Election integrity and the transfer of power

[Jaymann]

The shooter was in a suit, Secret Service?

[malchior]

I wonder how many foreign spies used this as an opportunity to get a closer look?f And get ready for a gazillion conspiracy theories based on alleged documents spirited out of the Capitol by folks that claimed to have been there and now have proof of some insane q anon thing.

One of the major concerns is that people got access to secure locations in Congress. To the point where I saw speculation wondering if an insider was involved -- Swalwell said something about it today on MSNBC. He then in the next sentence mentioned Gohmert inciting violence the week before. I'm glad he didn't go there directly but he implied a connection.

Edit: FWIW someone who only speaks Russian seems...unlikely as a foreign agent.

[TheMix]

I know there are a lot of jokes about the Air Force and their training. But she was still ex-military. She went through boot camp. She was trained in combat. She probably had substantially more training than the officer. Of course he couldn't have known that. But I can think of plenty of scenarios that would have been far worse if he hadn't pulled the trigger.

The frustrating and infuriating part is that the officer should never have been in that situation. I keep thinking of the picture of the steps during the BLM protest... 100s of Nation Guard. Spaced every few yards. Multiple rows. But yesterday? Nothing. Those officers were hung out to dry. I am still amazed that there wasn't more death. You can't tell me that every one of those officers didn't fear for his/her life.

[Alefroth]

https://twitter.com/chris_labarthe/stat ... 2108748806

Capitol police: OMG, is someone burning down the Reichstag?

[$iljanus]

https://twitter.com/chris_labarthe/stat ... 2108748806

Capitol police: OMG, is someone burning down the Reichstag?

Trump: Hey, someone should go burn down the Reichstag xoxo

[Holman]

Thread on at least a couple of rioters inside the Capitol who are carrying multiple zip-tie handcuffs as if they planned to take hostages.

Really doesn't seem like something you would just casually bring to a Trump rally.

https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/13 ... 98080?s=20

[$iljanus]

Thread on at least a couple of rioters inside the Capitol who are carrying multiple zip-tie handcuffs as if they planned to take hostages.

Really doesn't seem like something you would just casually bring to a Trump rally.

https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/13 ... 98080?s=20

If he is ever arrested he probably would claim he was making a "citizens arrest"

[Jaymann]

He thought the Capitol was open for tourist tours.

[LordMortis]

Of course he couldn't have known that.

He also couldn't have known if she was armed or a terrorist. She busting through a barricade with guns trained on her in the friggen Capitol where people are being evacuated. What does she think is going to happen? She is going to be greeted a liberator?

It's tragic and yet It's not an unreasonable outcome. I don't particularly feel for her. My ability to feel empathy has been dulled over the last three presidential cycles. And I'm wallowing in my own self indulgent laments. I feel more for the person who shot her and what they'll live with for the rest of their lives.

[Blackhawk]

I'm thinking of a film - can't remember which one. A man stands guard. A bunch of attackers stream past him. A few seconds later, he turns, and in a timid voice says, "Hey, stop."

FWIW, if that was Secret Service assigned to protection at the Capitol, they're likely hand-picked for prior experience and training. You want people in that post who have successfully functioned under fire. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he had significantly more military training than she did. Still, that video really tells the story. It sounds like that barricaded door was all that stood between the mob and the room where Congress was sheltering, and she was about to break through it. If she did, they all did. With the repeated warnings she was apparently given, and short additional information, I don't see a fault in the shooting.

[Smoove_B]

Really doesn't seem like something you would just casually bring to a Trump rally.

I am guessing in days to come we're going to find out there were some really scary dudes that planned on using the cover provided by the wandering mob to cause some serious harm yesterday.

[Smoove_B]

With the repeated warnings she was apparently given, and short additional information, I don't see a fault in the shooting.

I maintain we're going to find out there were very important people on the other side of that door and by killing that woman trying to break through, they likely stopped the rest of the mob from thinking about continuing in.

Sometimes your entire existence culminates to serve as an example to others.

[Kurth]

What Blackhawk said (invocation #3,214 or so, I think). The Squad isn't the issue, or at least their substance is not. It's all perception, and people suck. Therefore the process is weaker if it largely starts with them. Even though it shouldn't be.

