DC Unrest Megathread

[Torie]

The attack was openly planned on the internet for weeks, yet the police seemed as surprised as I that it happened. Heads will probably need to roll, and the protocols changed so that in connection with any large demonstration near the White House or Capitol, if it suddenly turns into an attack, it will have no chance of getting to first base, much less succeeding. And now we find that explosives were placed here and there.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/01/07/capitol-attack-was-planned-openly-online-for-weeks-police-still-werent-ready/?sh=5ee2ab7d76e2

I'm not a lawyer, but this smells like treason. Biden's Justice Dept should bring such charges forward.

Whatever you call it, serious crimes were committed here, that deserve serious time.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

I need to see this man be removed by the senate. It would be the greatest thing to happen to this country in the past ten years.

[W]

Going red avatar for solidarity until idk Biden does something silly. Consider me a maroon Converso.

[Calthrina950]

https://twitter.com/CliffAYoung/status/1347192288800370688

Frightening that it's only 51%

36% of Americans-obviously the most hardcore elements of Trump's base-are opposed to his removal from office. That is alarming, but not surprising, unfortunately. It matches what has traditionally been the floor for major-party support in previous presidential elections; Landon, Goldwater, and McGovern, for example, did not drop below that percentage in their failed runs.

Landon, Goldwater, and McGovern did not actively Insight violent resistance and take over the American government when they lost their elections! If the world had any justice in it, this number should be in the single digits. Hell, even Nixon's approval rating trunk as low as 24% during the height of Watergate which, as awful an abuse of Presidential Power that was, pales in comparison to what Trump has done.

Enough talk about so-called polarisation. Polarization implies there are two equally and increasingly Divergent opposites. The Republican Party has been responsible from 90 to 99% of the growing extremism and one sided on their part polarization in this country.

Oh, what's that you say? 8 minority faction of the Democrats supports medicare-for-all and a vague environmental proposal called The Green New Deal? Shock and horror! Such radicalism! Come back to me when our party has a plurality support for an attempted violent takeover of Congress and stopping a lawful presidential election! THAT'S extremism! And the self-identified Democratic socialists that comprise about a tenth of the Democratic Congressional Delegation doesn't. Remotely. Begin. To. Compare!

Like you did yesterday, I think you're overreacting and misinterpreting what I am saying. The point I was trying to make is that each Party and each President enjoys a hard floor of support, which not even the worst of events-such as yesterday's attack on the U.S. Capitol-will shake. Now, Nixon and W. Bush saw their approval ratings sink much further than Trump's has, and that, unfortunately, is a sign of polarization. But they still had millions of Americans who approved of them. No matter what is done, or what is said, some people just aren't going to be swayed from those views, even if such views are worthy of universal condemnation.

[beaver2.0]

Remember when republicans kept going on about mob rule?  And then this mob shows up.

[Roronoa D. Law]

https://twitter.com/RepKinzinger/status/1347207878801846276

Forget resigning from being Trump's envoy to the Palm Beach dogcatcher, this here takes serious courage.

We always talk about Manchin and Murkowski but Kizinger is an underrated potential Rep-Indy-Dem convert.

[It’s so Joever]

Trump has been band by Facebook indefinitely. I imagine Twitter will follow their lead.

https://twitter.com/Kantrowitz/status/1347209358531198979?s=20

Zuckerberg can eat sh**t. NOW is the time that it got too dangerous for democracy?

What about other countries where these strategies (some even worse) are constantly used by far-right leaders? Are they gonna do something about this too or is the special treatment just with US when they’re about to have a rupture with democracy?

Honestly, go f*** yourself Zucky. It’s not one miserable account that needs to be blocked, but YOUR entire sh**tty social media, which has been by far the worst of all when it comes to dealing with the spread of fake news and political radicalization. End Facebook immediately.

