January 6th, 2021 really showed us how weak Congressional Chicken Hawks and their best friends in the media are!
To be clear, when the title of this post says “Minor Inconvenience,” this is strictly speaking from The Hawk Bawk’s point of view. A half of day’s disturbance that caused a delay in the day’s proceedings compared to a 20 year war is extremely minor.
The most interesting part about it all is that it really showed us the Chicken Hawks are on both the Democratic and Republican sides. It was (and still is) quite entertaining to see the Chicken Hawks run around, scared out of their minds!
And yes, the media too, are Chicken Hawks. The fear they pander generates the “need” for more government control. But what will the media do when the government controls them?
Side note: This was originally suppose to cover Democrats and Republicans. However, since so much had to be said about Democrats, a separate post about the Congressional Chicken Hawk Republicans will be created at a later date.
What Exactly Did Trump Say?
The narrative tells us that Trump was the cause of the insurrection. Of course The Hawk Bawk doesn’t like Trump, but to put the blame on his speech for the insurrection on January 6th, 2021 is very lazy. He didn’t say anything any other politician hasn’t said on numerous occasions.
You can watch the full speech here. It felt it was much harder to find just the speech without minutes of padding on both ends than it should have been!
Surprisingly, Bloomberg posted this video on their YouTube channel!
At best, Trump’s message is a little confusing. Saying something along the lines of “fight peacefully” is kind of contradictory. He never said to storm, harm, destroy, or any other violent rhetoric other than “fight,” which is an extremely common term used by politicians.
However, the scared Congressional Chicken Hawks will take it as a threat only because there was action taken on it.
The Capitol Police were sent some intelligence and even rejected help from the National Guard.
Democrats, the Expected Congressional Chicken Hawks
Peter Welch
Democratic Congressman of Vermont Peter Welch’s website doesn’t have anything about foreign policy under the “Issues” tab. He does completely admire the Capitol Police, who had their guns drawn, ready to defend him since he’s incapable of defending himself.
I think the most amazing thing about Peter Welch’s testimonial of the insurrection is the fact that he did not capture any video of the “White House Mob” or any of the horrifying speech by the “mob.” He also didn’t deem it necessary to film the two groups of 70 people “marching in a military formation” and chanting things that he is too proper to repeat.
One thing about some Congressional Chicken Hawks is they will preach diplomacy, but would rather let their bodyguards with the guns deal with things first. So far, there hasn’t been one Congressperson approach the mob and try to quell it with words.
And people say they elect “leaders.”
An Hour and Half Commute?
Representative Welch claims that there are members of the Capitol police that make a one way hour and a half commute to their jobs.
How much are these policemen and women paid to do this job? According to the Capitol police website, it’s $66,423 per year after they complete training.
I’ve never been a policeman, but I have been an infantryman. I can honestly say I’d never want to be a policeman, especially for that salary with 3 hours of commuting each working day. If they work 4 days a week, that’s 12 hours of just going to and from work.
Side Note: Two Capitol Police Suicides
How were the two policemen who committed suicide after the insurrection not headline news everywhere? Are suicides less meaningful than other forms of death?
Jeffery Smith – Victim of a direct blow to the head (was wearing a helmet) from a pole during the insurrection. His wife believes the trauma could have led to the suicide.
Howard Leibengood – Best I could find was that he was declared dead, then later his family declared it a suicide. Finding more information on Mr. Leibengood has been difficult.
People’s medical information should be personal, but if there is one space that could be more transparent, it’s suicide. Suicide in the military is a huge problem, as it is in many other facets of life. For someone to take their own life…it’s a deep thing, and if we don’t know why people do it, will we ever be able to fix the problem?
Especially those that are dealing with high profile dealings, such as the January 6th insurrection.
For those experiencing suicidal thoughts, help is available from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Better Help also has been getting rave reviews over the lockdowns as well.
Adriano Espaillat
In the first minute of his speech, Democratic Congressman of New York Adriano Espaillat declares:
“As the events of January 6th are still burning in the memories of all of us, as well as millions and millions of Americans across the nation, although some people would like to deny that it ever happened or sweep it under the rug – it continues to burn in everybody’s – the images are so aggressive, that they still burn in the memories of millions upon millions of Americans.”
I don’t pay as much attention to politics as I use to, but I have literally never heard anyone claim that the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021 never happened. For the most part, it was people walking around inside and outside the Capitol.