Again, exactly.

My brother-in-law from FL is a lifelong Republican and not one I'd peg as all that moderate. He's something of a libertarian, but really, I don't think ideology is what motivates him. Maybe because he's always been so involved in sports, he seems to see politics as a team thing. His team was the GOP, and the Dems were the other guys. He eats up liberal outrage.

That said, he's not a Trump fan and didn't vote for him, but he refused to vote for any democrat or support any democrat-led initiative. All that said, yesterday, he texted me a screen shot confirming that he had left the GOP and is now independent. He also agreed that Trump needs to be removed.

That's . . . an amazing turn of events in our family. But I can tell you, having AOC and company out in front on Trump's removal is going to sour him (and I believe many, many others like him) to the whole thing.

It's not right, but it's how it is. Optics matter.

[Lorini]

Michelle Obama in a FB post

...In just a few hours, though, my heart had fallen harder and faster than I can remember. Like all of you, I watched as a gang—organized, violent, and mad they’d lost an election—laid siege to the United States Capitol. They set up gallows. They proudly waved the traitorous flag of the Confederacy through the halls. They desecrated the center of American government. And once authorities finally gained control of the situation, these rioters and gang members were led out of the building not in handcuffs, but free to carry on with their days. The day was a fulfillment of the wishes of an infantile and unpatriotic president who can’t handle the truth of his own failures. And the wreckage lays at the feet of a party and media apparatus that gleefully cheered him on, knowing full well the possibility of consequences like these.

It all left me with so many questions—questions about the future, questions about security, extremism, propaganda, and more. But there’s one question I just can’t shake: What if these rioters had looked like the folks who go to Ebenezer Baptist Church every Sunday? What would have been different?
I think we all know the answer. This summer’s Black Lives Matter protests were an overwhelmingly peaceful movement—our nation’s largest demonstrations ever, bringing together people of every race and class and encouraging millions to re-examine their own assumptions and behavior. And yet, in city after city, day after day, we saw peaceful protestors met with brute force. We saw cracked skulls and mass arrests, law enforcement pepper spraying its way through a peaceful demonstration for a presidential photo op.

(my emphasis)

[Enough]

I wonder how many foreign spies used this as an opportunity to get a closer look?f And get ready for a gazillion conspiracy theories based on alleged documents spirited out of the Capitol by folks that claimed to have been there and now have proof of some insane q anon thing.

One of the major concerns is that people got access to secure locations in Congress. To the point where I saw speculation wondering if an insider was involved -- Swalwell said something about it today on MSNBC. He then in the next sentence mentioned Gohmert inciting violence the week before. I'm glad he didn't go there directly but he implied a connection.

Edit: FWIW someone who only speaks Russian seems...unlikely as a foreign agent.

Turns out she probably is bilingual fwiw. She's the vice chairwoman for the Young Republicans of Oregon and her mom got arrested too. Apparently it was mom who needed the translator and not her. This is her:

https://twitter.com/EkbMary/status/1347 ... 80/photo/3

[hepcat]

Okay, right below the Via Getty gag lies the hilarious issue with folks thinking the buffalo hat wearing guy was English singer Jay Kay from Jamiroquai.

[Kurth]

Apparently, Trump's Camp David get-away is now off.

[Defiant]

Okay, right below the Via Getty gag lies the hilarious issue with folks thinking the buffalo hat wearing guy was English singer Jay Kay from Jamiroquai.

Oh, there actually is such a singer (and there's a definite resemblance). Before clicking the link, I just assumed someone read J/K (as in "just kidding") and figured that was the persons name.

[Holman]

Turns out she probably is bilingual fwiw. She's the vice chairwoman for the Young Republicans of Oregon and her mom got arrested too. Apparently it was mom who needed the translator and not her. This is her:

https://twitter.com/EkbMary/status/1347 ... 80/photo/3

Hold on. You're telling me the vice chairwoman for the Young Republicans of Oregon is Antifa??

[Grifman]

The shooter was in a suit, Secret Service?

