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DC jury convicts Somerville yoga instructor as Jan. 6 Capitol rioter
By adamg on Fri, 03/03/2023 - 9:55pm
Two sides of Bacon: Angry Trump putschist and thoughtful yoga instructor.
A jury in US District Court in Washington, DC today convicted Noah Bacon, 29, of Somerville, of traipsing around inside the Capitol with his fellow insurrectionist Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, the US Attorney's office in Washington reports.
Bacon, arrested in Massachusetts five months after the failed coup, is scheduled for sentencing June 14 on his conviction for on a felony charge of obstruction of an official proceeding and on misdemeanor charges of entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building, entering and remaining in the gallery of either House of Congress, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. He faces a potential maximum sentence of 20 years.
According to the US Attorney's office:
Bacon was among a mob of rioters illegally on the Capitol grounds. He entered the Capitol Building at approximately 2:15 p.m., through the Senate Wing Door, and remained inside for about 50 minutes. While inside the building, Bacon moved through areas including the Crypt, Hall of Columns, Rotunda, the East Rotunda Door vestibule area, the Senate Gallery, and the Senate Chamber where he sat for approximately 10 minutes. While in the East Rotunda Door vestibule area, Bacon attempted to keep the breached door open as other rioters streamed inside. He also used a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag to cover a security camera before using the stairwell to move to the Senate Gallery hallway. After rioters prevented United States Capitol Police officers from securing the galleries, he entered an unlocked senate gallery.
More details on what he did in the Capitol.
Bacon's High Heart Meditation Web page does not mention his love for the twice-impeached ex-president:
I have been fascinated by spirituality and the study of human nature, healing, and human potential as long as I can remember. I started in middle school with my parent's bookshelf and haven't stopped since. After completing high school with honors I started traveling and doing odd jobs along the way in search of what I had been reading about for years - actualized teachers.
My studies brought me to Maui, Brazil, Peru, all around the USA, and many places in between. I have trained in academic mindfulness based practices, such as a 200-Hour yoga training at Shoshoni Yoga Retreat in Colorado and 500-Hour at the Kripalu Center in Western Mass. I have traveled to meet public as well as unnamed teachers and have lived with master meditators apprenticing in 24/7 immersive "karate kid" style. In search of universal truth and my own truth I have hitchhiked cross country and traveled thousands of miles around our Hemisphere and have met amazing people everywhere I went. My emphasis is entirely on substance free practices, but I have joined in plant ceremony with Andean Q'ero shamans and participated in Wampanoag and Kahuna traditional sweat lodges. I love practices that celebrate life and self development.
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Comments
Mama Gump said
Stupid is as stupid does.
Pathetic
Downward facing pathetic dog.
That headshot looks like the picture that came with
a Lucite frame from Zayre's in 1989.
Zayre!
I knew I'd seen that somewhere before!
Guy Fawkes
I say it looks a lot like those fake "Guy Fawkes" masks that are so popular with the "Anonymous" group of hackers.
Justified
The one with the hat looks like Dickie Bennett from Justified.
Or a fan of late-period
Freddy Mercury.
Even putting everything else
Even putting everything else aside... This is not a great commercial for his abilities as a trained Yoga instructor. I think people who do Yoga are looking for zen and rampaging around the Capital Building is not quite that vibe. It's kind of like finding out a vegan influencer secretly likes to hunt baby deer and eat them on weekends.
Or
Yoga instructors can be stupid, like any others. The Jan. 6 idiots include a really wide range of job titles.
True, but...
yoga is a meditative spiritual practice that (is supposed to) give the person peace and unison with the world around them. I think that's the point the other fellow was making.
A highly educated and successful doctor, lawyer, physicist, etc. could be swept up in that MAGA rage, but a person who practices and even teaches that spirituality isn't as likely to become a violent person.
I don't suppose any true Buddhist monks were among that crowd on J6th.
Kelly Ann says
It was "Alternative Yoga" he was teaching.
“ I don't suppose any true
“ I don't suppose any true Buddhist monks were among that crowd on J6th.”
Probably not. But Buddhists can be just as violent as anyone else. The Rohingya conflict comes to mind.
See also...
...Sri Lanka.
Have known a few people who
Have known a few people who've worked in the yoga world- who are all out of it- and they made it sound like a most toxic hybrid of joining a cult, selling Amway and working on "Saturday Night Live"
Yoga and zen...
