Alan K. Henderson
Happy Civil Rights Day!
On my long-neglected blog I recommended replacing Martin Luther King Day with Civil Rights Day. Here’s the case I made.
For years I’d heard news stories about debates over whether or not to establish an official Martin Luther King holiday, and never did anyone report the arguments against. I always suspected that one was that we had way too many day-off-of-work holidays as it was. Having one three weeks after Christmas does seem a bit superfluous. MLK Day would be only the third national holiday named after a person, the others being Christmas and Columbus Day, commemorating the chief catalyst for Western culture and the chief catalyst for extending Western culture to the Americas. (In the case of the latter, make that Western cultures; English and Iberian influences were vastly different.) Some, I imagine, feel that only those rare individuals who have had such a radical impact should have holidays named for them. Dr. King isn’t in that league; the only Americans who are are the Founders; their holiday is July 4.
Here’s my argument against making [the third Monday of January] an official holiday: it’s not fair to everyone else involved in the civil rights movement. Independence Day isn’t just about one guy. We have a holiday for all those who made the Declaration of Independence happen. We should have a federal holiday called Civil Rights Day. It would be like Memorial Day, honoring leaders of past civil rights struggles instead of soldiers of past wars.
Six Years Ago Today
Instapundit reminds readers of the anniversary of the hit job on the Covington kids. In the wake of the debacle I had composed this song.
People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump
On May 30, 2024, Donald Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsified business records that allegedly abetted crime(s) unstated in the March 30, 2023 indictment. The jury was instructed to choose between three candidates for the other crime; their choices were not disclosed in the conviction. During the course of the trial, legal experts have struggled to deduce the nature of the underlying crime. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg played his cards close to the vest; as CNN analyst and Bragg’s former colleague Elie Honig stated:
Inexcusably, the DA refused to specify what those unlawful means actually were — and the judge declined to force them to pony up — until right before closing arguments. So much for the constitutional obligation to provide notice to the defendant of the accusations against him in advance of trial. (This, folks, is what indictments are for.)
Pieces to this puzzle are scattered about the Internet address in bits and pieces. This is my attempt to pull those sources together to adequately outline the main issues of the case.
Investigations To-Do List
Regarding my previous post, I want J6 investigations to determine the numbers that engaged in the following:
- Attacked the defensive perimeter between the Capitol grounds and the area of the permitted Capitol protest
- Of those cited above, those who did and did not enter the Capitol grounds, and those who did and did not enter the Capitol building
- Engaged in assault to gain access to the Capitol building itself, or to areas within
- Other assaults by civilians
- Engaged in vandalism to gain access to the Capitol building or to areas within
- Other vandalism
- Entered the Capitol through unattended doorway (e.g. Chansley and his entourage)
- Entered the capitol through attended doorway with permission
- Accessed the Capitol grounds by climbing the west wall
- Of those cited above, those who did and did not enter the Capitol building (my own impression is that most were content to stay outside)
- Attempted to approach lawmakers while inside Capitol
- Did not attempt to approach lawmakers while inside Capitol
- All convictions of nonviolent persons who were never on Capitol grounds
- Capitol defenders lobbing tear gas canisters into the area of the permitted Capitol protest
- Capitol defenders lobbing tear gas elsewhere
- Assaults by non-civilians not involving tear gas
And now, on to other investigations the Trump administration or other parties should undertake.