No, SS protect the president. This was plainclothes Capitol Security.

[Jaymann]

Apparently, Trump's Camp David get-away is now off.

He found out the golf course has only one 3-par hole.

[Holman]

Really doesn't seem like something you would just casually bring to a Trump rally.

I am guessing in days to come we're going to find out there were some really scary dudes that planned on using the cover provided by the wandering mob to cause some serious harm yesterday.

https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/stat ... 63266?s=20

[Enough]

Thread on the weak sauce response:

https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/ ... 8038265863

[Jaymann]

I always wondered what happened to Nils Lofgren.

[Jaymann]

Quote Tweet
Laura Rozen
@lrozen

Pence does not support efforts to remove Trump via the 25th amendment, Pence advisors told @tomlobianco, 1 of best Penceworld reporters.

Without Pence on board must impeach immediately.

[Holman]

Quote Tweet
Laura Rozen
@lrozen

Pence does not support efforts to remove Trump via the 25th amendment, Pence advisors told @tomlobianco, 1 of best Penceworld reporters.

Without Pence on board must impeach immediately.

NYT is reporting this too.

Whatever damage Trump does while impeachment works its way through is on Mike Pence.

Apparently Pence doesn't understand that his political career ended last night. He's still trying to look Republican.

[Zaxxon]

https://twitter.com/cnnbrk/status/13473 ... 52483?s=19

[msteelers]

CNN is reporting an officer died from the wounds they suffered yesterday.

[Holman]

https://twitter.com/rgoodlaw/status/134 ... 33799?s=20

[Kurth]

CNN is reporting an officer died from the wounds they suffered yesterday.

US Capitol Police officer has died following riot at Capitol
From CNN's Kristin Wilson, Evan Perez and David Brooks

A US Capitol Police officer has died from events stemming from Wednesday's riot at the Capitol, three sources confirmed to CNN.

The police officer is now the fifth person to die as a result of the day's violence. One woman was shot and killed by Capitol Police as the crowd breached the building and three others suffered medical emergencies that proved fatal.

I wonder what "died from events stemming from Wednesday's riot" actually means.

[Jaymann]

And here I thought "cop killers" were A #1 on police hate list.

[Jaymann]

Agolf read a carefully written statement. After tossing a Molotov cocktail into the barn, he is spitting on it before he slams the door shut.

[Grifman]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/sta ... 44550?s=20

Obviously staff pressure and legal pressure are getting to him. Too late, too late, blood is on his hands.

[Jaymann]

He also lied about "immediately" calling out the National Guard. FALSE
The Sec. of the Army had to do it due to Agolf's inaction.

[msteelers]

Some staffer snuck him his meds today. He could have done that two months ago and avoided all of this.

In the end, all that does is reduce his chances of being removed from office back down to nearly zero. He’ll pardon himself, his family and cronies, and some other horrible people on 1/19 and then hop on the first plane to Russia.

[$iljanus]

I’m sure he hated every minute of that speech. Still needs to be removed.

And his name, Donald, is Joseph Biden. Say his name.

[Blackhawk]

He just brought a fire extinguisher to a pile of ashes.

[Grifman]

WSJ, who have supported Trump steadfastly for 4 years, have called for his resignation, saying he committed an impeachable offense. I really getting mad at all these former supporters now coming forth. We knew this was him all along, we warned them and still they licked his boots for political gain. The enablers need to be called out again and again.

https://www.thewrap.com/wsj-editorial-b ... maga-riot/

[Blackhawk]

Finished the speech. That is what was known as 'pressure.' Someone told him that if he varied from the teleprompter, "______________" would happen, either the 25th or the Senate agreeing to impeachment. They also likely mega-dosed him with something or other just before it happened. I have a feeling that the rest of the deal he made was that he spend the next two weeks out of sight with his mouth shut, showing up just long enough to walk Biden into the White House.

My thought is that he crossed the line to get them all to turn on him in private, but not the line that would make them do it openly. Maybe if he had longer to go, but right now they're happier if he just fades away.

[$iljanus]

That video is the equivalent of an unrepentant child being made to apologize after being caught doing something wrong.