably return us to where we started, which is not where there is no prayer allowed in school because prayer is allowed in school right now. The supreme court never outlawed school prayer. What they did do was the most reasonable and acceptable standard for school prayer possible: School prayer is allowable along as it is personal, not led by a school official, optional, and does not disrupt the objectives of the school, learning.

Nevada Debate: The power of speaking up

By Emily Peck HUFFPOST

"At last night's Democratic presidential debate, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) went after Michael Bloomberg (Billionaire-NYC) over his use of nondisclosure agreements.

Bloomberg's company used NDAs to force women to stay silent about their experiences with sexual harassment and discrimination at the media and data company. Bloomberg tried to argue, weakly, that NDAs are good for everyone.

Typically, NDAs are the price you pay if you want to settle a lawsuit against a powerful person or company. The agreements essentially buy your silence. If you don't sign, you don't get the settlement money. Women faced with the huge costs of litigation may feel they have little choice. By keeping these stories quiet, however, bad actors get to keep doing bad acts.

"NDAs also helped cover up the sexual misconduct allegations involving former NBC 'Today' anchor Matt Lauer and other officials at NBC, as well as those involving Fox News founder Roger Ailes and former host Bill O’Reilly," writes my colleague Marina Fang.

I was reminded of this as I was reading Susan Fowler's new book about her time working at Uber. While there, Fowler was sexually harassed and retaliated against. The details are truly shocking and I encourage you to read the book. But we wouldn't know any of this had Fowler been bound by an NDA. Indeed, if she'd been silent, Uber might still be doing this stuff to its workers. Thanks to her, it's not."

Finally, The Real Elizabeth Warren Steps Up
“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against: a billionaire who calls women ’fat broads’ and ‘horse-faced lesbians,’” Warren said in her opening comments. “And, no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg.”    read more

Bloomberg Says Women ‘Get Paid Exactly The Same As Men’ At His Company. They Don’t.
"Women occupy only 1 in 5 of the top quarter of the highest-paying jobs; the representation of women is largest in the bottom quarter of jobs."

"And although an equal share of men and women earn bonuses, the median women’s bonus is one-third lower than the median men’s bonus."     read more

Susan Fowler Perfectly Illustrates Why You Shouldn’t Silence Women
"The daughter of an evangelical preacher, she grew up dirt poor in rural Arizona, Fowler writes in a new memoir, “Whistleblower.” She and her six siblings were homeschooled until their mother was forced to go back to work."      read more

Annual Retiree Voting Record

The Alliance for Retired Americans’ annual voting record scores every U.S. Representative and Senator on issues affecting current and future retirees.

For 2019, we reviewed 10 key Senate and House votes for legislation that affected the health and well-being of retirees, including skyrocketing prescription drug prices.

A description of the Senate and House votes are available here.

Find your current federal representatives here.

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