DC Unrest Megathread

[ProudModerate2]

https://twitter.com/CarolLeonnig/status/1350566269519585280?s=20

But why was he there with 500 rounds of ammo? There is nothing normal about having this amount of ammunition. Something is rotten in Denmark.

[ProudModerate2]

Have many Trump supporters been around since Trump attempted a coup?
I’ve only seen Del Tachi post a few times, and have yet to hear from Fuzzy Bear or SirWoodbury.
I hopeful that they now see they were wrong to support him but I also kinda doubt it.

Here is Fuzzy's recent statement regarding trump's Traitorous actions that incited a terrorist insurrection at The Capitol ...

... the idea that Trump "instigated insurrection" is preposterous, and will be found so by history. 

[ProudModerate2]

https://twitter.com/apimientaDC/status/1350941964166946821?s=20

He should change the name of his organization to "Terrorists For Trump."

[ProudModerate2]

A rioter from Texas threatened to shoot his children if they told the FBI that he participated in the riots at the Capitol.

A Texas man with ties to a right-wing extremist group threatened to shoot his children if they told the FBI he traveled to Washington to storm the Capitol with other President Trump supporters, according to court documents.

Guy Reffitt threatened his daughter and son while arguing with them about his role in the Capitol siege, his wife told an FBI agent, according to the court papers filed in Washington, DC.

“If you turn me in, you’re a traitor and you know what happens to traitors … traitors get shot,” Reffitt allegedly said to his kids.

Psychotic Nutjob.
Can you imagine threatening the lives of your own children, over the Orange Buffoon?
Unbelievable.

[ProudModerate2]

A rioter from Texas threatened to shoot his children if they told the FBI that he participated in the riots at the Capitol.

A Texas man with ties to a right-wing extremist group threatened to shoot his children if they told the FBI he traveled to Washington to storm the Capitol with other President Trump supporters, according to court documents.

Guy Reffitt threatened his daughter and son while arguing with them about his role in the Capitol siege, his wife told an FBI agent, according to the court papers filed in Washington, DC.

“If you turn me in, you’re a traitor and you know what happens to traitors … traitors get shot,” Reffitt allegedly said to his kids.

I give you the pro-life, pro-family party, ladies and gents.

"Killing my kids to own the libs! Who needs kids when I can have four more years of President Trump!?"

Nothing unhinged or irrational about that.

The motivation there has nothing to do with Trump or "owning the libs."   It's unbridled rage at the prospect of betrayal from a family member.  It is sadly entirely predictable that some people would react in such a way.

Jesus, you will defend Trump and these terrorists at every turn

I think it's actually worth understanding social dynamics beyond merely whether something is good or bad.  That really annoys people for some reason but it's important if you ever want to solve things or even just keep things from getting worse.

People right now are being encouraged to turn in their family members.  If you support that, you need to at least recognize that some people won't have the character to respond in a healthy way when it happens to them.

"Won't have the character to respond in a healthy way" ?
We are talking about someone who directly told their own children that he will KILL them.

[ProudModerate2]

Lol, why the hell would we go easy on a felony criminal because they are threatening to murder their children? I find it impossible to believe that someone would seriously make the argument that a person wanting to murder their own children is evidence that the law shouldn't pursue that person.

Yes, it would definitely be weird if someone was arguing that.

No one here has any idea what you are trying to argue, shua, and I suspect that includes yourself.

And no, that's not because anyone here lacks your self-perceived Galaxy brain level of analysis, but because you have crossed the border from your usual status of inscrutable to being outright incomprehensible.

I don't know what the point of comments like this are.  If you have a specific question about something I said, feel free to present it!

I have a question, albeit a broad one.

Don't you think it's a little weird that, in the wake of a mob storming the seat of American democracy, interrupting the discharging of the duties of Congress, and very nearly resulting in serious bodily harm for elected officials, the entirety of your comments seem to be about defending the people who perpetrated this attack or who appear to have (to be generous) inspired it? Like, even if all your claims were 100% correct, don't you think it's a little curious that this seems to be your sole focus? What do you think it might say about you that your priority seems to be playing defense for people aligned with the side that did this (again, whether or not the specific points you bring up in their defense are accurate or not) rather than condemning it?

