in #OnThisDay, Hurricane Helene, US History 1,060 Words

#OnThisDay: 4th Anniversary of the Attempted Coup

What happened in Washington, DC four years ago today is too important for me to overlook for this blog.

          Just like September 11, 2001 is forever etched in my mind, so too is January 6, 2021. There are some things you just cannot unsee.

          On September 11, 2001 I stood in front of my TV in horror as I watched the second plane crash into the World Trade Center. On January 6, 2021 I stood (yes, stood!) in front of my TV in horror as I watched insurrectionists storm the US Capitol at the encouragement of Donald Trump.

          Until 2021, the meeting of the US Congress to certify the electoral votes in the recent presidential election was a mundane, rubber-stamp kind of meeting. Most citizens weren’t even aware that such a meeting took place. It usually received no more than a brief mention on TV news broadcasts.

Photo by Andra C Taylor Jr on Unsplash

          Until 2021.

          I will never forget the images of the rioters storming the US Capitol, bashing in windows, attacking police officers, calling for the hanging of Vice President Mike Pence, breaking into offices to break and steal whatever they could, and eventually breaking into the chambers of the House of Representatives to pillage.

          All that at the invitation and encouragement of a sitting US president who could not accept defeat at the ballot box and refused for several hours to call for the rioters to stop.

          What a disgrace!

          I fully expect the certifying of the 2024 presidential election results to go smoothly and peacefully today. Joe Biden won in 2020. It is a sad truth that Donald Trump won in 2024. I accept the 2024 election results, although my heart cannot accept the fact that half the country wanted a man with such a void of moral character to once again occupy the White House.

Photo by Brendan Beale on Unsplash

Hurricane Helene Update:

          Three months ago, I naively thought as time passed my Hurricane Helene Updates in my weekly blog posts would decrease in length. I knew recovery would take years, but I misjudged how many stories of recovery I would continue to read about and want to share with you.

          Some updates are daunting, but others shine a light on the undaunted spirit of humanity. In 2025, I will continue to share with you not only how our government agencies but also individual human beings rise to the occasion in the aftermath of disasters.

          Today is the 147th anniversary of the birth of American poet Carl Sandburg, so I’ll take this opportunity to catch you up on what happened to the grounds at his home in Flat Rock, NC during Hurricane Helene in September. The Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site is closed indefinitely except for a hiking trail which reopened on December 23. The trail from the main parking lot to the home sustained severe erosion and damage during the storm. It is my understanding that the house itself is okay, but it will remain closed until the park’s main sewer line and other infrastructure repairs and rebuilding can take place. There is no estimated reopening date for the home. The site averages 150,000 visitors annually.

          From a post I saw on Facebook on Thursday: “Boone, NC officials have confirmed that 62 members of the Pennsylvania Amish community have completed the construction of 12 tiny homes in western North Carolina in under 48 hours. The total cost of the project was over $300,000, all of which was donated by the Amish community.” It snowed in Boone on Friday, and much of the mountainous part of NC was under a winter storm warning yesterday and all day today. All this week will be very cold.

          As of December 25, Brother Wolf Animal Rescue https://www.bwar.org/had moved into its temporary location, and as of December 30 the 501(c)3 organization which has save more than 100,000 animals since 2007, had raised 91% of the $1.5 million it hoped to raise by the end of 2024 to fund the first phase of rebuilding its facility in a new location in Asheville. Its old facility was completely wiped out in the September flood.

          The 21st Century Packhorse Librarian reported the following for the last three months of 2024:  738 brand new books were donated from the Amazon wish list and “thousands upon thousands” of gently-used books were donated and distributed to the homes that needed them most. The work continues! https://981theriver.com/news/228822-woman-brings-free-books-to-appalachia-as-modern-packhorse-librarian/

          As of Friday, 185 roads in NC, including a portion of I-40 near the Tennessee line, remained closed due to the damage wreaked by Hurricane Helene.

          Most of the Blue Ridge Parkway remains closed, with no estimate of when it will be fully reopened.

          Three inches of rain in parts of the mountains last week caused additional flooding and the washing away of several temporary bridges.