...are completely different, unrelated practices. And in a culture that uses the word "zen" to sell everything from cars to coffee, anyone who self-identifies as "zen" is suspect.
So spirichal
My studies brought me to Maui, Brazil, Mar-a-Lago, all around the USA, and many places in between. I have trained in academic mindfulness based practices, such as a 200-Hour yoga training at Shoshoni Yoga Retreat in Colorado and 500-Hour at the Kripalu Center in Western Mass. I have traveled to meet public as well as unnamed teachers and have lived with master grifters apprenticing in 24/7 immersive "karate kid" style. I have invaded the United States Capitol with an angry mob seeking to overthrow American democracy and hang the Vice President. My emphasis is entirely on substance free practices, but I have joined in plant ceremony with Andean Q'ero shamans and participated in Wampanoag and Kahuna traditional sweat lodges. I love practices that celebrate life and self development. And I hate democracy. Did I mention that?
He needs to update his resume
He needs to update his resume to add "in addition to training with Shoshoni and Kripalu, I was schooled by Fuck Around and Find Out."
The central philosophy of Zen
... is NOT every man for himself!
Dude is definitely giving the Otto (Kevin Kline) here.
Just Don't Call Him Stupid
n/t
His cell mates...
Are very enthusiastic about his downward dog lesson
Prison rape is nothing to joke about
But Trump would joke about it, which is a sign that it's a sorry ass thing to do.
Wow
Last Night you said - "Will be busy for a few days, "oh, we're just spreading.... the word, yes, the word is what we're spreading."
Someone has a lot of anal sex / prison rape on the brain. Wow prison rape jokes. Good for you. Any airline food material?
Well, John...
If you really think about it, is prison behavior radically different from the behavior of a small proportion of clergy?
I was going to ask you to clarify before you replied to John
So it was a prison rape crack you were making, yes?
We should be better than making jokes about rape, no matter who the subject is.
and it only happens on tv and the movies
I know a Prison Warden.. this never happens. N E V E R.
So yeah stop making jokes about it.
Cool Story
Have you ever known someone who's been in prison? Been there yourself? It's frequent.
A warden saying there's no rape in his prison is like Kenneth Lay defending accounting at Enron.
I think cybah ….
… was being facetious.
I'm not
A very good friend of mine is a Prison Warden at a state pen in a nearby state.
Every single time this comes up.. and it comes up anytime he says what he does for work.. he goes on this whole thing how this does not happen. At least at under his watch.
Now whether it happens in other states, I am not sure, but as far as my friend is concerned, it doesn't happen.
And yes, I know several people who are in or have been in prison. And have comfirmed it does not happen.
As horny as gay men like to think this happens, it really does not happen. Its all gay porn and OZ hype. Not saying it does not happen at all, but the frequency is rarer than most think.
Rape comes in different forms
You're aware of that, right? Just because there aren't gang rapes in the shower or trains being run in a utility closet that often doesn't mean rape isn't frequent. There's a power structure in prison, and those in power all have a "girlfriend" that they have punked out. It's always unwanted, but tolerated because it offers protection or other favors. The bitch (for lack of a better term) is also loaned out to other inmates, and sometimes just given away when they've run their course.
I would think your warden friend knows this, or maybe he just doesn't actually know what rape is.
I can’t speak from personal experience, but ….
… I know a few people who have been in prison. The subject of rape doesn’t come up much so I only know what one of them told me. She told me rape did happen. To her and others. By the prison guards on the inmates by force and by coercion. The guards had all the power.
I think the frequency of prison rape is likely over exaggerated by films, etc. But it definitely does happen. The truth is somewhere in between the sensationalism the media tends towards and what your friend, the warden claims, that it N E V E R happens.
He may never see it or want to see it. But it happens.
I only go buy
I only go by what I know.. not what is assumed. This is what I was told, so I am just regurgitating here. I trust my friends opinion.
This is also a men's prison fwiw. (you use her and she pronouns for your reply so I assuming they are refering to a women's prison.
Rare event
I'm with John on this one. Knock it off.
accidental upvote. rude.
N/t
It makes sense. Many Trump
It makes sense. Many Trump supporters are people who have some business in mind that is more of a passion, or a personal pastime and it never seems to pan out and they can't figure out why.
There is a nonzero overlap
between new age yoga types and QAnoners.
One of several articles on this:
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/qanon-wellness-influen...
