Today is Saturday, June 11, 2022. It’s only two days since the 1/6 committee investigating the sorry events of January 6 laid out a compelling case for Dumpf’s criminality, and everyone is now discussing the first dramatic public presentation of evidence against the former “president.” Pundits are now saying that the Justice Department under Attorney General Merrick Garland will be compelled to draw up an indictment against the former demagogue and delusional kook.

However, I was quite aghast over hearing that someone who calls herself a Republican would decide not to watch the proceedings because she thought the panel was biased against her former president. What bullshit! This pronouncement was made during a birthday dinner with our good friend “Patricia” in her apartment in Forest Hills tonight after 6 p.m. If this refusal to watch the proceedings because of party affiliation is illustrative of a large swath of the population, then it’s not indicative that many would eventually change their mind as to the culpability of the former president in fomenting the January 6 insurrection. How blind these people are! How narrow minded and intransigent these people are! As I said earlier, the important audience that needs to be swayed with respect to the former president’s criminality is the Department of Justice. This person, if she had the receptiveness to watch the hearing with an open mind, which she certainly doesn’t seem to have, would have seen a Republican Attorney General, William Barr, declare Dumpf’s fraud assertions of the 2020 election to be “bullshit.” There were other Republicans who agreed with Barr’s declaration that the ex-president knew he was sowing bullshit to his constituents and to the nation. The hearing was not just a recitation of Democratic offenses against the former liar-in-chief. It was a bipartisan enumeration of facts that irrefutably painted a shocking picture of malfeasance upon the orange head of the Republican president. If this friend of Patricia’s had the courage to watch the hearing, she would have heard the grisly testimony of Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards that painted a scene of horror that day at the Capitol solely because of those MAGA rioters’ actions. She would have finally learned that Antifa was not involved in that event at all. She would have realized that the far right was involved up to their eyebrows.

On the white supremacist front, an online article that appeared in The Daily Beast is very disturbing. The article written by Alan Halaly is ‘Losers!’: Mob of White Supremacists Busted Near Idaho Pride Event.” The piece details the arrest of dozens of masked members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front as they prepared to stage a riot near a Pride event in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, authorities say.

The Police chief there, Lee White, told reporters that 31 individuals affiliated with the group were in police custody and charged with conspiracy to riot. Remember, it’s the former president who gave these repulsive groups cachet to come out of the shadows with his tacit support during press conferences and even one memorable presidential debate where he told the Proud Boys to “Stand back and stand by,” which they definitely did. That’s when this group became embroiled in the January 6 insurrection.

The group had traveled from all over the country to sow chaos during the LGBTQ+ event, White said. These violent individuals came from states like Texas, Utah, South Dakota, Arkansas, Oregon, and Virginia. Thanks to “one concerned citizen,” the group’s plans were derailed successfully by law enforcement. Heaven forfend if this group were successful in causing a riot that could have caused myriad injuries – or even worse. This “concerned citizen” reported that he saw approximately 20 people jumping into a U-Haul wearing masks, bearing shields, and “looking like a little army.”

The police chief said, “They had shields, shin guards, and other riot gear with them, including at least one smoke grenade.” An “operations plan” regarding the event had also been found in the group’s U-Haul. It was not immediately clear if they had any firearms.

Approximately 20 members of the group, all bedecked in their trademark balaclavas, blue shirts, and khakis, could be seen kneeling as police officers stood around them. Local reports said members of the group were unmasked before being placed in police vans.

In an obvious tone of understatement, Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris was quoted telling Coeur d’Alene Press that “It appears they did not come here to engage in peaceful events.”

Patriot Front is a white supremacist, neofascist group that prefers to travel inconspicuously in U-Hauls. Police reportedly stopped the group’s U-Haul on Saturday a short distance from the “Pride in the Park” event, which had already been the target of a counterprotest by a conservative motorcycle club called the Panhandle Patriots.

The event was one of the largest Pride in the Park events in its six-year history, North Idaho Pride Alliance told KXLY. Several attendees admitted it was their first Pride event because of COVID-19 in spite of growing tension and backlash. Again, pandemonium at the event was avoided since law enforcement received information ahead of the situation about “a number of groups planning to disrupt today’s activities.”

With everything else happening in the country at this fraught moment, we now have hateful individuals belonging to odious groups intent upon bashing heads for no real reason other than what is perceived as differences in certain individuals. It’s just ghastly, sickening, and totally unacceptable! There is no room for this kind of hate anywhere. I’m just relieved that authorities moved in quickly to quash the group’s intentions at this Pride event today with no injuries reported. It could have been a disaster if the group were not stopped in its tracks.

In the immortal words of Rodney King, “Can’t we all just get along?” I believe these words were said 31 years ago by this African American man who was a victim of police brutality in Los Angeles. They still apply now to 2022!

Have a nice Sunday.

Stay safe and be well.