I don't see any danger here that their actions aren't being condemned enough.  I do see a great deal of danger in promoting the dehumanization of all those in attendance (and extended by association to large swaths of the American population).

Hiding behind other people's condemnations is a dodge. The point is not whether the Sum Total of Condemnation is sufficiently high or not. Who f**king cares? It's not like any of us condemning it has any impact of what happens. The point is whether YOU, Shua, are interested at all in condemning it. Not out of some grand utilitarian calculus, but just because condemning it is the right thing to do, because it would show that you actually care about broader values beyond the standard partisan back and forth.

It's just difficult to believe that you even care about what happened to the Capitol, when none of your posts contain even the slightest hint of a negative emotional reaction to them. I don't know if in your heart of hearts you believe they were right or wrong to do it, and I don't even think that's the point. I think you've just decided that, right or wrong, they're part of "your" team and you have to stand by them, and this is more important to you than standing by democracy itself. I keep hoping to be proven wrong.

I've never understood uttering the words "I condemn this" as an intrinsic and necessary good in itself, and I'm not going to be bullied or shamed into the ritual.

Change your temporary Atlas name to "Fuzzy shua" please.

[ProudModerate2]

Identifying far-right symbols that appeared at the U.S. Capitol riot.

Found this WaPo article interesting and informative.
If interested, click here ... https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2021/far-right-symbols-capitol-riot/

[ProudModerate2]

A rioter from Texas threatened to shoot his children if they told the FBI that he participated in the riots at the Capitol.

A Texas man with ties to a right-wing extremist group threatened to shoot his children if they told the FBI he traveled to Washington to storm the Capitol with other President Trump supporters, according to court documents.

Guy Reffitt threatened his daughter and son while arguing with them about his role in the Capitol siege, his wife told an FBI agent, according to the court papers filed in Washington, DC.

“If you turn me in, you’re a traitor and you know what happens to traitors … traitors get shot,” Reffitt allegedly said to his kids.

Update on this story ...
CNN's Chris Cuomo talks to 18-year-old Jackson Reffitt's decision to tip-off the FBI about father attending Capitol riot.

Watch interview here ... https://us.cnn.com/videos/us/2021/01/23/teen-jackson-reffitt-capitol-riot-intv-full-cuomo-cpt-vpx.cnn

[ProudModerate2]

https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1352987356622680064


What do you guys think about this particular incident regarding this social studies teacher.
I have mixed feelings, but I do feel it strange that someone knowing (or should know) so much about politics/government, would fall for trump's antics about all the "election fraud" hogwash?

[ProudModerate2]

https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1352987356622680064


What do you guys think about this particular incident regarding this social studies teacher.
I have mixed feelings, but I do feel it strange that someone knowing (or should know) so much about politics/government, would fall for trump's antics about all the "election fraud" hogwash?

It's shocking, but not too surprising, if you give additional consideration to it. As I've alluded to myself before, and as has been noted by other posters on this forum, many genuinely intelligent people, who have substantive academic credentials and legitimate professional careers, have allowed themselves to be suckered in by Trump and by the crazy conspiracy theories which have been circulating. Humans seem to have a mechanism by which they allow their emotions to dominate over reasonable and logical thought.

What I don't get, is that in the video the teacher blames the school district for, as he says, "my reputation and character have been destroyed."
The school district did none of that. It was his stupidity for posting his face and commenting on social media that "destroyed his character."

... And he wants "an apology" from the school district. Forget it. If I was the principal, I would tell him to go suck an egg, and just feel lucky he still has a job. And probably one where many future students would refuse to attend his class, or where parents would demand to have their child assigned to another social studies teacher. Basically the rest of his teaching profession is going to be hell, because he wanted to believe in the ignorant concept called "MAGA."

[ProudModerate2]

Army vet who tended bar accused by FBI of conspiring in Capitol insurrection.

Video and article here ... https://us.cnn.com/2021/01/24/us/ohio-army-veteran-capitol-riot/index.html

Who would have thought this innocent looking, short woman, would be a monster?

[ProudModerate2]

38 Capitol Police officers test positive for Covid-19 after Capitol riot.

More than three dozen Capitol Police officers have tested positive for coronavirus since the Capitol riot on January 6, the union representing the Capitol Police told CNN Sunday.