However, the definition of “insurrection” is:
“an act or instance of revolting against civil authority or an established government”
“Insurrection” is a powerful word that incurs powerful images – like the contained acts of violence at the Capitol. What happened at the Capitol does fall within the definition of the word. However, the capacity of the insurrection is blown way out of proportion by almost everyone.
For example, the 5 deaths are always mentioned, but no details about those deaths. It’s very interesting that the medical issues aren’t brought up more so.
“Democracy can never be intimidated!” cried Espaillat in his time. Then why are all of the Congressional Chicken Hawks cowering?
He also called the Capitol “a Temple of Democracy,” giving hint that he believes the government is a religion. Faith goes unquestioned. Is he suggesting we shouldn’t anything the government does?
Espaillat’s Foreign Affairs
Espaillat actually has a “Foreign Affairs” section on his congressional website, but it does little to explain his stance on the matter. He is proud to be of Dominican Heritage. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
I do find it interesting the following three things in bold on his foreign affairs page:
- Congressmember Adriano Espaillat introduced a resolution supporting the establishment of a national month of recognition for Dominican-Americans – I don’t really view this as anything ground-breaking as this can be done for any person of any origin.
- Juan Pablo Duarte – Does the founding father of the Dominican Republic deserve a national day of recognition in the United States?
- Make Our Government Safe Act – Purpose was to prevent anyone who has made “take down the government” type statements from serving in the National Security council. Of course the government doesn’t want antigovernmental people serving in the government. MOGSA shows that it is more concerned with the government, not the people.
The vast majority of his concerns seem to be for the Caribbean and Central America. To be sure, he doesn’t see any potential blowback with it.
If we don’t have national days of recognition for the founders of Canada or Britain (please, let me know if you know of an official National Day of Recognition for Britain – Was it Æthelstan? Was it Brutus?), then I don’t understand why we’d have a national day for the Dominican Republic. I don’t understand why he spent the time drafting such a resolution if we don’t even recognize the founding fathers of the countries from which America was created.
In the end, the “Foreign Affairs” section of Espaillat’s shows that he definitely believes in foreign intervention on the U.S. Government’s behalf. Will this be done without people ready to kill and die for him?
A Side Note on Espaillat’s Mask
After testing positive for COVID-19, Espaillat said he follows CDC guidelines. If he does so, then why within the first minute of his speech does he touch his mask 3 times? One time he did with both hands! Touching your mask is one of the “Don’ts” on the CDC’s “How to Safely Wear a Mask” page.
I think it is worth noting that the Democrats also imposed fines of $500 for the first offense, and $2,500 for the second offense for not wearing a mask in the chamber floor.
If you watch all of them speak, not very many of them are good at following CDC protocols.
It’s all about control to the Congressional Chicken Hawks.
Shiela Jackson Lee
Texas Democrat Representative Shiela Jackson Lee made sure to point out right away…
“We took an oath to defend this nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
Then why didn’t she do anything against the insurrectionists? Definitely a Congressional Chicken Hawk! Thankfully, her “Foreign Affairs” page on her website confirms her Hawkishness.
She thinks the U.S. in Afghanistan is good because it’s the “front line” of the Global War on Terrorism. She was against Iraq, and supported President Obama’s troop withdrawal, but no mention of munitions withdrawal.
On top of Iraq and Afghanistan, she has a strong interest to Pakistan, Darfur, and Nigeria, all of which she is willing to provide major intervention in. She wants to create in Nigeria “…an elite police force that is capable of preventing and combating violence within Nigerian villages.”
Who is paying for that? Who is training them? What if the police force isn’t enough? Why doesn’t she go fight the Boko Haram herself?
Sheila Jackson Lee is definitely a Congressional Chicken Hawk.
Don’t Look at Us Run In Fear!
Through one of her two masks, Jackson Lee states:
“This should not be taken as members fleeing out of fear. But it should be taken as an explanation and an expose of what happened in this place. How it was desecrated, undermined, diminished…how the American people watched this precious place.”
This Chicken Hawk is literally telling us not to look at the Chicken Hawk running away to let the hired guns do the violence.
Then she goes on to explain that the “precious place” was “desecrated, undermined, diminished.” Many of the Congressional Chicken Hawks have expressed such language when talking about the damage done to the Capitol building on January 6th.
