It's July 6, 2021. Five years ago tonight, Philando Castile was shot to death by a lying, cowardly cop a few miles from my house. Six months ago this afternoon, Donald Trump and the authoritarian machine he's part of tried to overthrow the U.S. government.
I was just looking through my post from January 6, which consisted of tweets from that day and the night before. I wish I had written more about it all in the days that followed, but it was overwhelming, and that's clear from the way I didn't write about it on some days.
There's one particular tweet I quoted on January 6 that stands out now as especially clear-eyed. It was written late the night of January 5, when it was shaping up that both Democrats would win the Georgia Senate elections:
every Republican-controlled state legislature is going to go on a voter suppression blitz of unbelievable proportions starting.... yesterday, scorched earth, one party rule forever. invest in the local orgs fighting state by state
Talia Lavin @chick_in_kiev
If you haven't watched the New York Times video that thoroughly pieces together what happened at the Capitol that day, it's worth the 40 minutes it takes. The bigger the screen, the better.
This Huffington Post summary gives an up-to-date list of indictments. (500 total as of July 4, including 51 people with military backgrounds, 46 off-duty or former cops, 57 state and local GOP officials... I imagine there's some overlap among those.)
I stand by my take on the shooting of Ashli Babbit, which I posted on January 24. Every time I see that footage, I don't know how it could have come out any better (seen any less death), given the circumstances.
One thing I wish I had written about when it happened is House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's chickenshit speech to the House a few days after January 6 (maybe it was even on January 7?). I'm not sure when it was exactly, but I remember listening to it with my jaw dropped. And then clenched.
And now it's become nothing but background, essentially forgotten in the midst of all the other Republican obfuscation.
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Posts related to January 6:
Build Back Better, without Caste, But How?
No Shared Reality, Not Even About the Portapotties
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