The second time around

The first impeachment -- was it only a year ago, or a lifetime? -- was a little confusing.  Abuse of power, obstruction of Congress, kind of depends how you look at it.  Incitement of insurrection, on the other hand, with all the physical and video evidence, should be a ten-minute Law & Order episode.  The world watched in real time, no fiddling with the video like that fake-Christmas message from the fake-Queen.  The bodies of the dead were collected and autopsied, no "crisis actors" alleged.  (Or maybe there were, who has time to look at Breitbart?)  Just before it kicked off there was Trump, on video, ginning up the mob, as usual not wearing a mask.  Definitely not Alec Baldwin cold-opening SNL.  This had to be debated?

Some Republicans even voted to impeach.  What a difference a year, an election and armed thugs intent on murdering the vice-president make.  Of course, most of them stood by their man, denouncing "divisiveness" and calling for unity.  (Which always makes me think of Unity Mitford, who shot herself in the head because Britain was going to war with her beloved Third Reich.  Hitler paid her hospital bill.)  Sorry, folks, the body can't heal until the malignancy has been excised.  There are only seven days left, but it won't go away like a miracle.  Trump didn't do this alone.  America is septic.  America needs to be detoxified.  It will probably take years; this is only the surgery.

Ali Alexander, the principal organizer, says he planned it with three members of Congress, Mo Brooks, Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs.  If he's telling the truth, these three need to be expelled as soon as possible.  (Gosar called him a "true patriot" on Twitter, Biggs is doing the "Ali who?" schtick.)  It seems clear that the mob had inside help.  Although the House Sergeant at Arms warned members to stay off social media, Lauren Boebert tweeted, "The Speaker has been removed from the chambers."  Ayanna Pressley and staff members locked themselves in her office where they discovered that the panic buttons had been ripped out.  Holly Figueroa O'Reilly posted a video of insurgents going over schematics of the Capitol and discussing strategy (these idiots love to record their crimes, which always makes it easier).  A shaken Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she feared for her life, and Cori Bush wrote, "They're putting barriers around the Capitol, but the threat is on the inside right now."

The peaceful transfer of power after Trump: