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Congress gives its highest honor to the officers who protected the Capitol on January 6

'Staring down deadly violence and despicable bigotry, our law enforcement officers bravely stood in the breach, ensuring that democracy survived on that dark day.'

via Bill Bryan/Flickr and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff/Flickr

Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, awards Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman with the Joint Meritorious Civilian Service Award in February 2021.

Congress honored the heroes of the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on December 6 by bestowing its highest honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, to those who protected democracy on that dark day.

"Exactly 23 months ago, our nation suffered the most staggering assault on democracy since the Civil War. January 6 was a day of horror and heartbreak. It is also a moment of extraordinary heroism," Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said at the ceremony.

"Staring down deadly violence and despicable bigotry, our law enforcement officers bravely stood in the breach, ensuring that democracy survived on that dark day," Pelosi added. “So, on behalf of the United States Congress and the American people, it is my honor to present the Congressional Gold Medal to the United States Capitol Police, the Metropolitan Police and every hero of January 6, from every agent that responded that day."


Hundreds of officers who worked that day will be collectively honored by four medals placed at four locations in Washington, D.C.: the U.S. Capitol Police headquarters, the Metropolitan Police Department, the Capitol and the Smithsonian Institution.

At least nine people connected with the capitol riot have died since January 6, 2021. Three Trump supporters died during the riot, two suffered medical events and another was shot by Capitol Police. Four officers that worked on the day of the attack have since died by suicide. Officer Brian Sicknick died shortly after being sprayed with a chemical by one of the rioters.

The legislation passed by Congress specifically mentioned the “courage” of Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman who used himself as bait to keep the violent mob away from the Senate chambers.

“Words cannot adequately express our gratitude for what you did to help our officers by joining in the fight that was taking place,” U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said as he accepted the award on behalf of his officers.

“You did not give up. You did not give in. And yes, you were vastly outnumbered. But you were determined, exhausted and injured. It will show your sweat and your tears that mark these realms where we stand today,” Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee said. “You show the world just a glimpse of what we are.”

The ceremony was a way to honor those who fought bravely on behalf of their country on one of its darkest days. It also affirmed the notion that the January 6 insurrection was an assault on American democracy perpetrated by a group of right-wing protestors who attempted to thwart the election of an American president. The insurrection has been downplayed by many prominent Republicans who have dismissed the violent attack in order to protect former President Donald Trump.

On the day of the insurrection, Trump told the protesters to “fight like hell” to prevent Biden’s election from being certified by Congress.

The Republican Party’s collective shrug wasn’t lost on the family of Officer Sicknick. They refused to shake the hands of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell or House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy when they accepted the fallen officer’s medal.

Surely, as time moves on, the politics surrounding the January 6 insurrection will cool and cease to color perceptions of that horrific day. As the story falls into the hands of historians it’ll be remembered as a brutal attack on democracy that was thwarted by brave men and women who gave everything they had to protect their country.

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Wellness

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez revealed that she's receiving therapy after the January 6 riots

via Wikimedia Commons

Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, commonly known as AOC, has bravely revealed she is focusing on her mental health after living through the trauma of the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building.

AOC's admission that she is "doing therapy" to help her process the incident is powerful because it shows that even one of the country's most prominent leaders needs to take time for their mental health.

We live in a world where people still face stigmatization for going to therapy, so for a person who is often the target of malicious attacks, to let her guard down is courageous. It's also a great example for people everywhere. If one of the fiercest members of Congress needs time for her mental health, it has nothing to do with weakness.

When hundreds of pro-Trump insurgents stormed the Capitol building, Ocasio-Cortez thought her life was in danger. "Wednesday was an extremely traumatizing event. And it was not an exaggeration to say that many members of the House were nearly assassinated," she said after the event.

Several of the insurgents had guns, pipe bombs, Molotov cocktails, and zip ties to take hostages. Video from the attack shows attackers chanting "Hang Mike Pence!"

