The patriots of 1/6

Over the past five months, the violent insurrection unleashed by Donald Trump on the United States capitol and Congress on January 6th has undergone quite a special metamorphosis inside the right wing epistemic bubble.

What began as a shocking event that produced almost universal condemnation among Republican party leaders turned over the course of just a few weeks into a carnivalesque outburst of rowdy protest, that admittedly went too far in some very limited individual instances, but was ultimately No Big Deal. (ETA: Alquitti reminds me that I forgot that for a couple of weeks prior to that the rioters were actually false flag Antifa/BLM provocateurs.) Referring to it as a riot, let alone an insurrection, was just typical liberal hysteria in the face of the proud American tradition of vigorous protest against government overreach and tyranny.

Well we’re moving on from that into the transformation of these proceedings into a glorious chapter in the ongoing battle to secure the existence of the American people and a future for its children:

Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona is defending a woman who was shot and killed by the Capitol Police as she tried to break into the U.S. House chamber during the Jan. 6 insurrection, saying she was “executed.”

At a House hearing on what went wrong that day, Gosar questioned former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen about the death of Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran who was part of the mob that attacked the Capitol. Babbitt was shot by a Capitol Police officer as she tried to climb through a broken window while lawmakers were trapped inside.

The Department of Justice has decided not to charge the police officer who shot Babbitt. The officer’s name hasn’t been disclosed. Federal prosecutors said there was “insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution.”

Gosar on Wednesday asked Rosen why Babbitt was “executed” and asked the name of the officer who killed her. Gosar called Babbitt “a young lady, a veteran, wrapped in an American flag that was killed in the U.S. Capitol.”

And it’s not just Gosar:

When violent insurrectionists go essentially unpunished — and the men who spurred them on are not only not punished, but rewarded politically for their treason — the traitors will soon be transformed into heroes and martyrs.

History is written by the victors. Leftists, liberals, moderates, and anti-fascist conservatives need to unite to ensure that we are the ones who end up writing this particular chapter.

. . .

(h/t Keta)

'The truth, please, Winston. YOUR truth. Tell me what you think you
remember.'

'I remember that until only a week before I was arrested, we were not at
war with Eastasia at all. We were in alliance with them. The war was
against Eurasia. That had lasted for four years. Before that----'

O'Brien stopped him with a movement of the hand.

'Another example,' he said. 'Some years ago you had a very serious delusion
indeed. You believed that three men, three one-time Party members named
Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford--men who were executed for treachery and
sabotage after making the fullest possible confession--were not guilty of
the crimes they were charged with. You believed that you had seen
unmistakable documentary evidence proving that their confessions were
false. There was a certain photograph about which you had a hallucination.
You believed that you had actually held it in your hands. It was a
photograph something like this.'

An oblong slip of newspaper had appeared between O'Brien's fingers. For
perhaps five seconds it was within the angle of Winston's vision. It was
a photograph, and there was no question of its identity. It was THE
photograph. It was another copy of the photograph of Jones, Aaronson, and
Rutherford at the party function in New York, which he had chanced upon
eleven years ago and promptly destroyed. For only an instant it was before
his eyes, then it was out of sight again. But he had seen it,
unquestionably he had seen it! He made a desperate, agonizing effort to
wrench the top half of his body free. It was impossible to move so much as
a centimetre in any direction. For the moment he had even forgotten the
dial. All he wanted was to hold the photograph in his fingers again, or at
least to see it.

'It exists!' he cried.

'No,' said O'Brien.

He stepped across the room. There was a memory hole in the opposite wall.
O'Brien lifted the grating. Unseen, the frail slip of paper was whirling
away on the current of warm air; it was vanishing in a flash of flame.
O'Brien turned away from the wall.

'Ashes,' he said. 'Not even identifiable ashes. Dust. It does not exist.
It never existed.'

'But it did exist! It does exist! It exists in memory. I remember it.
You remember it.'

'I do not remember it,' said O'Brien.