Happy Treason Weasel Day!!

[Jersey Girl]

I don't know about anyone else but I haven't felt this hopeful or "settled" in 4 years. Maybe at the very beginning of the present term, but I always think things will work out and sanity will prevail--until it didn't. Until today, that is.

I meant to respond to this.

My wife and I were watching the Senate debate speeches tonight and then the news that Trump's Twitter account had been suspended, and we both kind of looked at each other with a knowing look. She says, "It kind of feels like this might really be over," as I was nodding. I don't know that it's over, but it feels like the end of something today.

Or a rebirth?

I'm happy to hear that I'm not the only one who was similarly impacted. When I signed off this thread earlier today, I don't know, I just felt like things were going in the "right" direction and that everything would be okay. I figured I had no way to change anything, I'd already done what I could with my vote this year and while I was sure things were coming to a head and I felt tearful (because like I said to Chap I feel like we've been laboring in real time and it's hard), but I honestly felt okay about it so I went out into town to pick up supplies for a small business I'm resurrecting.

Do you know what? When I was out there were cops all over the place. I'm just now recalling that. I could hear sirens when I was coming out of the store. Got in the car, started home and then yes, more cop cars on the side roads. I have no idea what was going on and I never checked local news when I got home.

It's not that I didn't care about what happened today. I care very much. I felt like it was out of my hands, like the ship was in the process of righting itself, so I just went on with my own business.

I've felt like that this whole entire day. Kind of like--this is IT. This is what we've been waiting for. Either way, it's the end of the line for Trump. He will never live this down. He will never successfully run for president. He discredited and sabotaged himself today. And that's what I was thinking and praying about when I was out driving. That this opens the door for a peaceful transition of power, that the path was cleared for the Biden-Harris administration.

It's terrible what happened today. We and the world watched in horror and they cared about us. I read their statements of solidarity with America from around the world when I got back into my car. Four people died today. Our Capitol building was defiled by violence.

Trump well and truly LOST and he damn well knows it.

[Jersey Girl]

I wonder if they'll address it tonight since it's after 1 a.m. out there right now? Plus they've been through all kinds of stress today but that would seem to make the matter all the more pressing.

I'm a little behind in the stream but I'm following as best as I can.

I think they should get some sleep first. They need to have clear heads to make decisions. As of tonight, the election process is complete. One last chance for Trump to get his crap together.

That makes more sense than what I said. Thanks for that.

[Dr. Shades]

Now I'm genuinely befuddled. Antifa had the perfect, served-up-on-a-silver-platter opportunity to actually BE anti-Fascist today. So where were they?

[Some Schmo]

Now I'm genuinely befuddled. Antifa had the perfect, served-up-on-a-silver-platter opportunity to actually BE anti-Fascist today. So where were they?

That is a mystery, isn't it?

lol

[MeDotOrg]

One last chance for Trump to get his crap together.

Who drew the short straw tonight? Who goes to the President and falls on their sword, and tells him that his behavior is seditious and it must stop? Ivanka? Mark Meadows? Kushner? If you think of it, tonight is one of the most momentous nights in the the life of any President. Who will have his ear? What will he hear?

My God, to be a fly on the wall in the White House tonight!

[Dr. Shades]

I went to what's widely considered to be the sewer of the Internet in order to find out how, and whether, the right-wing is justifying the events of today. WOW, I'm quite shocked, to say the least.

WARNING: NOT SAFE FOR WORK!!

Politically Incorrect on 4chan.org

[Jersey Girl]

Observation: These folks can't keep a mask on their nose to save their lives.

[canpakes]

It's done. Electoral college count certified.

That took a while ...

[Jersey Girl]

Amen!

[Chap]

Quite a contrast between what we saw on the steps of the Capitol on June 2 last year when black people and others demonstrated in protest against the killing of George Floyd, and what we saw yesterday:



This article discusses such matters rather effectively. Would the Capitol police have have let protestors into the building if they had been mostly black? Goodness, that is a really hard question to answer, isn't it?

Maga v BLM: how police handled the Capitol mob and George Floyd activists – in pictures

Wednesday saw a thin deployment of officers as rioters stormed the Capitol. In June, a very different scene unfolded in the same city

The contrast between the law enforcement reaction to the storming of the Capitol on Wednesday and the suppression of peaceful protests in the summer is not just stark – it is black and white.

The Black Lives Matter demonstrators crowd outside the White House on 1 June was a block away from the building and made no attempt to breach its security. It was a mostly Black crowd, and it was charged by a force made up of Washington police, US Park police, over 5,000 national guard troops and federal agencies like the bureau of prisons. An army helicopter swooped low over the heads of the protesters. Teargas, batons and horses were used to clear a block so that Donald Trump could stage a photo op outside a church across the road. A national guard commander later admitted there had been “excessive use of force”.

The events in Lafayette Park in June 2020 represented a defining moment of the Trump presidency. So will 6 January 2021. The mob that stormed the seat of US democracy on Wednesday had openly talked about such a plan, were explicitly intent on overturning a fair election, and some had hinted they might be carrying guns. They were almost all white. Many were openly white supremacists, and yet the thin Capitol police collapsed in their path.
The events in Lafayette Park in June 2020 represented a defining moment of the Trump presidency. So will 6 January 2021
It is unknown why there was not a greater show of force in front of the Capitol building, given all that was known about the plans of Trump’s supporters. In the summer, the national guard from several states parked armoured cars in the Washington streets and stood in full body armour in serried ranks on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial – all ahead of protests calling for the law to be upheld and an end to impunity for the police killing of Black Americans.

The deployment ahead of the 6 January riot was far lighter. After Washington’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, made a request, 340 guardsmen were activated in advance, of which 115 were on duty at any one time, mostly helping direct traffic. The DC and Virginia national guard were only deployed in significant numbers after the Capitol had been breached.

One big difference was that Trump was driving the deployment in June. He was silent on Wednesday, apparently unwilling to set troops on his own supporters. The New York Times reported he resisted calling out the national guard. The deployment was finally ordered by the acting secretary of defence, Christopher Miller.