Witnessing free speech in judiciary January 6 real time hearing

Witnessing the free press action in real time: January 6, 2022 presented in a court room worthy thriller!

Watching democracy expressed in responsible First Amendment freedom!  Watch the YouTube video here. 

This opinion editorial was published in the Rutland Herald, in Vermont:

It was compelling even if the images — visual and spoken — were awful. (IMO- Moreover, the committee presentations have launched Representative Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) to the status of a political rock star!)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/first-jan-6-hearing-draws-20-million-viewers-preliminary-nielsen-data-rcna33046

We saw the aftermath, the carnage. It was surreal that it had happened in the U.S. Capitol. It seemed crazy it happened in the United States at all.

January 6, was unique in modern US history. Five people died, Congress went into hiding, and the country briefly teetered on the edge of a coup d’etat.

We saw firsthand it had. The January 6, 2021 insurrection riot left more than 100 police officers injured, many beaten and bloodied, as the crowd of pro-Trump rioters, some armed with pipes, bats and bear spray, charged into the Capitol. At least nine people who were there died during and after the rioting, including a woman who was shot and killed by police.

As U.S. Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards testified Thursday night, “it was chaos.”

By Friday morning, all sides dug in like ticks.

You were either going to defend the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. Or you weren’t. Some Republicans insisted it was old news and that it was ridiculous to place any blame on former president Donald Trump.

But so far, the evidence would suggest that the assault was hardly spontaneous. It was not a farce, with broad implications. The Justice Department has arrested and charged more than 800 people for the violence that day, the biggest dragnet in its history.

“Democracy remains in danger,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chair of the panel. “The violence was no accident.”

In the weeks ahead, the panel is expected to detail Trump’s public campaign to “Stop the Steal” and the private pressure he put on the Justice Department to reverse his election loss — despite dozens of failed court cases attesting there was no fraud on a scale that could have tipped the results in his favor.

Trump defended Jan. 6 Capitol rioters chanting ‘hang Mike Pence

The panel faced obstacles from its start. Republicans blocked the formation of an independent body that could have investigated the Jan. 6 assault the way the 9/11 Commission probed the 2001 terror attack.

The hearings might not change many right wing Americans’ views of the Capitol attack, but the panel’s investigation is intended to stand as its public record. Ahead of this fall’s midterm elections, and with Trump considering another White House run, the committee’s final report aims to account for the most violent attack on the Capitol since 1814, and to ensure such an attack never happens again.

Thursday night was likely the panel’s “greatest hits.” (It was also widely watched!)

WASHINGTON — About 20 million people in the United States tuned in to the first hearing on the House's investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol Thursday night, according to preliminary data released by Nielsen on Friday.

Nielsen noted that while coverage varied, there were 12 networks that carried the hearing live between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET.

But, it is also about what will happen next. Americans must be concerned and forewarned about the uptick in violence nationwide, including the ramped up harassment of marginalized minority groups and attacks on members of the media.

And those willing to harass, threaten and intimidate are unjustly feeling emboldened, like they have good reasons and excuses for acting inappropriately. And they are using social media as both organizer and megaphone.

Much akin to what led to the insurrection on Jan. 6.

In recent weeks, since several mass shootings in the United States, the chatter has elevated to the point of becoming shrill.

According to a report by the Associated Press released Friday morning, White nationalists and supremacists, on accounts often run by young men, are building thriving, macho communities across social media platforms like Instagram, Telegram and TikTok, evading detection with coded hashtags and innuendo.

“Their snarky memes and trendy videos are riling up thousands of followers on divisive issues, like abortion, guns, immigration and LGBTQ rights. The Department of Homeland Security warned Tuesday that such skewed framing of the subjects could drive extremists to violently attack public places across the U.S. in the coming months,” the AP article notes.

These types of threats and racist ideology have become so commonplace on social media that it’s nearly impossible for law enforcement to separate internet ramblings from dangerous, potentially violent people, Michael German, who infiltrated white supremacy groups as an FBI agent, told the Senate Judiciary Committee this week. The problem is: So many false alarms drown out threats, he testified.

We are seeing more references to hate-filled ideologies. Authorities are learning about more coded messaging urging on violence and fear. They are seeing recruitment efforts. (A closer look reveals hundreds of posts steeped in sexist, anti-semitic, racist and homophobic content, the AP notes.)

As a nation, we are seeing compelling evidence — visual and spoken — that are leading to carnage and intimidation.

The concern is that Jan. 6 may have signaled a new normal. That truly does put democracy in danger.