I think the real problem is that algorithms on these sites and many others support echo chambers. There isn’t a way to ban disinformation completely, but the algorithms of major social media sites seem to promote echo chambers which leads to a descent down the “pipeline” so to speak.
I get why they do this, it’s probably beneficial from a business perspective, but we are creating these negative externalities which simply are too dangerous to have. I would support forcing Facebook and YouTube to completely rewrite their algorithms to prevent these types of things.

Additional security measures to prevent spam new accounts from being created/having a large voice on the platforms should be considered as well.

[Former President tack50]

Trump has been band by Facebook indefinitely. I imagine Twitter will follow their lead.

https://twitter.com/Kantrowitz/status/1347209358531198979?s=20

Zuckerberg can eat sh**t. NOW is the time that it got too dangerous for democracy?

What about other countries where these strategies (some even worse) are constantly used by far-right leaders? Are they gonna do something about this too or is the special treatment just with US when they’re about to have a rupture with democracy?

Honestly, go f*** yourself Zucky. It’s not one miserable account that needs to be blocked, but YOUR entire sh**tty social media, which has been by far the worst of all when it comes to dealing with the spread of fake news and political radicalization. End Facebook immediately.

I think the real problem is that algorithms on these sites and many others support echo chambers. There isn’t a way to ban disinformation completely, but the algorithms of major social media sites seem to promote echo chambers which leads to a descent down the “pipeline” so to speak.
I get why they do this, it’s probably beneficial from a business perspective, but we are creating these negative externalities which simply are too dangerous to have. I would support forcing Facebook and YouTube to completely rewrite their algorithms to prevent these types of things.

Additional security measures to prevent spam new accounts from being created/having a large voice on the platforms should be considered as well.

Yeah, it is extremely easy to fall down the pipeline. I remember the other day I watched like 2-3 videos from some right wing comedy youtube channel that someone posted on Atlas. Next I know, I find like 5-6 right wing commentators on my recommendeds list.

I don't know if the government can force private companies to rewrite their algorithms though.

To be honest, social media; or arguably the entire internet was a mistake. When people had less ways to be informed in the 70s, 80s or even early 90s (newspapers, TV and radio and that was it) they were ironically better informed than in the modern day.

[ultraviolet]

https://twitter.com/CliffAYoung/status/1347192288800370688

Some of those 39% of Republicans only say it was an attempted coup cause they think that’s a good thing

[Hnv1]

New Jersey and Delaware are sending parts of their National Guards to D.C.

Is this by their own initiative? because that would be beyond the jurisdiction of the state militia. Is it by the request of the DoD? if so who issued it? Trump or Pence?

[hyouzel the predictor]

https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1347219326890336262
First leader to propose this other than McGovern right?

[Ancestral Republican]

https://twitter.com/RepKinzinger/status/1347207878801846276
Forget resigning from being Trump's envoy to the Palm Beach dogcatcher, this here takes serious courage.

We always talk about Manchin and Murkowski but Kizinger is an underrated potential Rep-Indy-Dem convert.

Except for all of his far-right views.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

New Jersey and Delaware are sending parts of their National Guards to D.C.

Is this by their own initiative? because that would be beyond the jurisdiction of the state militia. Is it by the request of the DoD? if so who issued it? Trump or Pence?

Murphy said it's at the request of the United States National Guard Bureau, in other words, uniformed Army and Air Force leadership.

[soundchaser]

https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1347219326890336262
First leader to propose this other than McGovern right?

This feels pretty significant. I doubt he'd come out in public and endorse impeachment without consulting Pelosi first.

[SteveRogers]

https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1347219326890336262
First leader to propose this other than McGovern right?

So if Schumer is putting this out there, does that mean he knows Pelosi is ready to kick the tires on it in the House? I assume they must be coordinating their messaging on this.

[Gass3268]

Shopify has shut down Trump's campaign store:

https://twitter.com/ChrisMegerian/status/1347215468474593291?s=20

[Santander]

Shopify has shut down Trump's campaign store:

https://twitter.com/ChrisMegerian/status/1347215468474593291?s=20

So brave of Big Tech to stand up to Trump the day after he incites a putsch.

