Don's Tuesday Column

              THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson    Red Bluff Daily News   1/12/2021

        Stone-throwers in glass houses

People who break the law should be arrested, charged and prosecuted; it sends a message to others that their freedom and possessions are forfeit for lawlessness. These standards should apply regardless of class, race, political leanings or connections. In fact, they don’t so apply.

President Donald J. Trump (I cherish being able to continue to write those words) wrote, in 2 tweets: “The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”

“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”

In a blatant exercise of despotic power, Twitter then cancelled @realDonaldTrump from the Twitter universe because the two posts had violated its “Glorification of Violence policy.” The goal: “prevent the glorification of violence that could inspire others to replicate violent acts.” It’s ludicrous, applied to Trump.

Twitter said Trump’s last two posts were “highly likely to encourage and inspire people to replicate the criminal acts that took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021…based on a number of factors,” listed in its statement. No, it was based solely on political avarice, prejudice and the use of power to “cancel” opponents. I listened to Trump’s speech; not one word of incitement to violence. Trump said to go “peacefully and patriotically” to Capitol Hill.

“There needs to be unrest in the streets as long as there’s unrest in our lives.” “Protesters should not let up.” “I just don’t know why there aren’t uprisings all over the country. Maybe there will be.” “If you see [Trump’s people] in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gas station, you get out and create a crowd and you push back on them and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”

Those calls for violence, unrest and intimidation didn’t come from President Trump, or his MAGA supporters. They came from Democrats Ayanna Pressley, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters.

“Commie” Harris (my chosen nickname) interrupted an interviewer to repeat, ad nauseum, “They’re not gonna stop, they’re not gonna stop” a total of seven times to express her support of the “protests” that devolved into “unrest, arson and riots” in every city that allowed “antifa-BLM-ers” into their streets after dark. Harris supported a group raising bail for rioters. $2 billion in damage; at least 12 dead, Ms. Harris.

Ali Velshi (MSNBC) described the arson, fires and rioting visible behind him as “mostly a protest” and “not, generally speaking, violent.” Fellow MSNBC correspondent Joy Reid, speaking of the unrest, riots and arson in Minneapolis: “That ain’t a riot, what we’re seeing right now in Minneapolis… They’re principled antifascists…”

CNN’s intellectual jewel of hypocrisy, Chris Cuomo: “All punches are not equal, morally…” as his fellow on-air provocateur Don Lemon added, “No organization is perfect, there’s some violence.” Another “journalist”: “Any reasonable person would say ‘we shouldn’t be destroying other people’s property’ but these are not reasonable times.”

“Thank goodness for the looters, man” (Lemon). “I disagree [with calling out thugishness]” insisted Lemon after another panelist said we should call it out. More flawless logic from Cuomo: “Please, show me where it says protests are supposed to be polite.” Hey, Cuomo, the First Amendment: “the right peaceably to assemble.” He then rationalized how “most major movements” had “direct conflict with the government.”

On the mobs tearing down statues, Pelosi said, “I don’t care about statues…people do what they do.” If President Trump had expressed any of the above sentiments about the violence at the Capitol, he’d be rightly condemned by his supporters. Since Democrats and the media repeatedly said that the violence last summer was “mostly peaceful,” we are entitled to say Wednesday’s events were overwhelmingly peaceful.

Democrats urging, inciting or suggesting violence: “Go to the Hill today, get up in the face of some congresspeople” (Cory Booker); “When they go low, we kick ‘em” (Eric Holder); “We’ll fight ‘em in the streets and protests”; “If he had fired Robert Mueller, we would have people take to the streets (in) widespread civil unrest” (Ted Lieu); “You gotta be ready to throw a punch” (Pelosi); “There’d be riots in the streets” (James Clapper on a Mueller firing); “I think you need to go back there and punch him in the face. This guy (Trump) is bad for the country” (John Tester, Dem.-MT);

Headlines: “JUST IN: Anti-Kavanaugh protesters take over the Hart Senate Office Building Atrium on Capitol Hill” (MSNBC); “Ferguson: In Defense of Rioting” (TIME); “In Defense of Destroying Property” (Newsweek); “Riots Aren’t Irrational” (Abigail Weinberg). Though scary, “Riots can lead to serious social reforms”; “Riots are the voice of the unheard”; “What we’re missing when we condemn ‘violence’ at protests”; “Understanding Antifa: What do antifascists in Chicago want?”;

Finally, the New Yorker: “In the Streets with Antifa—Trump is vowing to designate the movement as a terrorist organization. Antifa believes that they are protecting their communities…justifying violence.”

In 2017: “Liberals started rioting right after Trump’s election, even during his inauguration.” AOC in 2019: “Marginalized people have ‘no choice but to riot’, refused to condemn antifa violence” (pjmedia.com).

The left loved it when teachers’ unions occupied the Wisconsin Capitol, protesting Gov. Walker. Last June, House Democrats unanimously blocked a resolution condemning violence, rioting and police defunding.

There were antifa-BLM-ers instigating violence at the Capitol, identifiable by photos, social media and records of participation in BLM and environmental protests. Look up “agents provocateurs.” Antifa threats caused police to warn people to stay in the building (Mo Brooks). Some Trump supporters disgraced only themselves by joining the violence; others actually pushed antifa people back.