A Startling Thread on the National Guard Presence in Washington, D.C., for Inauguration Day

[mystery-ak]

A Startling Thread on the National Guard Presence in Washington, D.C., for Inauguration Day
By Stacey Lennox Jan 16, 2021 3:18 PM ET

The timeline and nature of events on January 6th at the Capitol continue to unfold. However, because of what happened that day and what federal law enforcement sees as credible threats, the security around Inauguration Day is taking on an ominous tone with at least 20,000 National Guard troops deployed. Jack Murphy is a political commentator and a resident of Washington, D.C. This morning, he put out a Twitter thread about his observations of what is happening in the nation’s capital.

To put it bluntly, members of our military have been deployed on American soil in what appears to be a temporary occupation around the area of the inauguration. The Secret Service has established a “Green Zone” in the heart of the city, and bridges leading into Washington, D.C., will be closed beginning Tuesday. Virginia State Police and the National Guard will be checking reasons for entry.

Murphy also notes that National Guard members are in full uniform, including ballistic helmets, and are armed. This is not typical when the Guard is deployed because there are genuine concerns about the optics of the U.S. military being deployed against Americans on U.S. soil. The Ohio National Guard firing on students at Kent State, killing four and wounding nine in 1970, still lives large in the national memory.

more
https://pjmedia.com/columns/stacey-lennox/2021/01/16/a-startling-thread-on-the-national-guard-presence-in-washington-d-c-for-inauguration-day-n1389896

[mountaineer]

Fear of Freedom, an Old Malady, Settles In
Washington, D.C., will be an armed camp, empty of celebration, on January 20. Love of safety threatens to master us.
By Jay Whig
January 16, 2021

Razor wire. Soldiers bivouacking in the Capitol. Extreme risk aversion is on display in our nation’s capital. It is a newish feature of the American ethos.

Americans once habitually took and accepted big risks, and the realization of these risks, from time to time.

One president of this great republic died weeks into his presidency because he refused to wear a coat outdoors at his inauguration. Another died while watching Tom Taylor’s Our American Cousin in a loosely guarded viewing box. Yet another delivered a speech after being shot in the chest. Calculating that, since his mouth ejected no blood, the bullet had not penetrated his lungs, Teddy Roosevelt figured carrying on was the right thing to do, as a man and as an image for his people to imitate.

Americans of old were vigorous. A people in headlong pursuit of their liberties and happiness, they had accidents. Sometimes they died or were maimed, though to be maimed then was to be likely to die, but what the hell? Did anyone then hope to live forever? ...

Too many Americans, especially our elites, feel entitled to an absolute guarantee of their safety, as if civic virtue were a product for which 99 of 100 design features are to keep you safe and the balance is actual function.

Washington, D.C., will be an armed camp, empty of celebration, on January 20. Love of safety, risk aversion—what we also call fear—threatens to master us as a people. 

Entire article at American Greatness

[Hoodat]

Abraham Lincoln's second inauguration, during the War of Secession: