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From the Publisher

Don’t forget what actually happened

Posted

Rioting Americans overtook the U.S. Capitol building and tried to interfere with the Presidential election certification.

By the time I write this, and by the time you read it, millions of words will have been said and written about those events of Jan. 6, 2021.

I’ve read and listened to a lot, and it appears people are already forgetting the What, the Where and the When. There has been explanation after explanation, much of it rationalizing or even defending the actions. There has been deserved criticism of the inadequate security. There has been discussion about who was, or who wasn’t, in the angry mobs.

Those discussions muddle the essence of the events.

To repeat: Rioting Americans overtook the U.S. Capitol building and tried to interfere with the Presidential election certification.

Jan. 6 could have been worse. It was learned one group of rioters turned left in a hallway, and reached locked, secure doors to the Senate chambers. Had they turned right, they would have found open, unlocked doors. At this point, there were still lawmakers inside. Shortly thereafter, all the lawmakers were cleared and the doors secured. Frightening to think what might have happened had the rioters turned the other way. 

The only positive thing to come out of Jan. 6 was the return of the legislators to the Capitol, to finish what they’d started, even if it took them until nearly 4 a.m. They were understandably shaken, but unbowed. “Let’s get back to work,” Vice President Mike Pence told the Senate.

When they reconvened, Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania was one of the speakers. Many of the objecting senators and representatives objected to results in states they don’t represent. But Toomey, who voted and campaigned for Trump, was not an objector, even though Pennsylvania was one of the target states.

“The Trump campaign took their case of irregularities into the courtroom of Judge Matthew Brann, in federal district court,” Toomey said, noting Brann is a conservative Republican. “And here’s what he said about the Trump campaign case, and I quote, ‘This court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit, and speculative accusations unsupported by evidence. In the United States of America, this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter, let alone all the voters of the sixth most populated state.’

“Joe Biden won the election. It was not what I had hoped for, but it happened. It was an honest victory.”

Overtaking the U.S. Capitol is inherently different from entering any other building in the U.S. And overtaking the Capitol to interfere with the Presidential election is inherently different from any other reason for entering the building.

America has always been a violent nation. But we typically find peaceful and legal ways to address political concerns, and our smooth transitions of presidential power have always been a hallmark of our country. That ended Jan. 6

Let’s not be distracted. Let’s never forget what actually happened Jan. 6: Rioting Americans overtook the U.S. Capitol building and tried to interfere with the Presidential election certification.

Richard Coltharp

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