Unfriendly Fire

Ashli Babbitt was 35 years old when she was murdered in Washington, DC. She was shot down by "law enforcement" for being in the wrong place at a very wrong time. She was unarmed, not threatening anyone, and she wasn't even specifically targeted by the shooter, who simply fired through a door (as Joe Biden recommends we all do) into a crowd of people. 

Ashli Babbitt was a 14-year veteran of the US Air Force, and had served four foreign military tours, including to Iraq and Afghanistan. She was a Trump supporter who believed that the November presidential election was fraud-ridden and deserved a real investigation. But no such investigation was going to happen because the powers-that-be didn't want it. Not Democrats, not Republicans, not the Supreme Court, and certainly not the media.

And so Ashli was among the hundreds of thousands of Americans who came to Washington to protest on January 6th. Not to commit the acts of violence, looting, and destruction that have swept our nation over the past year (to the unanimous praise of those on the Left), but rather to carry a simple message to the power elite: "We deserve to be heard." And that message got her executed in "the people's house."

To hear the media tell it, a bloody revolution attempt took place in the streets and corridors of Washington DC on that day. Those on the Left claim to be horrified at the indiscriminate violence which resulted in...some broken windows. Although, unlike when the Left is "demonstrating," once those windows were broken, no molotov cocktails were thrown through them.

Ashli Babbitt went to Washington for all of us who believe that the election was a fraud and a farce, and who want nothing other than a rigorous investigation to determine if America still has free elections. She died in that pursuit, and this honored military veteran is already being demonized by the history-spinners as a rioter, terrorist, and traitor. No mayor will paint "HER LIFE MATTERED" in the streets of Washington DC.

She deserves better. Although we find the comparison distasteful, Ashli Babbitt should become the Right's new "George Floyd." Albeit not someone with a criminal history who died clumsily by their own hand out of a fondness for street drugs, but someone who died fulfilling an oath she once took to protect the Constitution of the United States.

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UPDATE: Subsequent to writing the above, I've learned of the deaths of two law enforcement officers involved in this disastrous fracas. Their loss is tragic and reprehensible. That being said, I personally believe that the deliberate violence was instigated by planted operatives from the far left. Do I have proof? No, and I don't expect any to be forthcoming. But I know how "their side" and "our side" have acted in the past. I have no doubt that 99% of the protestors were peaceful patriots. Sadly, that's not what the history books are going to say.

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On a personal note, I have to confess that this is a very confusing and unpleasant time. When I look at my personal Facebook feed, I see my "friends" declaring outrage and revulsion at an "attempted violent coup." They don't seem to have noticed that much of the violence was perpetrated against the demonstrators, nor have they accounted for the fact that this "revolution" ended when all of the protestors peacefully went home, rather than taking a celebratory looting lap of local stores or setting police cars (and officers) on fire.

I don't hate these people. I know them to be good and well-intended (and yes, I know where that road leads) - but they accept all of the media's lies unblinkingly, voracious in their desire to hate and to thereby feel good about themselves. And I'm not happy about the fact that I have to wonder if these people are actually still my friends at all. Should they learn my political leanings, they would cut me out of their lives in a heartbeat - not because of who I am, but because of what they've been told they should believe about who I am. And in my own mind, I still think of these people as friends even though their misguided beliefs are as odious as any which ever allowed a fascist regime to rise to power. They are my "friends" because I still choose to think of them that way while hoping (but not holding my breath) for their eventual enlightenment.

Right now, there is no source of news I fully trust. None. There are individuals in the media whom I still believe to be honest, but even they have to interpret information that may or may not be true.

And it's weighing on me that we're heading into a very tough four years...or longer. I'm not optimistic about midterms, or any other election unless there's a true reckoning over the abuses of this past election cycle. A supermajority of Dems is about to embark on the most radical shift in America's course that we've ever seen. Freedoms will fall, economies will falter, and "thoughtcrime" will be severely punished. Which is particularly threatening to those of us who just can't seem to give up the habit of thinking.

That being said, all is not lost.

Over 70 million Americans voted to continue the progress made during the Trump administration. Progress that lifted every race, gender, faith, and economic class. Those people still want what's best for America and Americans...all Americans. And a majority of these people believe that the election was stolen.

These tens of millions of people will peacefully do everything in their power to right the wrongs being visited upon us. How best to do that remains to be seen, but even as the Tea Party bloomed into spontaneous (and politically effective) life, so will a new movement. Which I, personally, can't wait to join.