The Times They Are A-Changing

 

The Trump-incited mob at the Capitol Building goes rogue and many "protesters" turn to destruction and violence, breaking into that building and making their way around the Hallowed Halls of Congress like a wild band of revolutionary terrorists. One woman is dead as a result...so far. I write this as a curfew has descended upon the District of Columbia and many of the flag-waving election deniers defiantly challenge the cordon of enforcement officers assembled there this cold January evening. All to try and "flip" the results of the election.

But is this all unprecedented like so many are saying tonight?

Did you know today's storming of the Capitol building wasn't the first invasion by an armed mob into this edifice of marble? 

Today's assault comes from what's debatably right-winged or as it's often labeled "alt-right" in orientation but fifty years ago it was the Marxist far-left Weather Underground that breached the security of the Capitol Building and set off a bomb. The blast, fortunately, injured no-one but it caused some $300,000 in damages. Their beef was the US military violation of Laos sovereignty during the Vietnam War.

1971 Hippies to 2021 Flippies.

As Bob Dylan wrote:

Come senators, congressmen

Please heed the call

Don't stand in the doorway

Don't block up the hall

For he that gets hurt

Will be he who has stalled

The battle outside ragin'

Will soon shake your windows

And rattle your walls

For the times they are a-changin'

EDIT: I did a little more digging in the archives and found out that actually, the Capitol suffered more attacks than just the two mentioned above. Here I've included a photo showing the damages caused by a bomb blast set off in 1983 by protestors to military actions in Grenada and Lebanon. Compare with the pic taken this afternoon above...

It's the same hallway area! Even the portraits are the same! How freaky is that?!