On this the seventh day of the new year, we still have a functioning democracy in the U.S. Yesterday, before an almost empty chamber, the Speaker of the House, a Democrat, presided over a moment of silence in remembrance of the violent riot waged by Trump supporters a year and a day ago.
One elected Republican official attended that event — Rep. Liz Cheney. (Her father, the former Vice-President, came too.) Otherwise, from the GOP side of the House, there was silence.
That probably symbolizes as well as anything the state of America’s political democracy. An election in which Joe Biden received over 7 million more votes than Donald Trump, about a 4.5 percent margin, and an Electoral College victory of 306-232, the losing candidate refused to concede.
Instead he stayed in the White House until the morning of Biden’s inauguration, then slivered away to his Florida resort, angry and bitter that the insurrection he incited had failed to overturn the legitimate results of the election.
Accordingly, because he is a bad loser, his party has been unable to move on and move into the role we need from them to embrace and reaffirm the democratic institutions that have held this country together, albeit tenuously at times, for over 245 years.
Democracy is just an idea. The Constitution is just a document, deeply flawed at that, without its Amendments. The original version only guaranteed the vote to white male landowners. It disenfranchised most Americans — all women, Native Americans, black people, and non-landowners.
Although we’ve made progress over the past two-and-a-half centuries extending the vote to those groups, the modern-day Republican Party remains basically committed to the original vision and only reluctantly accepts the formerly disenfranchised into its ranks.
This leaves the Democratic Party as the sole guardian of democracy with a small “d” in the U.S. Much as that half-empty chamber yesterday symbolized.
And that is the sound of silence.
TODAY’S NEWS:
Is a Civil War Ahead? — A year after the attack on the Capitol, America is suspended between democracy and autocracy. (New Yorker)
Jimmy Carter: I Fear for Our Democracy — Even established democracies can fall to military juntas and despots. We can’t let that happen here. (NYT)
A year after Jan. 6, Congress more deeply divided than ever (AP)
How the GOP became party of Trump’s election lie after Jan. 6 (WP)
President Joe Biden accused his predecessor Donald Trump of posing a continuing threat to democracy (Reuters)
'A nation in decline' - how the world saw Capitol riot (BBC)
In 2022, lies about 2020 still proliferate (Politico)
How Democrats failed to galvanize voters in year since January 6 riots (Financial Times)
America Is Running Out of Time (Atlantic)
‘Hatred in the eyes’: How racist rage animated Jan. 6 riots (AP)
A Year After Capitol Riot, Trump’s Hold on G.O.P. Is Unrivaled (NYT)
GOP officials in Arizona’s largest county affirm 2020 election was secure, debunking Trump claims (WP)
A year later, the Hill ‘is no longer the safest place' (Politico)
As Democrats struggled to move forward on broad new voting rights legislation, the U.S. Senate's top Republican Mitch McConnell signaled interest in changing an 1887 law that allows members of Congress to dispute presidential election results. (Reuters)
Threat is greater now than when Trump turned his mob on D.C. (CNN)
One year after the Jan. 6 insurrection, signs of a nation deeper in peril (NPR)
It's been a year since 147 Republican lawmakers voted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, just hours after a mob of supporters of then-President Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol. HuffPost asked all of them if they now concede that Joe Biden was elected president, and if they regret their votes against certifying the Electoral College count. Overwhelmingly, the answers were no comment, and no. [HuffPost]
On Jan. 6, the fight for democracy came home. There’s still so much we don’t know. (Edit Bd/WP)
Republicans criticize Ted Cruz for calling Jan. 6 a violent terrorist attack (NPR)
Attorney General Merrick Garland sought to reassure Americans that the federal investigation into the Jan. 6 attack isn't letting up, and that lawbreakers "at any level" will be brought to justice. The former judge's speech was carefully worded so as to not affect ongoing prosecutions. The feds have charged more than 700 people in connection with the assault, but that's still only about a quarter of the total number of potential defendants. [HuffPost]
Ex-Trumpers set to plot how to try and take down Trump (Politico)
New York’s Omicron Surge Points to a Wave of Mild Cases (WSJ)
With 9.5 million new coronavirus cases, global count hits record high, WHO says (WP)
Revolt in Kazakhstan: What’s Happening, and Why It Matters (NYT)
Russia has sent paratroopers into Kazakhstan as part of an international peacekeeping force to quell deadly unrest in the central Asian country, a military alliance of former Soviet states said. Earlier, Kazakh police said forces had "eliminated" tens of rioters in the largest city of Almaty as the unrest sparked by rising fuel prices boiled over into the biggest protests since independence in 1991. (Reuters)
Leftists Are Ascendant in Latin America as Key Elections Loom (NYT)
World food prices jumped 28% in 2021 to their highest level in a decade and hopes for a return to more stable market conditions this year are slim, the U.N.'s food agency said. Higher food prices have contributed to a broader surge in inflation as economies recover from the coronavirus crisis. (Reuters)
Scientists explore Thwaites, Antarctica’s ‘doomsday’ glacier (AP)
Ozone and smoke levels are rising over parts of the West. The two harmful pollutants are a result of worsening wildfires and extreme heat. (Cal Today)
More than 40 percent of Americans live in counties hit by climate disasters in 2021 (WP)
Kew scientists name new tree after Leonardo DiCaprio (BBC)
Cryptocurrency-linked crime surged to a record high last year in terms of value, with illegal addresses receiving $14 billion in digital currencies, up 79% from $7.8 billion in 2020, according to a blog from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis. (Reuters)
“Dad, my lawyer has advised me to tell you to call off the rioters, so this text is proof that I did that.” – @IvankaTrump (The Onion)
TODAY’s LYRICS:
“The Sound of Silence”
Paul Simon
Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
In restless dreams, I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light, I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
"Fools" said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
Then the sign said, "The words on the prophets are written on the subway walls
In tenement halls"
And whispered in the sound of silence
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