The last time I checked, this was the USA. A free country. A country where, when mobs of thugs were destroying Minneapolis, Portland, Kenosha, and other cities, the media reacted in horror at the suggestion that a few National Guard troops might help return calm for the residents trying to live peacefully in their homes, do business as much as possible in the circumstances, and stay afloat during a pandemic. As Portland’s Mayor Ted Wheeler said when offered federal troops to quell the violence, “This is not the America we want.” The very idea is repugnant!

Now, I am seeing pictures of Washington DC preparing to inaugurate Biden to the Presidency, while 25,000 armed troops are parading around, dividing the city into zones, barricading it, and walling it. Guns bristling from Coast Guard ships in the Potomac. It’s chilling!

I also saw pictures of a mass of armed SWAT guarding Governor Newsom’s home in Sacramento. Against what, exactly?

What don’t I know here? I feel just a tad queasy, worried because this response is so far out of character for our country, and so over-the-top compared to anything that has happened — the incursion into the Capitol was small beer compared to the riots in many other cities all last summer. There’s also been virtually no coverage of who was involved in the January 6th events, other than seeing some BLM/Antifa types that were indeed involved freed without bail.

Oh, and Ashli Babbitt died, and we saw a cufflink-clad arm that held out a gun and shot her in the throat. Because, you know, giving us information that’s accurate about what and who, all of whom have no doubt been identified because of CCTV, won’t fit the narrative of the evil, violent right-wing insurrection the Democrats so carefully constructed, perhaps as an excuse to mass troops at a wartime level in our Capital.

Imagine this: Imagine Trump being inaugurated and arming the city as is currently being done. Imagine how very loudly the media would be screaming about it. How Democrat congresspeople would be freaking out and railing against him. Yet when this is being done for Biden, all we hear is a resounding silence!

Perhaps it’s because I sat uncomfortably through the movie 1984 last night, the grim set-piece with John Hurt and Richard Burton. Perhaps because I’m just a normal, white-bread conservative (well, I actually prefer a good sourdough made without any dough conditioners, thank you), but I’m hearing big klaxon alarm bells in my head right now. I have a premonition of harm coming to this country on Wednesday, of loss of life from trigger-happy, nervous troops that are themselves, perhaps, unclear as to their purpose, or who is in charge. 

So, I’m asking you who are closer to the fray, please ask some questions! Ease my mind! Do some real reporting. Don’t leave it to construction workers walking to their job, taking video, and posting it.

IMAGE: National Guard Troops in DC. Rumble screengrab.