Remember when we were told nearly a year ago that all we needed to do to "flatten the curve" of Covid infections was go into a 15-day lock down?

This is like that, only with armed troops, and the thing we're flattening is civil rule.

As you might recall (not that they want you to) the National Guard was originally deployed to protect the capital for Biden's inauguration following the January 6th riots.

After the inauguration we were told they would need to stay through the impeachment hearings, leaving by mid-March.

Now, with the impeachment hearings over, a leaked memo is suggesting they will remain in DC into football season and possibly beyond.

In the internal email, Robert Salesses, DoD's assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and global security, reportedly wrote:

"If it's not possible to sustain at the current level with [National Guard] personnel, we need to establish the number of [National Guard] personnel ([D.C. National Guard] and out-of-state) we can sustain for an extended period – at least through Fall 2021 –

"At least."

And there's more, something I haven't seen anybody else making particular note of:

– and understand additional options for providing DoD support, to include use of reserve personnel, as well as active component."

They're talking about deploying the federal military.

People tend not to give deployment of the National Guard a second thought. They remain under state control unless federalized, and more often than not are seen helping out in national emergencies.

To many people they are just first responders in fatigues.

Troops currently in the capital appear to remain under the command of the DC National Guard.

Now, the Department of Defense is apparently considering the option of bringing in active duty military (and reserve which would become active duty once deployed) into DC.

This is more than semantics. It's a matter of chain of command, at a minimum, governors vs. the president, and even though DC is a federal district, the troops there now hail from all over the country and can be recalled by their respective states.

Even the New York Times thinks it's an important distinction.

The troops will be the National Guard and not active-duty.

That was a sub-headline, intended to diminish resistance, however in that same sub-headline, they note the concerns of the Pentagon:

But officials know such events are fraught with risk and cite Kent State in 1970, Tiananmen Square in 1989 and Tehran in 2009.

It appears that concern is not shared by Biden administration officials.

Speaking of which, you could certainly point out that even the federal military remains under the control of the civilian government, however it is more than a little troubling that that civilian government does not seem to think it important to explain to the civilians why these troops are here at all.

The inauguration is over, the impeachment trial concluded Saturday, and no intelligence agency has indicated any known or expected threat.

What are they worried about? Rowdy spring break revelers? Unauthorized penny stock talk on Reddit? Tom Brady returning for another season?

At least with Covid, they'd talk about the cases and deaths and how we needed lockdowns, and masks, and social distancing, and then the vaccines and contact tracing, and oh no, there are new variants!

With the DC occupation, they aren't even bothering to give us the courtesy of making up excuses anymore.

They're doing it simply because they can.

And just to add insult to injury, they're using your money to do it.