TWO MORE DAYS – AT 7:30 P.M. ET:  Two days from now, Joe Biden will be president.  Look, you don't have to watch.

An odd inauguration.  The outgoing president is under impeachment, the pandemic will place all participants in the ceremony in masks, and six feet apart, and Mike Pence, who emerged from the recent Washington chaos as a larger political figure, will be there to measure the podium for a possible future visit. 

And there are security concerns, which are being taken seriously.  But how those concerns are described should make us uneasy.  From Fox: 

Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller said in a statement on Monday that the Department of Defense has not received any intelligence indicating a potential insider threat to the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on Jan. 20.

However, Miller added that the department is "leaving no stone unturned in securing the capital," noting that all National Guardsmen deployed to Washington, D.C. will be vetted.

"This type of vetting often takes place by law enforcement for significant security events. However, in this case the scope of military participation is unique," Miller said. "The D.C. National Guard is also providing additional training to service members as they arrive in D.C. that if they see or hear something that is not appropriate, they should report it to their chain of command. We appreciate the support of the FBI in assisting with this task and for each of the more than 25,000 Guardsmen who answered their Nation’s call and rapidly deployed to the [North Capital Region]."

The announcement comes after defense officials expressed concerns over the potential for an insider attack, following a riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6 by pro-Trump protesters that left five dead and resulted in dozens of arrests.

The FBI warned in a memo earlier this month of potential plans for protests staged in all 50 state capitals which could occur before, on and after Inauguration Day.

While members from across the military were at President Trump’s rally prior to the riot, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told the Associated Press it's unclear how many were there or who may have participated in the breach at the Capitol.

The U.S. Army said in a statement on Sunday that it would work with the Secret Service to determine if any service members on hand needed additional background screening. As part of the Threat Awareness and Reporting Program, military personnel are required to report "any information regarding known or suspected extremist behavior that could be a threat to the department or the U.S."

COMMENT:   Of course, one can imagine that even a member of an American military unit can have chilling ideas – the Ford Hood massacre of 2009 was carried out by an Army major – but this emphasis on vetting our own soldiers, combined with a certain indifference to the violence committed in American cities over the summer, suggests a rather strange set of priorities. But, of course, it's the Democrats in charge.

January 18,  2021