Not surprising in retrospect,
Not surprising in retrospect, there's a key element in common: extreme gullibility.
See also
See also pastel Qanon: https://www.elle.com/culture/a34485099/qanon-conspiracy-suburban-women/
It makes some sense though
A fair amount of the new age or "spiritual but not religious" types adhere to evidence free beliefs (e.g. the healing power of crystals, auras, etc.).
Taking that higher altitude view of those folks it's really just people who believe one collection of things for which the proof is (well, should be) clearly nothing but smoke and mirrors. From there it shouldn't be surprising that they could also be convinced in the veracity of another collection of b.s.
Bacon is going to jail.
Bacon is going to jail. Lettuce celebrate. Tomato more like inmate, oh.
I enjoy this
rye humor
Im not going to post it here
But his YT account is pretty interesting.
In August of 2020 he was attending his first Trump rally in Manchester. Not six months later he was a part of the attack on the Capitol.
Then he fled er- went on a "road trip" to Florida.
Also proves he's a QAnoner
Just watched the Trump-rally video and he ends it with that stupid QAnon "Where We Go One, We Go All" slogan.
Finding myself
His long monologue is a perfect description of someone that is "trying to find myself." Now he will find himself in jail.
Cult followers
Cults deserve more understanding.
V. Lenin was a cult leader. His cult led to the overthrow of a monarchy. Joseph Smith developed a cult that led to the LDS. Of course there are the cult leaders that head directly toward self destruction: David Koresh, Jim Jones, Marshall Applewhite of Heaven's gate. Then there are the cults that develop a stasis without either self-destructing or becoming destructive of others (not for lack of trying): Scientology, the Lyndon LaRoche cult, etc. Now we have the cult leader Trump as the figurehead of the cult that took over the Republican Party. I am sure Republicans are a cult in large part due to getting into bed with the cults of extreme rightist Christians, sovereign nationalists, white supremacist, military-authority cults.
What is common among cult followers? Are they more similar to gang bangers in seeking to be part of something larger than them? But also psychologically susceptible to charismatic people whose morality is actually narcissism in the extreme?
I hope that contemplation, research and just wondering is done in understanding how folks such as this guy, or the doctor from the north shore can wind up following destructive people in what ultimately could only result in self-destruction.
V. Lenin was a cult leader.
No he wasn't? And he was still in exile during the February revolution when the Tsar was overthrown. Speaking of that though, the storming of the Winter Palace was kicked off by one of the first International Women's Day demonstrations, which is 4 days away. Happy early International Women's Day.
Focusing on the trees but missing the forest
The issue is not about how Lenin fit into the larger picture of the transformation of Tsarist Russia to the Soviet Union. What I believe is important is that there are folks who are psychologically predisposed to becoming cult members. Understanding why this guy joined the Trump cult is valuable. Just as understanding mob psychology (perhaps they are related) is valuable. Understanding what can lead to mass violence, whether it is outwardly expressed as with January 6th or inwardly expressed as in the different mass suicides could help prevent them.
But then it often seems that we waste what we know. We know that Prohibition did not solve the problems created by alcohol abuse. Yet the same rationalization behind Prohibition is used to justify the so-called war on drugs. Or slavery. The peculiar American institution was recognized as a cancer in the US way before the Civil War. Yet it took shedding the blood of over half a million people in the war to cure the cancer (and yet the disease that allowed the cancer is still alive in the nation).
I'm curious how he came to support Trump while in Somerville
Generally, people in this city loathe Trump, and voted overwhelmingly against him in two successive elections. (Trump received just 10.2% of the vote each time, as you can see here.) He'd have to resist a huge amount of peer pressure to support Trump while living here.
He was right about one thing almost...
“The crime of a fraudulent election is complete. 93 to 6. 93 people are going to jail for Seditious Conspiracy
and High Treason for certifying a fraudulent election.”
The crime of the fraudulent election was believing the liar who made up the accusations of a fraudulent election with no evidence which led to the insurrection which completed it.
He could be charged with Sedition, Unlawfully entering the Capitol, Parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, Conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging any duties; Conspiracy to obstruct official proceeding; Obstruction of an official proceeding; Aiding and abetting; obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder and Aiding and abetting; destruction of government property; Trespassing among other crimes but he will skate on the High Treason charge, The insurrection failed.
He was way off on the number of people going to jail though. I believe the number is up to 950 and rising.