Garrett Miller, an insurgent from Richardson, Texas, made death threats during the attack on the Capitol tweeting, "Assassinate AOC."

Ocasio-Cortez wasn't in the Capitol building during the attack, but she sheltered in her office at the nearby Cannon House Office Building. At one point she hid in the bathroom and was startled when a police officer pounded on her office door asking, "Where is she? Where is she?"

AOC thought the man pounding on the door was an insurgent who came to hurt her.

"And I just thought to myself, 'They got inside' ... I mean, I thought I was going to die," Ocasio-Cortez said, according to People.

The 31-year-old Congresswoman told the LatinoUSA podcast that the January 6 insurrection was an incredibly scary moment for her and her coworkers. "You have this transition period of escalating violence, which really culminated on the 6th, for which was an extraordinarily traumatizing event that's not really being discussed," she said.

As a Congresswoman, Ocasio-Cortez is constantly reacting to the never-ending business of government, but after receiving some heartfelt advice, decided to take a break and pay attention to her mental health after five years of incredible stress.

"Oh yeah, I'm doing therapy but also I've just slowed down," Ocasio-Cortez continued. "I think the Trump administration had a lot of us, especially Latino communities, in a very reactive mode."

"After the 6th, I took some time and it was really [Rep.] Ayanna Pressley when I explained to her what happened to me, like the day of, because I ran to her office," AOC explained. "And she was like, 'You need to recognize trauma. And this is something that you went through, but we're all going through. And it's really important to pause after that, because that's how you process it.'"

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Democracy

Liz Cheney put country before party in new essay chastising GOP for promoting the 'Big Lie'

via Wikimedia Commons

Republican Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming sits on the wrong side of a rift in her party that her career may not survive. Her refusal to believe and promote the "Big Lie," as she calls it, has not only put her leadership role as the third-ranking House Republican in jeopardy but her place in politics altogether.

The Big Lie is the right-wing conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump and that the insurrection on January 6 wasn't incited by GOP lawmakers.

Cheney has also become persona non grata in her party for being one of the few Republican lawmakers to vote to impeach the former president for his role in the Capitol riot.


Unfortunately for Cheney, and Democracy, her reluctance to kowtow to the Trump cult of personality that's overtaken the Republican Party has put her on the outside looking in.

"The conflict here does not stem from Cheney's refusal to move on from the lies that sparked the Capitol riot, but from the fact that the Republican Party has embraced those lies as foundational to Republican identity in 2021," Adam Serwer writes in The Atlantic.

Cheney made her position clear in an op-ed published by The Washington Post on Wednesday. Cheney argues that "The Republican Party is at a turning point, and Republicans must decide whether we are going to choose truth and fidelity to the Constitution."

The op-ed was a brave move for the Representative who may be on the right side of history but the wrong side of the GOP rift. Given the damage that the Big Lie is doing to American politics, her decision to fight back is a clear example of someone putting country before party.

Cheney believes that Trump's behavior is not only beyond the pale for a former president but dangerous to democracy itself. "Trump is seeking to unravel critical elements of our constitutional structure that make democracy work — confidence in the result of elections and the rule of law. No other American president has ever done this," she writes.

via Wikimedia Commons

The daughter of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney believes that the GOP's current antics is putting a fragile democracy at risk.

"I have worked overseas in nations where changes in leadership come only with violence, where democracy takes hold only until the next violent upheaval. America is exceptional because our constitutional system guards against that," she writes. "At the heart of our republic is a commitment to the peaceful transfer of power among political rivals in accordance with law. President Ronald Reagan described this as our American 'miracle.'

Her reference to "The Gipper" shows she still believes the GOP can be the party of Reagan which is probably wishful thinking. Her distancing from the rest of her party shows how incredibly loyal it still is to Trump. The party's decision to demonize immigrants, scuttle free trade deals, embrace authoritarian leaders, support Trump's vulgarity, and denigrate democracy shows how far it has moved from Reagan.

