Lighting Up the Eternal Klansman

On July 3, 1983, I saw the Dead Kennedys play on the National Mall at Rock Against Reagan. I had just moved to the city the day before and it was really hot. (My poor parents helped me move, and I remember particularly the mattress and box spring that had to be carried to the third floor of the shared house I lived in. Mom and Dad were close to 10 years younger then than I am now, of course.)

Anyway, I don't remember a ton of details about the concert, which I saw with my brand-new housemates. But I do remember the DK's lead singer, Jello Biafra, describing the Washington Monument, which was in the background that night — with its glowing red lights at the triangular top of the obelisk — as the Eternal Klansman. 

Last night, during the final night of the 2020 Republican National Convention, I didn't have the presence of mind to get my own images of the jaw-droppingly crass and illegal fireworks display that followed all the other illegality on display on the White House lawn. 

When the fireworks started after Mafia Mulligan's interminable speech, it was bad enough that they were arrayed around and over the Washington Monument. But then the name TRUMP blasted up, followed by the year 2020. On the NATIONAL MALL, which belongs to all of us. 

Somehow that was worse than all the rest of the previous nights of speeches at the White House, as bad as that use of public land had been to me.

The only part that made it slightly okay (in my head) was the fact about the Eternal Klansman was there, overseeing it as an inside joke.

But it's not okay.

___

 Oh, and in case you haven't seen this chart about COVID risk in various scenarios... here it is:

(As always, click to enlarge for better readability.) Please apply it in your own life, and note how it applies to the audience from last night's White House RNC criminal extravaganza.

It sounds like there were a total of 11 people wearing masks in the 1,000+ audience on the White House lawn last night, hence the inclusion of the dotted line. From what I could see of audience shots, most of them were near each other and were some type of border agent, in uniform.