It's unclear how many of the 38 officers may have been on duty during the attack or when they contracted the virus. But health officials have worried that the mass of largely unmasked people, many shouting and pushing, would result in the spread of the virus. Several police officers were directly assaulted during the insurrection.

https://us.cnn.com/2021/01/24/politics/capitol-police-riot-coronavirus/index.html

They should include the charge of attempted murder on all these trump cultists they are rounding-up.
POS bastards.

[ProudModerate2]

How does a Navy Seal trained on disinformation warfare fall for this?

From Navy SEAL to Part of the Angry Mob Outside the Capitol
The presence in Washington of a longtime member of the Navy SEALs who was trained to identify misinformation reflects the partisan politics that helped lead to the assault.

But none of it has shaken his belief, against all evidence, that the presidential election was stolen and that people like him were right to rise up.

It is surprising because Mr. Newbold’s background would seem to armor him better than most against the lure of baseless conspiracy theories. In the Navy, he was trained as an expert in sorting information from disinformation, a clandestine commando who spent years working in intelligence paired with the C.I.A., and he once mocked the idea of shadowy antidemocratic plots as “tinfoil hat” thinking.

Even so, like thousands of others who surged to Washington this month to support President Donald J. Trump, Mr. Newbold bought into the fabricated theory that the election was rigged by a shadowy cabal of liberal power brokers who had pushed the nation to the precipice of civil war. No one could persuade him otherwise.

By the late fall of 2020, he was spending time on private Facebook pages where far-right chatter proliferated. He posted long, often angry video soliloquies about how the country was being stolen. He seemed to become increasingly convinced that people were plotting not just against Mr. Trump but against the Constitution, and as a veteran it was his duty to defend it.

Mr. Newbold began holding private meetings at his shooting club with other like-minded members, according to a former member who said he quit because he was alarmed at the growing extremism.

“It became super cultlike,” said the former member, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was afraid of retaliation. “I tried to reason with him, show him facts, and he just went nuclear.”

This is incredible.
A highly trained Intelligence soldier (and the Navy Seals, no less) to go off-the-rails believing in this utter garbage is just mind-blowing.
And when someone else tries to show him additional "data" that contradicts, he goes "nuclear." That's not even how someone who is involved in Intelligence should respond. You need to hear and try to understand what is being presented, not just go batsh*t crazy on the other individual giving you the information.

[ProudModerate2]

A follow-up opinion piece to the earlier story regarding the Pennsylvania social studies teacher who was suspended for being at the “Stop the Steal” rally/Insurrection.

Let’s not make Allentown teacher who attended Capitol rally a ‘martyr’ for free speech | Opinion.

Click here to read ... https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/allentown-teacher-suspended-jason-moorehead-stop-the-steal-rally-20210129.html

[ProudModerate2]

No charges have been recommended for the cop who shot the lady whose name I’m not gonna say.

Good. They were trespassing and warned. He did his job.

I agree.
The door seemed to be a last line of defense, before the crazies reached more critical areas of safety for people in The Capitol.
The people that should be held accountable for her loss of life, were the one or two guys who were physically helping her to go through the broken window/door they all created.

[ProudModerate2]

She was stunned by Biden's inauguration. How this South Carolina mom escaped QAnon.

Click here ... https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/03/tech/qanon-mom-former-believer/index.html


If anyone is interested, watch this 5 minute video.
I find interviews like this, captivating and shocking. Just complete disbelief that normal people could not only fall for this nonsense, but make it a major part of their life (and thus allow it to destroy them and relations with their loved ones).

[ProudModerate2]

https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1357400266044243970

Nice.
"Throw the book at them."

[ProudModerate2]

#AlexandriaOcasioSmollett

Well with Sanchez gone someone had to take up the awful rw troll poster mantle here

Well Grumps joined 6 years before Sanchez.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Wait, Grumps is McConnell? It's all so clear now.

[ProudModerate2]

No charges have been recommended for the cop who shot the lady whose name I’m not gonna say.

Good. They were trespassing and warned. He did his job.

Really amazing how Jan 6 just erased an entire summer of advocacy for Black Lives Matter views on use of force by police.