But the photos here, here, and here show the following damage:
- Some broken windows
- Some broken furniture, which didn’t look like much
- Discharged fire extinguishers
- Foot prints in residue
- Some people scaling a wall without tools
- A statue with something red smeared on it
- Litter left outside and inside, such as water bottles, food wrappers, and various flags.
- A man standing on a statue of President Gerald Ford, of which dons a MAGA hat.
- Media equipment piled up (likely attempted to be destroyed) – This all probably costs more than all the damage to the Capitol building, since at least the furniture will be replaced with prison work.
The destruction of public property is stupid – we’re all going to end up paying for all of that damage. What was the point of damaging anything if they really didn’t mean it? That’s the most troublesome thing about this “insurrection” – everyone is acting like a fully equipped rebellion army stormed the Capitol and actually attempted to destroy the building and kill people.
White Supremacy – The Number 1 Terrorist Group
In a somewhat surprising twist, Congressional Chicken Hawk Jackson Lee claims that “White Supremacy” is the number one terrorist America has – even more than any foreign terrorist. Given that this “insurrection” was extremely weak, should we really be worried about the White Supremacy Terrorist Organization?
“Terrorism” was a great enemy the U.S. Government targeted after 9/11 because it didn’t have to be defined to a people or country. It gave the U.S. Government a lot of “freedom” to do its will outside of America.
“White Supremacy” looks to do the same for within America’s borders.
After all, the common persons’ ability to critically think begins at the faith in public schools, which are government operated.
But love isn’t what the Congressional Chicken Hawks want to use to win over white supremacy. They would rather do it with force, and aren’t even willing to execute the force as we saw on January 6th.
Did Trump Deny Access to the National Guard?
Jackson Lee claims it was President Trump that denied access to the D.C. National Guard to protect, “…not us, but this building of Democracy.” However, this statement does not appear to be true.
The AP reports that Trump did not make any decisions on January 6th. On the D.C. National Guard’s website, it states:
“As such, the Commanding General of the D.C. National Guard is subordinate solely to the President of the United States. This authority to activate the D.C. National Guard has been delegated, by the President, to the Secretary of Defense and further delegated to the Secretary of the Army.”
For a more chronological breakdown of things, visit this Military Times article.
There’s a lot of he said/she said type back and forth as to why the D.C. National Guard took so long to get to the Capitol. With the investigation finally officially underway as of February 24th (doesn’t that seem like a lot of time to give any wrong-doers to cover up their tracks?), perhaps we’ll never know the true story.
It’s interesting to note in the Politico article that Trump was barely mentioned in the first day of hearings, and it may be interesting to hear a lot of the accusations that are sure on the way. It’s also brought up that there have been some positions without permanent appointment involved, and who knows if certain people act a certain way if they were appointed by Trump.
Dean Phillips
Politicians sure do have a good time wasting their time inflating each others’ egos. Minnesota Democratic Representative Dean Phillips spent the first 16 seconds stroking Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s ego for no reason. But is he a Chicken Hawk?
Pro-Congress Declaration of War
One positive item Representative Phillips’ page has over the other Representatives so far is a direct link to all the items he votes on in Congress. However, it would be nice for him to put summaries of what he believes in handling foreign policy as an official statements, something like Jackson Lee has. It is interesting to note on his campaign website, there is no Foreign Policy section.
Phillips, along with a handful of other Representatives, published a statement basically saying that Congress needs to declare war before troops are sent.
In his 2019 holiday trip through the Middle East with 7 other members of Congress, Phillips had a grand old time. Just look at the pictures taken in Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait! It must be fun visiting soldiers in countries the U.S. isn’t directly at war with!
When members of the government go through the Middle East, they get top-notch security. “Visiting the troops” doesn’t make one any less Chicken Hawkish – it probably makes one even more so.
One recent resolution he supported was for the president to receive a declaration of war from Congress before acting against Iran. That’s swell, but why not do it for every country?
H. CON. RES. 83 reveals a shocking statistic – “Over the past eight months, in response to rising tensions with Iran, the United States has introduced over 15,000 additional forces into the Middle East.“
Does the 15,000 subtract the numbers that have been removed from Iraq? Do these include just military, or civilian contractors as well? Where did these 15,000 forces go?
The final question would be most difficult to answer since numbers for Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan were kept secret after February 2020.
