The day of the attempted coup

Today was a incredibly sad (and terrifying) day in American history. It was the day that an enraged, white mob of MAGA supporters (that is, supporters of Trump) rioted in Washington D.C. and stormed the capital building, gaining entry and forcing the emergency evacuation of the representatives and senators. 

It started out well enough. The news was a boost of energy, indicating that the runoffs in Georgia had been successful for the Democratic candidates, and thus, Democrats would have control of the Senate. They already had control of the House, and with the election of Joe Biden, the presidency, so they would hold the Executive and the Legislative branches (the SCOTUS has a conservative majority thanks to the machinations of McConnell who will no longer be the Senate Majority Leader). I was more than overjoyed.

It being a very pleasant and warm day, with a few clouds, and given that I had not gone anywhere these past two days, I wanted to get out and take photos. I needed to, because it is the only thing that relieves stress for me. So I got my things ready and left the house at 9:30 a.m., and drove to the UCR Botanic Gardens.

This was perhaps my fourth time visiting this place, and I was originally planning on taking a few 8x10 shots, but then, I thought, I do not want to be encumbered. It was not a day to be carrying a fragile 3D printed camera and some heavy, heavy film holders, plus the sturdy tripod which is much too heavy to carry for long distances. (I don't know how Ben Horne does it in his videos where he treks into the wilds of Zion National Park, or Death Valley.) So, I just took my Fuji GW690ii camera, which probably weighs as much as the 8x10 camera I have, but is less bulky, and doesn't necessitate a tripod. It was just my backpack and a trekking pole, and I thought I had it covered. Meanwhile, the politicians were meeting in Congress and MAGA was holding a rally to incite a mob to subsequently storm the capital building, but that would happen in a few hours.

So, I took the walk into the garden. The parking lot was full, but there was one spot for me. Then, I walked up there and made my usual trek, first to the desert plants, then the rose garden, then the butterfly garden (and there were butterflies flitting around in a carefree fashion!), then I turned to the peak because I wanted to climb it and get a few photos cityscapes of Riverside. But then, I saw that there were people walking down an adjacent hill, and I thought, I have not explored it, I wonder what amazing vistas I can see there? So, I changed hills, and started my walk up that one. No exotic plants there, just big trees and rocks, but, I saw watering hoses everywhere, so I can see these trees (and a few shrubs) need to be watered too. I had amazing views of the "C" on the UCR hill. And, I kept walking up in a circuitous fashion, but meanwhile, as I would find out later, MAGA was inciting the mob who attended his election to storm the congressional building, and that white mob did so, they turned to the building and turned their hostility against it and the police forces guarding it, who could not defend the building, but the way. (They were much, much, much more lenient with white mobs than they were with the BLM -Black Lives Matter- protestors who tried the same thing earlier in 2020.) And, they actually had the politicians inside cowering in fear, they scaled the defenses and made it in, waving Confederate flags, MAGA flags and banners and, in one shameful incident, a sweatshirt with the text "Camp Auschwitz"). They are the deplorables that Hillary Clinton called out in 2016, the band of racist, right-wing bigots with no respect for legality, and I saw the photo where they actually strung out a noose in front of the capital building, in a symbolic symbol of their intent to lynch, of course. (I can hear the Republican and Conservative Christians apologists saying it was only a bit a theatricality, just like they try to excuse MAGA's incendiary and demonizing rhetoric as "uncouth" language.) 

Well, I was walking around the hill in ignorance of what was happening, and was feeling more relaxed, except that I looked at my cellphone and found it was 11:18 a.m., and remembered that I had to exit the garden by 12 noon, and I was high up the hill, with no clear view of a path down, and thinking, it might take me a long way to find my path. But I decided to risk it anyway, and continued taking photos with my Fuji GW690ii camera, infrared photos, I might add. I wanted to just sit on a bench and just admire the view, there were very few people up this hill, but no, I felt I was pressured to descend, and so I wound my way slowly down the hill, all the while enjoying the skyline photos and the view of the San Gabriel mountains that still have a cap of snow on them. 

Eventually I made it down, with time to spare, by the way. I had time to go back quickly and grab the infrared shot I wanted of some steps, then of some desert plants. I have not developed the rolls yet, maybe tomorrow, maybe someday (as Chryssie Hynde sings in her song "Talk of the Town"). But I got my shots, and made it out by noon. I definitely still have places to explore in this garden, because I didn't reach the top, but will have that place to aim for next time I visit. Maybe I'll return in February. Hopefully my gut will be able to unclench once the MAGA is out of office on January 20th.

I might add, I went to the Riverside Parkway to take a few photos with my 8x10 camera, and I took 4 exposures. I think I might have some acceptable ones, I was certainly much more methodical and careful. Then, by the time I returned, it was after 1:30 p.m., and that was when I connected to social media and found out about the MAGA riot in Washington. It is just illegal what they did, an act of sedition incited by the president in an attempt to steal an election, and he needs to be removed as soon as possible. We cannot wait for him to cook up new schemes during these next two weeks until we get to January 20th, he needs to be removed now, declared incompetent and without use of his full faculties by his cabinet members so that we can have a peaceful transition of power. And the MAGA rioters need to be identified and punished, as well as the politicians who helped to incite the riot and who have stood with this incompetent, malicious, mendacious and ignorant excuse of a leader we have had these past four years.

We will end this term much worse than we have ever been, divided down to our souls, with the deplorables (the MAGA worshippers) emboldened to defy and intimidate others. And how are we doing with Covid, you might ask? Well, the numbers are as deeply disturbing as ever, but we have no leadership from the federal authorities, just a sociopath intent on stealing an election. And who believed that things would go well, given what we were hearing from the MAGA during the 2016 election cycle? Who actually believed in this idiot? It was a white electorate, and not just working class, because most of that working class does not vote, I think, but whites with college degrees who feel they are losing their privilege and needed to support a white supremacist agenda. The media and reporters try to dress it up as an electorate feeling economic insecurity, but please tell me about it when so many middle class white voted for the MAGA. 

He needs to be prosecuted and convicted of sedition. He has damaged our nation more than we feared four years ago. He is going, and will be counted the worst president ever, but he will leave an army of emboldened, Proud Boys, Christian Evangelist, KKK supporters who will hail him as their führer for the foreseable future. For now, terminate his Twitter account (it has been suspended for 12 hours only). Stop listening to him and reporting every word. Remove him now, and let us heal, because I can think of nothing except the anxiety and worry I feel when I try to anticipate the next outrage, and it is more than I can stand.

Oh, and thank you for your abysmal lack of leadership with the Covid crisis. You will leave office with a nation that will reach close to 400,000 deaths due to this virus. Your apologists will defend you, but we know, the death toll did not need to be anywhere near this high. It was you, MAGA, who muddied our response and collective will, and it is you who incited the attempted coup today.