[Gass3268]

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1347221543361789952?s=20

[Coolface Sock #42069]

I just heard Tim Ryan being interviewed on our local NPR station. He is of course the chair of the committee that oversees the Capitol Police Department. He had words of praise for the Department saying they were simply outmanned, but castigated the fact that the Capitol Police were over also unprepared and understaffed given all the advance warning of incitement that Donald Trump has committed over the last several months.

What shocked me was news I had not yet her. Reportedly there are 40 to 50 officers injured out of this, 15 of whom were hospitalized, one of whom is in critical condition after being beaten with pipes!

How they could be so unprepared is beyond me. Handling things like this is their job.

Of course, the part I was surprised about was the fact that the DC National Guard hadn't been activated.  I naturally assumed they'd be there because you see them for other protests, but it turn out (at least under Trump) they're only called out in advance for black protestors.

There’s a little more nuance on that particular point, though, because Muriel Bowser had talked with the Secretary of Defense a couple of weeks ago and they agreed that the DC National Guard would be deployed if these protests turned ugly.

[Storebought]

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1347221543361789952?s=20

Isn't that a decision that acting president Pence should be making?

[7,052,770]

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1347221543361789952?s=20

He's trying to purge his cabinet to avoid the 25th amendment. Impeach him today!

[SteveRogers]

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1347221543361789952?s=20

Shouldn't that be a decision that acting president Pence should be making?

Cabinet can’t invoke the 25th Amendment if there’s no cabinet (insert meme).

[Antonio the Sixth]

Tonight is ALL our victory! Whether you are a mainstream liberal, a libertarian, a socialist, a Never Trump conservative, a WHATEVER, it doesn't matter AT ALL tonight!

Tomorrow, we may resume our in-fighting, but we all passed the ultimate test: Do you stand resolute against authoritarian evil when it looks you in the eye? We all DID! And we all deserve some time to celebrate that and appreciate that whatever our future disagreements with each other may be, we were capable of uniting at a time when it all seemed threatened with horrible darkness that would destroy everything we ALL believe in.

Our common beliefs in truth, justice, and reason have officially WON OUT.

Do we still have a long way to go? Yes. Is it going to be easy or anything but a bumpy road? Of course not. Am I nonetheless ecstatic? YES. We have all been through the sh**tter, I think, the last four years. And anyone who has not yet done it needs to take time to just reward themselves for making it through to the other side. Hell, if you've done it already, do it again! We've earned it! We can get back to fighting each other later. But this is OUR moment!

Yeah, I can't stand your brand of politics, but God I am glad that the enemy for the next four years is going to be someone in that vein rather than an actual fascist. Any time the foul beast rears its ugly head, liberals and socialists must face it together.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Is Kinzinger’s statement any kind of window into the minds of GOP House/Senate leadership, or is he going out on his own here?

[It’s so Joever]

Also I think after all of this I must offer an apology to the BLM movement.
I called them out for looting and justified the police response under the pretense that there was massive property destruction, violence, and congregation during a pandemic.

Well...we saw all of the above yesterday and the DC police seemed complicit in allowing these protestors to go through.

Before I had thought that the idea of police hating black Americans was ridiculous. Yes I saw the George Floyd incident, but I viewed it as an outlier. I believed that a large cause of the disparities were largely due to poverty rather than race.

Yesterday cleared any illusions I had about all of that. The lack of a police response to these violent rioters desecrating our greatest landmark, our sacred hall, tells me everything. I hereby apologize for supporting the police response during the Floyd protests, and while I still do not agree with the looting that did occur then, it is clear there exists a shocking double standard in America which must change.

I still don’t think the slogan defund the police was ever bright, but I am more sympathetic than ever towards replacing the structure we have now.

I will say it now, even if six months too late.

Black Lives Matter.