Unraveling the Notion of Insurrection
To explore the concept posed by the title of this piece, we don’t need to venture far from our historical roots. The Declaration of Independence, a seminal insurrectionist document, served as a bold challenge to the authority of the King of England. Thomas Jefferson, in drafting the document, outlined the rights of the people against those claimed by a monarch who had overstepped his jurisdiction over the colonies. The American Revolution, while not aimed at toppling the King of England, became a rallying point for independence from monarchical rule.
Fast forward to January 6, 2021. A multitude gathered in the nation’s capital to protest the results of the 2020 presidential election. President Donald Trump, the defeated candidate, alleged manipulation and irregularities in certain states, asserting that some legislatures had overstepped constitutional bounds in orchestrating the election.
This contention isn’t novel; Many predecessors have questioned the election results of their respective presidential election bids. Hillary Clinton did so after Trump’s victory in 2016. She still does. However, her challenges were never considered an insurrection, nor a threat to Democracy,
Adding complexity to the narrative is the testimony from Department of Defense personnel and General Miley of the Joint Chiefs. Trump had suggested National Guard or other soldiers to be activated for security during the January 6 protest. Both House Speaker Pelosi and the Capitol Police Chief declined the offer, highlighting a lack of strategic planning on Trump’s part for an insurrection. in other words, they thought it highly unlikely an insurrection or any major, violent problem was in the offing.
Furthermore, Trump urged the protesters to march on the Capitol “peacefully and patriotically.” Despite these easily verifiable points, Speaker Pelosi formed a committee to investigate the January 6 events without Republican appointees, departing from the normal protocol for House committees.
The subsequent and second official House of Representatives impeachment resolution of Trump asserts that moments before Congress certified the election results, the crowd was incited by Trump to unlawfully breach the Capitol, leading to violence, destruction, and seditious acts. Trump’s call for Congress to “do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated” is also cited.
It’s worth noting that Trump’s 60+ legal challenges to the election in various courts were unsuccessful. The election results stood, and Joe Biden was certified and elected President on January 6, 2021, by a joint session of Congress.
Returning to the Capitol breach, it’s crucial also to acknowledge that no protester carried a lethal weapon, and some were seemingly escorted by Capitol Police into the building. Tragically, the only fatality during the breach was an unarmed female protester shot by a Capitol Police officer.
Both impeachments of Trump went nowhere. There was a Senate vote in both cases on the charges that failed to garner the required 60% majority in the Senate.
Yet, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in December 2023 that Trump could not be on the 2024 ballot there because of Trump’s conduct related to Jan. 6, 2021. The case cited Section 3 of the 14th Amendment that bars an individual from holding federal or state office who swore an oath to support the Constitution and then engaged in insurrection against it. Trump, the Colorado case claimed, instigated the Jan. 6 attack as part of his efforts to thwart the peaceful transfer of presidential power after the 2020 election, and therefore is ineligible for a second term.
That 14th Amendment was adopted after the Civil War to bar Confederates from holding a high office in the U.S. and was never intended to be exercised any time a candidate questioned the results.
So, all the falderal around January 6, 2021, including the case now underway in Georgia, involves his alleged role in inciting insurrection in the United States. Yet he hasn’t been found guilty of insurrection nor has there been a SCOTUS ruling on whether it’s appropriate Section 3 of the 14th Amendment be invoked or applied in this case.
It does appear likely SCOTUS will overturn the Colorado, and now the Maine, state courts’ rulings removing Trump from their ballots.
Many “deplorables” have not been so lucky.
Federal prosecutors have charged 1,265 defendants across nearly all 50 states and D.C. and secured sentences of incarceration for more than 460 people in regard to the January 6 breach of the Capitol, according to newly released numbers from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C.
Many of those charged and convicted were not even there.
Categorize it as a riot, but there was no insurrection on January 6, 2021.
If you continue to believe it was, it was the worst executed insurrection in history.
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Have a great and prosperous week.
Hu somebody.
SPIDER Bites
This week’s trivia question is: Which chemical has the atomic number one? The answer to last week’s question re: what is the day after Christmas known as in the UK? Boxing Day. Originally a day for giving gifts – a Christmas box – to the needy, it’s now more like black Friday in America and a day for shopping sales.
In what auto manufacturers have dubbed as a de facto EV mandate, the Biden administration’s EPA is set finalize new tailpipe emissions requirements to achieve its goal of two-thirds of all autos produced by 2032 will be electric. Current regulations require a 40 mile/gallon fleet by 2026. This will add 2% each year through 2032 to 45 miles/gallon. The current market share for EVs is around 1% and declining (with auto companies laying off EV employees), so according to this administration it will change to 67% market share by 2032. The EPA will also be issuing significantly higher MPG requirements for diesel powered vehicles and new, lower emissions allowances by power plants (being challenged in the courts). We’re saving the world, folks, so pay up! Remember the old days when the customer was ‘king?’
Meanwhile a supposed expert on climate change is arguing that the country’s cold winter is the result of global warming. The proposition is that warming in polar regions increases the likelihood that frigid air will move southward. I have no idea why.
BTW, climate change resistance spread across Europe when last December when Germany’s farmers drove their tractors into Berlin protesting the estimated $20K/year/farmer increase in costs for diesel fuel. Since then Germany and other EU countries have backed off their radical climate change emissions reduction goals/ laws.
Oil prices continue to climb, nearing the $80/barrel mark again last week. The most recent Middle East conflicts are part of the reason. When Biden entered the WH, oil was selling at around $48/barrel. That’s a 60% increase, folks.
The backlash for the $355M fine imposed on Trump for alleged fraud has been deafening. More major businesses contemplate leaving the state. This despite the NY governor assuring everyone the Trump fiasco is a one-off situation. That means only the Trump enterprises are, and will be, targeted. That’s 2024 American fairness and social justice, right? No, it’s childish and political.
President Biden announced another $1.2B in student loan forgiveness last week – 153,000 loans. Despite being overruled by SCOTUS on previous occasions, he continues his bent to forgive loans to people who borrowed money from the government to attend college. BTW, it’s a misnomer to call it forgiveness, somebody is paying off those loans and that somebody is the taxpayers. The party with no skin in this game are the colleges, regardless of whether the degrees they grant are of significant or practical value to the borrowers in their work life.
CA will be mailing out 136M ballots for the November election. It joins 8 other states and D.C. that will be mailing ballots to all registered voters – instituted during the COVID debacle. Of course the problem is the constantly out of date voter registration rolls as people move or die but remain on the rolls.
The first U.S.-built spacecraft to land on the moon in more than 50 years and the first ever by a private company happened last Thursday. The lunar lander tipped over, but the company says it will still work.
AT&T lost service to over 70,000 customers last week. Was it a cyber-attack?
Illegal immigrants continue to make headlines with crimes and attacks on local police officers and the public. More and more residents want their cities/states to repeal their ‘sanctuary’ status.
