Today is January 6, the first anniversary of the newest holy day for the Democrats. As expected, Democrats took to the microphones to express their great sadness at the “attack on democracy” one year ago.
President Joe Biden and Vice
President Kamala Harris commemorated the anniversary of the assault on the
Capitol by making public comments in the Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol. As
expected, Biden blamed Trump. He referred to Trump as a “self-seeking autocrat”
and called him a “defeated” former president who “can’t accept he lost.”
Speaking previous to Biden’s remarks, Harris compared January 6 to Pearl Harbor
and the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Fred Lucas said that Biden and Harris “made some big statements.” Then he analyzed the accuracy of four of their claims.
1) ‘Most Significant Test’ Since Civil War
Biden said the riot represented a threat
to democracy. “We’re facing the most significant test of our democracy since
the Civil War…. The Confederates … never breached the Capitol as
insurrectionists did on Jan. 6….
Some rioters carried Confederate battle
flags into the Capitol on Jan. 6, but at no time did the flag fly in the U.S.
Capitol during the Civil War, which raged from 1861 to 1865. So, Biden was
correct to say Confederate soldiers did not breach the Capitol carrying the
Confederate battle flag.
As for being a comparable threat, that’s
more questionable. The Civil War came about after Southern slaveholding states
attempted to break away from the United States and form a separate country.
The fledgling Confederate States of
America raised its own military in an armed rebellion that wore on for four
years and took the lives of more than 600,000 troops.
[The comparison is not a good one.]
2) Dec 7, Sept. 11, and Jan. 6
Harris put Jan. 6 in league with days that
will live in infamy.
“Certain dates echo throughout history,
including dates that instantly remind all who have lived through them where
they were and what they were doing when our democracy came under assault…. Dates
that occupy not only a place on our calendars, but a place in our collective
memory: Dec. 7, 1941; Sept. 11, 2001; and Jan. 6, 2021."
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in
December 1941 killed 2,403 Americans. The 9/11 terrorist attack on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon and in rural Pennsylvania killed 2,997 Americans.
Reportedly, only two people died directly
from the violence on Jan. 6, 2021. But as many as seven others died indirectly
from the events of the day….
[The comparison is not a good one.]
3) ‘Defeated Former President’
Throughout his speech, Biden did not refer
to Trump by name, but continuously blamed the riot on “a former president.”
“He’s not just a former president. He’s a
defeated former president, defeated by a margin of over 7 million of your votes
in a full and free and fair election.” …
Trump continues to contend the election was
neither free nor fair.
Other critics who did not question the
outcome nonetheless did raise concerns about large-scale mail-in-voting, as
well as private money from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg funding election
administration, primarily in heavily Democratic-leaning areas, with the
potential to affect the outcome….
[The battle continues to determine if the
election was free and fair. Georgia announced today that it would start an investigation
into ballot harvesting.]
4) ‘Armed Insurrection’
In a bid to ensure the events of a year
ago weren’t shrugged off, Biden insisted, “This wasn’t a group of tourists.
This was an armed insurrection.”
Trump has said there were “no guns
whatsoever.”
Whether the rioters were armed has been
disputed, and that’s perhaps based on a definition of “armed.” Several were
carrying pepper spray or bear spray, and wielding flagpoles as clubs in
attacking law enforcement officers.
Meanwhile, at least three rioters were
charged with having firearms “on Capitol grounds” or stashed nearby, meaning
not necessarily inside the Capitol….
Arms aside, so far, federal prosecutors
have not charged any of the rioters with insurrection. [Emphasis added.]
The term “insurrection” has a legal
definition and a dictionary definition that don’t correlate with what occurred
on Jan. 6, Jeffrey Scott Shapiro, a former assistant attorney general, wrote this
week in The Wall Street Journal.
He noted that most of those who were
arrested have been charged with violating 18 U.S.C. 371, which make it a crime “to
commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States.”
That includes civil disorder, disorderly conduct, entering and remaining in a
restricted building or grounds, destruction of government property, and
obstruction of an official proceeding.
“[N]ot one defendant is charged with
insurrection under 18 U.S.C. 2383,” Shapiro wrote. “That’s because insurrection
is a legal term with specific elements. No prosecutor would dare mislabel
negligent homicide or manslaughter a murder, because they are totally distinct
crimes. The media [have] no legal or moral basis to do otherwise.”
He continued: “The events of Jan. 6 also
fail to meet the dictionary definition of ‘insurrection,’ which Merriam-Webster
defines as “an act or instance of revolting against civil authority or an
established government.” A usage note adds that the term implies “an armed
uprising that quickly fails or succeeds.”
[Biden was wrong to call the assault “an
armed insurrection” and used the term for political benefits.]
Biden, Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Liz
Cheney, and others so-called leaders do not care about democracy or disrespect
to the People’s House. They are only interested in doing harm to Donald Trump.
What is causing all the hate for a man that once was invited to all their
events and often donated to their causes? What are they hiding that they fear
he will expose?
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