WE HAVE SURVIVED! – OVERNIGHT:  And what a miracle.  Why, today was supposed to be the end of the United States, with ramifications extending to Mars.  This was the day when hordes of right-wing fanatics and fascist sympathizers were to descend on Washington to celebrate the events of January 6th.   As we've pointed out, what was expected was a disaster of Biblical proportions.   Uh, maybe you haven't heard too much about it on the news today.  And there are reasons.  From NBC News:

WASHINGTON — A small, peaceful crowd gathered Saturday in Washington to protest what the organizers say is the unfair treatment of people charged in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
The rally ended less than 90 minutes after it began around noon in Union Square, a small park just west, and in clear view, of the Capitol.

Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee said that the crowd was “about what we expected” and that the stepped-up police presence may have kept numbers lower. “I’m hopeful that had some impact on it,” he said in an interview before the rally.

In the afternoon, the U.S. Capitol Police estimated that, excluding law enforcement, 400 to 450 people were inside the protest area.

Oh, the masses.  Oh, the masses.

Matt Braynard, executive director of Look Ahead America and the organizer of the event, wrote on Twitter that he expected "a 100 percent peaceful event in support of the nonviolent offenders...who have been charged.”

Speaking to the crowd Saturday, Braynard said, "This isn't about President Trump or Biden or your political party. It's about human rights and civil rights."

More than 600 people have been arrested in the eight-plus months since the Jan. 6 attack, more than 50 of whom have pleaded guilty to a variety of federal crimes. Six have been found guilty in court, according to the Justice Department.

They'll have to open up a whole new Alcatraz.

Lori Smith, 58, a paralegal from the Atlanta area, was among the group attending the rally. She said she opposed the storming of the Capitol but believes some of the people charged are political prisoners and that the officer who shot Ashli Babbitt should be tried like Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd in police custody.

The officer who shot Babbitt has been cleared of wrongdoing by the Justice Department and Capitol Police.

COMMENT:  Whew!  That was close.  I hate to see CNN and The New York Times disappointed, but there was no attempt to overthrow the government, although the actions of one cocker spaniel at the scene were deemed suspicious by highly trained insurrection experts.  We will be reporting on that, and the investigation by the Canine Terror Squad.

September 18, 2021