17 Comments
Sep 13, 2021Liked by Steven Beschloss

What I don't understand is all of the stories of the domestic terrorist over runing school board meetings and harassing election officials causing them to leave for their safety and nothing being done about it. In San Diego the DT ran out the school board and then took over. There were Police there and they did nothing. Why are the police doing nothing while citizens are being bullied? In Portland there was a situation that the Proud Boys had taken over streets and there is no one to stop them. No Police, no FBI, no National Guard. The only "punishment" they incurred is the business parking lot that they left there vehicles in had all of their vehicles towed. In Vancouver, WA the Proud Boys protested at and tried to enter the elementary schools. Three schools had to go into lock down...as if the kids haven't been through enough in the last 18 months. There were pictures of Police...standing, doing nothing in another parking lot. America seems so willing to fight terrorists in other countries but, and it's so sad, the government (City, State or Federal) won't do anything on our own soil. The power is being given to the domestic terrorist. This is what scares me the most.

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author

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and questions here, Patricia. I agree that it's startling to see how frequently the police choose to "stand back and stand by" rather than do their jobs. It underscores the terrible picture that they have chosen to side with the increasingly violent extremists. This must be confronted--and so far we are not seeing leadership prepared to do so.

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Sep 13, 2021Liked by Steven Beschloss

Thanks for replying. I do know that Sen Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley sent a 2 page letter to Merrik Garland stating the issues in Oregon with the likes of the Proud Boys and asked him to respond with federal plans of action by 9/18/21 (as I recall). I was glad and shocked to see it. At least something was done. Gave me some hope.

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9/11 was an assault on our economic system.

1/6 was an assault on our democratic constitutional republic.

Neither one can be allowed to go unpunished.

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Sep 13, 2021Liked by Steven Beschloss

Seeing Trump posing with the members of the NYPD & NYFD sickened me. When those who are charged with the care of citizens follow Trump, it just sickens me. Our future is in grave peril.

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Agree, thanks my daily dose of sanity

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Dubya was misunderestimated... Thanks 4 giving emphasis to his Truth

If we don't save our Democracy, no one can or will. The time to Act is *now*

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‘Misunderestimated’. I salute you.

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I tell u a secret -- Bandar Bush is my Hero, yo

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Sep 13, 2021Liked by Steven Beschloss

Thank you. It is disheartening to see our fellow Americans willing to blow the whole thing up over what? Racism? Trumpism? Is this really worth it to them? I guess so and how do we fight them?

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Relentlessly. Like no tomorrow

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Sep 13, 2021Liked by Steven Beschloss

In all honesty, sometimes I am literally at a loss for words in writing comments after essays or op eds that ring truth. This past weekend ignited the same stress as in the aftermath of 9/11. Looking back at Jan 6th, it is not quite the same anguish but certainly the same sadness. I, too, am grateful that the Biden administration is setting domestic terrorism as a priority.

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"It would be an exaggeration to suggest that the January 6 attack on the Capitol matches the world-altering scale of 9/11 and the overwhelming sense of immediate danger that the shocking collapse of the Twin Towers provoked."

Oh, man, do I disagree. Our response to 9/11 was grotesquely over the top. It was a horrific attack, but it was asymmetric warfare at its finest. They were comparatively powerless and presented a very limited risk, but the attack was shocking and very telegenic. So we lost our minds and created the Patriot Act and AUMA and attacked Afghanistan (crazy) and Iraq (criminal). We tortured and destroyed and tried to nationbuild and lost our souls. But the attack itself? It didn't suggest a profound threat to our democracy - we did that to ourselves.

The 1/6 attack? This was an attack on who we are, and it represents a far deeper threat to the country. The fact that we won't take up arms against this threat, because it's white, not brown, makes it far more dangerous and far more likely to spell the end of America.

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I hear you, David. I would say that the scale of death--and the nature of that destruction--does make the comparison difficult. As for the drastically overblown scale of the response, I could not agree more with you--and I hope my piece suggested as much. I remain alarmed that far too many in positions of power have refused to act with the urgency and intensity to confront the scale of danger that 1/6 portends.

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Not one Afghan was involved in the attack on 9/11. None of the attackers represented a sovereign nation, yet we invaded a nation that was already being victimized by the same radical religious groups. Nothing we did 'for' Afghanistan in that 20-year period erases the damage we did.

To be honest, I wanted blood too. That doesn't make it right.

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I am glad of Bush’s comments. I hope they are quoted everywhere and continuously. That will help all of us confront this foul stench of treason.

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In thinking about the quote from GW Bush, I think we do better when we know better. It seems like the Bush Family is thinking better these days. I hope so. I like to think their daughters have had something to do with this.

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