Blue lives matter?

[Scooter]

[Scooter]

GOP congressman ‘refuses to shake hands’ with police officer injured in pro-Trump Capitol riot

Two House members – a Republican and a Democrat – on Wednesday accused GOP congressman Andrew Clyde of refusing to shake hands with Michael Fanone, a police officer who was injured during the 6 January Capitol riots.

Mr Clyde, who has previously compared the Capitol riot to “a normal tourist visit”, was also among the 21 House Republicans who on Tuesday voted against awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to the officers who defended the Capitol.

Tweeting about the alleged encounter between Mr Fanone and Mr Clyde, Democrat congressman Eric Swalwell wrote: “Fanone introduced himself as ‘someone who fought to defend the Capitol’ and put out his hand. Clyde refused to shake it.

“To honour Trump, [House GOP] will dishonour the police,” he added.

Republican representative Adam Kinzinger also took to Twitter saying that he called Mr Fanone and confirmed his story. “This is really incredible,” he wrote. “Also relayed an interaction he had with another members Chief of Staff that was really incredibly bad and disrespectful (sic).”

Mr Fanone, who was stun-gunned and beaten with a flagpole by supporters of Donald Trump during the insurrection, suffering a concussion and a heart attack in the process, has been a vocal critic of Republicans for downplaying the assault.

He had returned to the Capitol on Wednesday in an effort to meet the 21 House Republicans who had voted against formally recognising the officers involved in protecting the Capitol Building during the riot, reported the Washington Post.

Mr Fanone was with Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn when he jumped in an elevator with Mr Clyde. “I simply extended my hand and said, ‘How are you doing today, Congressman.’ I knew immediately he recognised me by the way he reacted. He completely froze. He just stared at me,” he told the paper.

The Republican representative did not shake his hand, Mr Fanone said, and instead responded saying: “I don’t know who you are.”

Mr Fanone said that even after he told him about being an officer who was injured during the Capitol riots, Mr Clyde’s “response was nothing”.

“He turned away from me, pulled out his cellphone and started thumbing through the apps,” he said, adding that the Republican bolted out of the door as soon as they opened.

The officer also shared details of what he described as a hostile encounter with James Braid, chief of staff for Republican representative Matthew Rosendale.

Mr Fanone said that Mr Braid was “super confrontational” and asked for his badge number, even after he told him he has provided his email address and telephone number.

While Mr Clyde’s office has so far not commented on the incident, Mr Rosendale’s spokesperson confirmed Mr Fanone’s meeting with Mr Braid. His office, however, denied the suggestion that the exchange was adversarial.

Representative Kinzinger was one of the few House Republicans to have voted to impeach Mr Trump following the Capitol riots, and he slammed Mr Clyde for his behaviour towards Mr Fanone.

“Every now and again I think we have to be at the bottom of how low we can get,” he told the Washington Post. “You don’t have to admit you should have voted for [the Gold Medal] by shaking a guy’s hand. The presence of these heroes can make some people uncomfortable.”

[Burning Petard]

Musings of an old geezer who wears diapers all the time: I wish Ray was here to properly express my views.

Authoritarian governments seem to be preferred by the dominant wing of the 'conservative' party in the USofA. Early this morning an NPR piece involved an exchange of opinions about the various election laws approved or proposed for Georgia, USA. Seemed to be patterned after The Georgia in the Caucasus region. The shared opinions on NPR were that these laws were converging on a legal situation where the public vote would be only advisory and the Georgia legislature would be free to 'certify' as elected anyone they might desire, including themselves.

Faith in the integrity and good intentions of politicians at all levels seem to me to be approaching the situation where the peasants will soon be marching with pitchforks and torches and be met by tanks and machine-guns.

Ben Franklin said we had a Republic, if we could keep it. There have been serious attempts to destroy it. Most conspicuously it was during the Presidency of Abe Lincoln. Most recently, a few members of the upper one percent tried to put together a military coup during the Roosevelt presidency.
[reference: "Behind the Nylon Curtain" Gerard Colby Zilg, first edition, first printing.]

Leon Trotsky said: given two percent of the population as disciplined followers, he could run any nation. The True belivers of Q-Anon have demonstrated their discipline. The national legislators listed at the head of this thread prove Hillary was right. There is a basket of deplorables; but few have drawn attention to just how big that basket is. I think it reaches well beyond Trotsky's 2%.

Sorry Ben. It had a nice run.

[Bicycle Bill]

Faith in the integrity and good intentions of politicians at all levels seem to me to be approaching the situation where the peasants will soon be marching with pitchforks and torches and be met by tanks and machine-guns.

No, there are over 350 million privately-owned firearms in this country — and they aren't all in the hands of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers and the right-wing gun nuts. There are a lot of others out there who are also armed; they just aren't advertising the fact. So should some quasi-legitimate asshole like Trump and company try to turn the country into a banana republic run by a military junta and the 'peasants' finally say "enough is enough" and rise up, they will be as well-armed as those they will be marching against.  And since the peasants do not have to follow some silly-ass 'rules of engagement' as government troops and police forces currently do, they would take a heavy toll — especially among those highly visible AR-toters who have probably sent less than 100 rounds down-range but depend on the mere display of a weapon to be sufficient to cow the opposition. 

Ben Franklin said we had a Republic, if we could keep it.

My feeling is that, if push actually came right down to shove, there would be enough who still believe in the principles of the Founding Fathers as outlined in the Declaration and the Constitution — and would do whatever is needed to prove it — that we would be able to
preserve the Republic against all enemies, both foreign or domestic.

-"BB"-

[Big RR]

My feeling is that, if push actually came right down to shove, there would be enough who still believe in the principles of the Founding Fathers as outlined in the Declaration and the Constitution — and would do whatever is needed to prove it — that we would be able to
preserve the Republic against all enemies, both foreign or domestic.

I think you are probably right, but it would be a much harder and extended fight than anyone would want. One thing the Spanish civil war showed is that dictatorships always do much better in a fight than republics which observe democratic principles, especially if there are regional or other differences among the various groups of freedom fighters.

Right now, I think our biggest protection is that the military forces are more dedicated to the constitution and the country than to any particular idiots, and may well ignore any orders designed to subjugate the populace. But then, this could easily result in the military leadership assuming power as "caretakers", not that good n option either.

[Scooter]

[Scooter]

Officer Fanone coming out of his meeting with Kevin McCarthy. Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words.

[Scooter]