Gold Star Son Not Happy with The Hawk Bawk
Since The Hawk Bawk thinks less of the Congressional Chicken Hawks who experienced trauma while others stood by to do violence on their behalf, Phillips is most likely not happy with what we have to say about him and his colleagues. He starts his speech taking pity on those of us who aren’t happy with their Hawk Bawks.
One of the best quotes from Phillips:
“We know the sound of the breaking glass, of the screams, and of the furniture being moved in front of the doors. We know the feeling of being trapped in this room and being taken hostage is the best case scenario.”
How would this Gold Star Son handle anything that closely resembles war? If such a small amount of chaos has truly tested his “privilege,” then why is not constantly and greatly antiwar?
The feeling of being trapped is legitimate, but it is a dramatic Chicken Hawk’s mentality if the best he could come up with is to be a hostage. Wouldn’t the best case scenario be to get out of there alive and unharmed?
Phillips doesn’t seem to be much of a Congressional Chicken Hawk yet (at least in comparison to many other members of Congress), but only time will tell since America is so blood thirsty. He’s still a rookie in Congress.
Side Note: Public Speakers
Through all of these speeches, the Representatives spend a LOT of time looking down at their speeches and reading them. How is this the best America came come up with? And again, why do they keep touching their masks?
Mary Gay Scanlon
By now, the ego-stroking is ridiculous!
Democratic Representative from Pennsylvania Mary Gay Scanlon took it upon herself to read a letter written by the staffs of many of the senate and house members. One line genuinely sticks out:
“Either you stand with the Republic or against it.”
Remember when George H. W. Bush declared something very similar, and do you see where that got us? It’s amazing how many people still actually in Democrat or Republican, Red or Blue, Up or Down, etc. Do Congressional Chicken Hawks really think there is just one way to think?. It’s a dangerous mindset.
The over 400 staff employees blame Trump for the insurrection, and Rep. Scanlon requested that letter be put in the record.
Mary Gay Scanlon’s Website
Since Scanlon’s part of the speaking was basically to just make it known of the staff’s thoughts on January 6th, there isn’t much to say about her. However, a visit to her website has NO foreign policy page.
Does this make her a Congressional Chicken Hawk?
Mark Takano
Listening to California Democratic Representative Mark Takano prompted me to listen to the entirety of Trump’s January 6th speech again.
Full disclosure – I didn’t watch the full speech in the video above. I only watched the last minute or so, including his dancing. I watched it on this video until the stream lagged at around 16 minutes, then I watched it on this stream until it stopped about ten minutes before Trump was finished speaking. The second stream then lagged as he stepped away from the microphone. The PBS stream seems to be of the best quality stream.
Takano claims, “…but it became instead a target of an angry mob incited by the president who encouraged that very mob to interfere and stop the counting of the ballots,” in reference to the certification of the ballots.
Trump said nothing in the speech on January 6th, 2021 of the sort. Unfortunately, since Twitter banned his @realDonaldTrump account and @POTUS only goes back to February 5th, 2021, there is no more direct source of tweets from Trump on January 6th.
(Fun experiment: the first result on Google for “Trump Twitter” is Twitter’s blog post about banning Trump. Duck Duck Go’s first result is Trump’s Twitter account)
However, just a minute or so later, Takano states, “…but I never imagined what was coming after Trump encouraged his supporters at a rally to storm the Capitol and distrupt the Electoral College count.” So Takano’s not even referencing anything but Trump’s speech, in which he never encouraged his supporters to storm the Capitol and disrupt the Electoral College count.
Is this a case of a lie being told enough that it eventually becomes truth? I watched all of Trump’s speech in preparation to writing this post, but after hearing about how he told people to storm the Capitol over and over again, I had to watch the speech again just to confirm what I had already known to be true.
Mark Takano’s Website
As expected, if you go to Takano’s Congressional site, you will not find a Foreign Policy page. Instead, he has a “National Security” page.
In this page, he covers 3 topics:
- Addressing Emerging Threats – He says, “I believe we should move away from the construction of next-generation nuclear weapons, place a greater emphasis on diplomatic solutions, and enhance our leadership in multilateral institutions. With the continued presence of terrorist organizations, it is critical that our anti-terrorism efforts are strategic and effective.” That last sentence can be extremely abused by even the weakest of Chicken Hawks.
