On Inauguration Day my friend Tom O’Donnell invited me down to watch the festivities (and to be very well fed doing it) at the University of Texas LBJ Center in Washington, which is a few blocks from the White House.
Weather-wise it was a bleak day here, cloudy and chilly with periods of rain but bearable because winds were light.
I walked down from my place and realized enroute that I would be walking right past the door of Thomas House, an elderly rehab facility where a neighbor is on the mend; I decided to stop in.
I visited for a bit and prepared to walk the four blocks to the LBJ center.
At the exit I met a woman about to walk her dog, she had just been told it was dangerous outside as rioters were about.
How silly, rioters?
I walked a short block down Massachusetts Ave. and then turned right on 13th St; ahead I could see the crew from 16 Engine and 3 Truck assembled on the corner near their quarters looking northeast down M street.
Following their gaze I could see a crowd being corralled by Metropolitan Police Officers, some in protective helmets and other gear.
I kept walking and at K street was met by a phalanx of DC National Guard surrounding private vehicles that had been burned; windows were also broken in the area.
It’s anyone’s guess how many rioters there were but at least 230 were arrested and of those, 170 were from outside the DC area, many from New York and Pennsylvania.
The Washington Post reports that the group DisruptJ20 was a protest organizer.
Tom Massey, of Philadelphia, who was arrested, said, according to the Post, “I think there should have been more violence yesterday.”
The Left-Wing Militia are, like the militia of the Right, losers fixated on violence and hate.
I reserve special contempt for folks who march wearing masks, too cowardly to show their face though they apparently feel strongly about something.
Their acts of destruction had the ironic effect of hurting working Americans, the people they profess to want to help, by destroying their means or places of employment.
We are indeed fortunate that yesterday’s Women’s March, over half a million strong here in DC, swamped Friday’s message of hate and discord with one of peaceful solidarity focused on dignity and humanity.
To Mr. Massey of Philadelphia and his fellow left-wing militia members, if you want to spread violence and destruction, do it in your own neighborhood, not ours.
Oh–and get a job.