Cheney suggests three ways that the party can move forward. First, by supporting "the ongoing Justice Department criminal investigations of the Jan. 6 attack."

Second, by supporting a "parallel bipartisan review by a commission with subpoena power to seek and find facts" relating to the January 6 attack. And finally, "to stand for genuinely conservative principles, and steer away from the dangerous and anti-democratic Trump cult of personality."

Cheney's plea for the GOP to return to its traditional values probably won't change many minds in a party that is still under the spell of Trump. But it's a valiant effort that puts her on the record for being on the right side of history.

Her family name is synonymous with Republican politics, so standing against a strong political headwind at a time when she could easily go with the flow is commendable.

"History is watching. Our children are watching," she writes. "We must be brave enough to defend the basic principles that underpin and protect our freedom and our democratic process. I am committed to doing that, no matter what the short-term political consequences might be."

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Democracy

Teen kicked out by her parents for political activism outs them as violent Capitol rioters

via GoFundMe

One of the primary jobs of being a parent is setting a good example and teaching your children right from wrong. 18-year-old Helena Duke caught her mother being a terrible role model and, in a powerful reversal, punished her for it publicly.

What else can you do after catching your mother harassing a Black woman while attempting to overthrow the U.S. government?

It all started when Helena's mother, Therese Duke, claimed she was going to visit Helena's aunt to accompany her for a medical procedure. However, Helena suspected she was really going to Washington, D.C. to attend the "Stop the Steal" Trump rally near the White House.

Therese conveniently turned off the geo-tracking app on her phone so she wouldn't get caught.

But as the rioters have learned over the past week, there were a lot of cameras and photos taken of the insurgency. The day after the riot, Helena's cousin sent her the video of a physical encounter on the stress of D.C. that featured some familiar faces.

The video shows multiple people harassing a Black woman who eventually becomes fed up and punches a woman in the face. That woman is Therese.

"My initial reaction was more like, Oh my gosh, I was right. I was actually right about them being there," Helena told BuzzFeed News. "It was very surreal because it was an insane video, first of all, and then it was the revelation that, Oh, that's my mother. That's her."

So Helena decided to out her mother as well as her aunt and uncle for their participation in the ugly scene.

On Thursday, Helena texted her mother asking where she was on Wednesday and didn't receive a response. The day after, Helena texted again asking, "how's your nose?"

"Please call me or talk to me if you really wanna know," her mom wrote.

A big reason why Helena outed her family is that she had been kicked out of the house multiple times for being a liberal lesbian and attending a Black Lives Matter protest. Her mother was once a Democrat, but after Trump's election, became a right-wing extremist.

"She told me she thought Black Lives Matter was a violent organization and they would be inciting violence," she recalled.

"I always felt almost heartbroken over how they viewed the world and how skewed it was and how they wouldn't allow me to express my views. But showing that they can act in such a horrible way is just really appalling to me," she said.

"I am honestly very disappointed to have to be part of this family that is so...just, very not welcoming or supportive," she added. "I don't feel safe being part of this family."

The Black woman, who later identified herself as Ashanti, was arrested for the assault but claims she wasn't the aggressor in the heated situation.

"A video has surfaced where I was surrounded by a group of Trump extremists, and I honestly feared for my life. The video makes me look like I am the aggressor, but it does not show what happened prior to my defending myself," she wrote on a GoFundMe page.

"People shoved me, tried to take my phone and keys, yelled racial epithets at me, and tried to remove my mask," she wrote. "I asked them to social distance and stay out of my personal space due to COVID. They refused, and I was afraid of being hurt and harmed. After being assaulted, I defended myself."

In the video, a man who was identified by Helena as her uncle, Richard Lorenz, is seen throwing a punch.


via Twitter


Since Helena's tweet about her family went viral, her mother has been fired from her job at UMass Memorial Medical Center.

Helena has started a GoFundMe campaign to help with her college expenses.

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