          The NC Department of Transportation will use a federal grant to launch a pilot program to strategically place “drones-in-a-box” in preparation for future natural disasters. The drones will be remotely launched after a storm to assess damages and to deliver such emergency supplies as insulin. The program will begin in Lumberton, NC, which is in the eastern part of the state and prone to flooding from Atlantic hurricanes.

Until my next blog post

If you visited my blog today expecting to find out which books I read in December, please come back next week for that information.

I hope you have a good book to read.

Hold your family close.

Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

Janet

32 thoughts on “#OnThisDay: 4th Anniversary of the Attempted Coup”

  4. Wonderful post, Janet. Thanks for the updates. I can’t help wondering how many people would have been killed if the January 6 visitors hadn’t been mostly white Trump supporters? I am also dismayed by the number of I’m done with Trump 6 Jan Republicans completely turned around within a month.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Thank you, Pat. After a few weeks of wanting to hibernate after the election, I’ve decided I have a platform and I need to use it. I don’t know what the ramifications will be. If I lose some readers, so be it. I cannot sit in silence or fear. I think you’re right… I thought at the time, if the rioters had been people of color, things would have turned out much differently. And I’m not in the mood for any regrets voiced by people who voted for him. They knew what he was and now all of us are stuck with the results of their short-sightedness. I hope they enjoy the cheap gas and cheap eggs they voted for in November.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Absolutely, Francis! As I type these words, I’m watching Vice President Harris preparing to certify the election. Oh, the irony that she is in that position! The January 6, 2021 perpetrators should never be pardoned, but since the ringleader will have the power to do that at 12:01 on January 20, it’s inevitable. This is not the country I grew up in. I don’t recognize it now. All the best to you, as our world moves forward (or backwards, as the case may be.)

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Funny how soon he is already stepping back from some of his campaign promises on how quickly he will fix grocery prices or resolve the war in Ukraine. And he hasn’t even been inaugurated yet…

    Liked by 1 person

  13. You are right Janet. It is not the country I lived in and fought for. The world is upside down. Spain is the same, corruption and destruction. Parents don’t teach their children respect instead they make them think they are special so they grow up being ego-centric and selfish and do not know how to respect or even be considerate of others. Too many supposed rights and too few (real) duties. All the best Janet.

    Liked by 1 person

  16. I don’t know what to say, really. The whole thing is utterly baffling. My hope remains that all he cared about was winning and now that he has, he’ll spend the next four years playing golf and doing nothing.

    Liked by 1 person

  17. I’m not at all optimistic, especially after his outrageous news conference this morning. Going after Canada, Greenland, Panama, changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Saying he understands how Russia feels…. Claims none of the insurrectionists at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 had guns, although many of them who were eventually brought to trial pled guilty to taking a firearm onto federal property. Claims only soldiers have died in Ukraine! Says “all hell will break loose” if all the hostages aren’t released in Gaza before January 20th. He’s mad because the flags will be at half-staff for his Inauguration because it’s a federal law that US flags be flown at half-staff for 30 days when a president or former president dies. It’s so sad to see an almost 80-year-old man act like a toddler and make crude jokes like a 14-year-old boy. I’m thoroughly disgusted and filled with dread. Can’t stand to see his face or hear his voice. He is a self-centered mad man who has surrounded himself with people who are just as evil as he is. I know some of his talk is bluster, but he’s bound to follow through on some of his threats/promises — and I don’t like a single thing I’ve ever heard him say. Most (all?) of his nominees to cabinet positions are incompetent and some of outright dangerous. FBI Director just to name one. I’ll probably have all my fingernails bitten off before January 20th!

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Yes, so now he’s trying to draw our attention to Greenland, Canada, and Panama so we’ll forget the things he campaigned about. His followers, unfortunately, have short memories, so they aren’t likely to hold him accountable.

    Liked by 1 person

  23. Pingback: Update on Librarians on Horseback – e-Quips

  26. I’m afraid you are correct, Paul. It is beyond disheartening and disappointing. The last scraw will be when the president-elect pardons all of them.

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  29. Thanks for your post commemorating a date we should not forget that compromised our democracy. Glad to hear some good news about recovery measures after the flood; especially the library books and tiny houses.

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