Right, because Breonna Taylor was totally trying to break into the capitol and possibly assassinate members of Congress. I forgot.
I get that being a contrarian on literally everything is your schtick, but this is tedious at best and you know it.

Do you agree that "they were trespassing and warned" is a sufficient reason for police to shoot someone?   It's pretty clear to me that liberals would only apply that standard to redneck deplorables.   Or maybe a scary homophobic muslim.

Congress isn't any ordinary building. And she was doing a whole lot more than simply trespassing. Hundreds of others were trespassing but only she was killed.

Yeah she was actively trying to break through an inner door they were protecting. Because it was close to members of Congeess. I think a lot of people here would be fine with police or security officers killing people in those circumstances, and they would be for the protective details for many other types of senior officials or types of federal buildings.

Imagine you go back in time to 2020 and ask someone, "So, you're against the police killing people right? But what if some crazed intruder busted through the Pentagon perimeter, and the police were too busy dealing with other stuff to stop them. They're smashing through an inner door right near some generals. Should the Pentagon Police shoot them??"

People would respond "well yeah, then they should, if they somehow haven't already shot them. But that is barely related to what we're talking about. We're talking about cops on the street or serving warrants. People doing actual law enforcement roles. We're not talking about federal security police whose main mission is to secure one building or campus, and how they would respond to an actually determined intruder."

Not only that, but all the trump cultists could see right-through the glass and see the security guard.
Many were loudly calling-out that the guard had a gun (for all the insurrectionists to hear), and you can see him pointing it towards the door/glass/them. If this is not obvious ... this was a guard who was going to use the gun, if it became necessary.

But instead, that ignorant woman decided to just ignore all the signs of "DANGER Will Robinson," and literally crawled right into the barrel of a loaded cannon.

[ProudModerate2]

Great thread+comments

https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1358461393377386497

This is so strange.
Was that image taken at the Capitol riot? Was it before or after the riot? (I'm confused with that white background.)
Maybe some of our Roman Catholic Atlas members can help, but I believe that is an image of a Saint? (I have seen it before in my younger-years in the Church, but can not recall.)
What a bizarre item to bring to a riot full of screaming profanity/evil, violence and eventual deaths.

[ProudModerate2]

Hope they give this scumbag serious time.

Not only that, but afterwards the officer and his family can file a personal case for (lifelong) monetary damages (pain/suffering/loss of eyesight/etc).
This scumbag, and indirectly his family (if he has any) will suffer greatly.

PS: They will get him. That frontal image is way too good for him to escape justice. His extended family, neighbors, friends, co-workers ... one of them will give away his identity to law enforcement.

[ProudModerate2]

Another Capitol police officer has committed suicide, with his wife reporting that he "was not the same" since January 6th, and was depressed that people would commit such violence over lies (QAnon, etc.). Several Capitol Hill officers have reportedly threatened self-harm since the events of January 6th, including one who turned her own gun in to prevent herself from committing suicide.

https://www.1011now.com/2021/02/18/family-seeks-line-of-duty-recognition-for-dc-officer-who-died-by-suicide-after-capitol-riot/

How awful.
May all those trump bastards that stormed The Capitol go to Hell.

[ProudModerate2]

https://twitter.com/BillyCorben/status/1362920555008176128
I am continually amazed at how these people seem to believe there are no consequences for stuff like this.

Who is she referring to, when saying something about a 3-star general?

[ProudModerate2]

https://twitter.com/BillyCorben/status/1362920555008176128
I am continually amazed at how these people seem to believe there are no consequences for stuff like this.

Who is she referring to, when saying something about a 3-star general?

Probably Flynn.

Ah yesss. OK.

[ProudModerate2]

Pennsylvania cop charged in Capitol riot: 'FBI may arrest me ..LOL.'

A Pennsylvania police officer is facing criminal charges after posting a video of himself fighting with other officers during the US Capitol insurrection.

Federal prosecutors said video footage shows Joseph Fischer, 55, running at a police line outside the Capitol and yelling, "Charge!" A patrolman with the North Cornwall Township Police Department, Fisher allegedly yelled "motherf---ers" as he clashed with officers on January 6.

https://us.cnn.com/2021/02/19/politics/capitol-riot-pennsylvania-cop/index.html