- March Air Reserve Base – This base brings in roughly $500,000,000 in economic revenue in the region, so of course he supports it.
- Work for Warriors – He started a program to reduce California National Guard unemployment by 25%. The military preaches day on end that service makes you so attractive to employers, and there are so many programs to help service members and veterans to find jobs. Why do we need more of them?
Is sending people off to kill and die so low in the thoughts of Congressional Chicken Hawks? Do they not worry about having a stance on it? I would be extremely hard pressed to put any faith into someone that can’t justify sending off people to kill and die for them on other people’s dimes.
Rashida Tlaib
Upon starting Michigan Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib’s speech, she claimed she received her 1st death threat before taking office for “merely existing.” If you have power over someone and you believe you don’t, that’s kind of strange.
It’s not exactly clear why Tlaib was given time to speak, other than she wanted to talk about what happened. People worried about her – that’s natural. She has a diverse staff. Good for her (that comes off as sarcastic, but it is not)! But what I don’t understand is why her and her staff think the Capitol is a safe place.
Is the Capitol suppose to be immune to everything? Why would the Capitol get political immunity? Congressional Chicken Hawks work there, and they want people to kill and die for them on other people’s dimes. That’s not asking someone to help an old lady across the street, at least to a normal person it isn’t.
But, with our government education, perhaps today’s politicians don’t understand how powerful they really are.
Tlaib’s Small List of Issues
Tlaib’s six issues, by far the shortest list of the bunch, on her site include:
- The BOOST Act
- Environmental Justice
- Equity
- Fighting Corporate Greed
- Economic Justice
- Coronavirus Info
There is nothing there that comes even close to touching foreign policy. Half of these issues barely have any information on them, so with no official stance on war, it’s hard to tell if Tlaib is a Congressional Chicken Hawk or not.
Cori Bush
Making everything a tribal problem America faces – this is one issue with Missouri Democratic Representative Cori Bush. Trying to find her stance on foreign policy is a bit of a problem. Like Representative Scanlon, her Congressional website doesn’t even have a foreign policy page.
However, with her labeling every single person that was at the Capitol building on January 6th, 2021 a “white supremacist,” it’s not hard to believe that she is a Congressional Chicken Hawk. She also “claimed” she would “bang” any of the “white supremacists” who came at her office doors. Would she have been the one doing the shooting? If she cares so much about her colleagues in Congress, why did she bar herself up and not protect them?
I guess we’ll never know her stance on supplying weapons to Afghanistan in the 1970’s. Maybe her having nothing to say about foreign policy is a good thing for the Congressional Chicken Hawks?
Cori Bush is the Worst on the Issues
Cori Bush has the worst congressional website, as far as trying to find out what she believes. Tlaib did have six issues, but Bush has zero (0). She does say you can go to her voting record, but there is nothing to contrast that with.
So, I took to her Twitter account to see if there was anything at all in the month of February that stated anything about her foreign policy ideas. Here is the closest I came to them:
You should never have to fear for your life at work.
— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) February 2, 2021
You should never have to be constantly retraumatized at work.
You should never have to beg for accountability at work.
All of that must be true in Congress too. Pass H.Res 25 to investigate and expel these GOP members.
“You should never have to fear for your life at work.” This COULD mean she doesn’t believe there should be a military? Every day I was at work on my first deployment I was in fear of my life.
Other than that, there is zero talk about any foreign policy. Either she has no idea or she doesn’t care. Considering one of the powers Congress actually has is to declare war, perhaps we shouldn’t be electing people who have no grasp on war or choose to completely avoid the topic. It’s hard to say whether Cori Bush is a Congressional Chicken Hawk or not.
Unfortunately, the Chicken Hawks Will Keep Their Power
Very few people will question the guts of Congress. Even fewer will confront the Congressional Chicken Hawks on it.
As long as the typical American really doesn’t care about the American Empire, Congress really doesn’t have a reason to care about it either, even though it’s one of their actual job duties.
As long as we expect so little out of our politicians, there is no reason to give up their power.
Support the Hawk Bawk
If you found “Democratic Congressional Chicken Hawks Bawk over Minor Inconvenience” helpful, please further support at The Coop!
Follow on Twitter: @TheHawkBawk
Like on Facebook: @TheHawkBawk
Subscribe on YouTube: The Hawk Bawk
Paypal Donation: @BLoafX
