Capitol Debate Chamber Washington DC Invaded By Armed Protesters

[blessmycottonsocks]

Just to pick up on the flags debate, I see that the Capitol building is adorned with a selection of Stars and Strips variants for the Biden inauguration.

No Confederacy or Gadsden flags though!

 

[Austin Popper]

Just to pick up on the flags debate, I see that the Capitol building is adorned with a selection of Stars and Strips variants for the Biden inauguration.

No Confederacy or Gadsden flags though!

View attachment 34057

The Capitol is looking spiffy today. Looks like it got a good scrubbing since the zombie apocalypse. There should be some sunshine too, unusual for inauguration day.

 

[Souleater]

"Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you."

Friedrich W. Nietzsche

 

[Souleater]

The Capitol is looking spiffy today. Looks like it got a good scrubbing since the zombie apocalypse. There should be some sunshine too, unusual for inauguration day.

Even the weather is happy to welcome a change of guard at the white house lol

 

[Stormkhan]

T'missus commented that the weather looked overcast ... until Trump boarded Airforce One for the last time. The sun seemed to shine out when the door shut.

Here's another example of the many times Capitol intruders were so exuberant they enthusiastically advertised their presence and set themselves up for legal problems.

This is a nice, and I think too generous, re-wording of ... doing things in the heat of the moment and NOT THINKING IT THROUGH!
I'd add the pithy and somewhat scornful "bloody idiots"!

 

[Lb8535]

T'missus commented that the weather looked overcast ... until Trump boarded Airforce One for the last time. The sun seemed to shine out when the door shut.

This is a nice, and I think too generous, re-wording of ... doing things in the heat of the moment and NOT THINKING IT THROUGH!
I'd add the pithy and somewhat scornful "bloody idiots"!

Our local paper carried a report on the arraignment of a county resident who had been arrested based on his postings of photos on facebook. The court was trying to be professional but the defendant obviously had no clue that he was in very bad trouble or why anyone would care or that he was looking at a stretch in federal prison. He was released on bond and house arrest (go out only for work or medical appointment) with his mother. He asked the judge why this was necessary...

 

[GerdaWordyer]

Jason Colavito on Buffalo Bill et al.

It should surprise no one that yesterday’s siege of the United States Capitol by a pro-Trump right-wing mob included close connections to right-wing conspiracy theories, and not just the putative election fraud claim Pres.

Donald Trump used to incite the violence at a rally yesterday afternoon. Many of the thugs who invaded the Capitol sported QAnon clothing, and at least one brandished a flag printed with a “Trump—JFK Jr.” slogan, a reference to a QAnon conspiracy theory imagining that the late son of John F. Kennedy is both secretly alive and about to become Trump’s second vice president. On Fox News Channel, Tucker Carlson spun a conspiracy theory that Antifa agitators had infiltrated the mob, while actual journalists identified several of its members as known white nationalist and right-wing extremists.

One of the most visually striking of the angry thugs was the shirtless “Viking” or “shaman” dressed in war paint with a horned headdress and tattoos associated with neo-paganism and white nationalism. The so-called “Q-Shaman” has been a regular fixture at pro-Trump rallies across the country, a longtime “Q-influencer,” and yesterday the man news organizations identified as Jake Angeli, 33, seized the dais in the Senate chamber in the name of Donald Trump. He is also a believer in wild conspiracies that are ripped straight out of Ancient Aliens and other similar cable TV programs.

Angeli appears to be the same man who operates a YouTube channel (which YouTube terminated late Thursday) that had posted a series of conspiratorial videos since the November election. The man in the videos has the same look and build and the same set of distinctive tattoos. He also identifies himself by the same name. In the videos, Angeli presents the standard QAnon belief system, including pedophile rings, a “cabal” of evil liberals and globalists, and a quasi-religious infatuation with Donald Trump—many of which were ideas that emerged from the 1980s satanic panic and were packaged as a right-wing mystery religion by Ancient Aliens star David Wilcock and other conspiracy mongers in the months before QAnon adopted them wholesale. ...

http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/c...-to-be-secret-military-psychic-space-warrior#

I have called this little fellow "Attention Whore Furry" every since I saw a pic of him. I so hoped that name would have stuck. (Many apologies to Furry players)

 

[Kondoru]

No.

He is the....

SOOKY CALF

 

[Ogdred Weary]

 

[Mythopoeika]

View attachment 34222

This is in Russia?

 

[Ogdred Weary]

This is in Russia?

Yes, protest for Navalny's release, I thought the image had text attached when I posted it. Cosplaying as the Jamiraqui Shaman.

 

[Souleater]

Capitol police officer to lie in honour

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/4318140001

 

[EnolaGaia]

It's starting to look like the pipe bombs discovered January 6 at two sites near the Capitol might have been deployed earlier as part of someone's planning for the riot.

FBI: Pipe bombs at RNC, DNC were planted night before riot

Two pipe bombs left at the offices of the Republican and Democratic national committees, discovered just before thousands of pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, were actually placed the night before, federal officials said Friday.

The FBI said the investigation had revealed new information, including that the explosive devices were placed outside the two buildings between 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 5, the night before the riot. The devices were not located by law enforcement until the next day.

It is not clear whether that means the pipe bombs were unrelated to the next day’s riot or were part of the riot planning. Both buildings are within a few blocks of the Capitol. ...

FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/article/fbi-rnc-dnc-bombs-planted-night-before-abd142f2731aa9074776dc1b26e0f193

 

[EnolaGaia]

Here's an oddly disturbing twist on the Capitol invasion mob. CNN has determined that at least 8 of the guys in custody for attempting to overturn the 2020 election hadn't bothered to vote in the election whose result they were violently disputing.

They stormed the Capitol to overturn the results of an election they didn't vote in

They were there to "Stop the Steal" and to keep the President they revered in office, yet records show that some of the rioters who stormed the US Capitol did not vote in the very election they were protesting.

One was Donovan Crowl, an ex-Marine who charged toward a Capitol entrance in paramilitary garb on January 6 as the Pro-Trump crowd chanted "who's our President?"

Federal authorities later identified Crowl, 50, as a member of a self-styled militia organization in his home state of Ohio and affiliated with the extremist group the Oath Keepers. His mother told CNN that he previously told her "they were going to overtake the government if they...tried to take Trump's presidency from him." ...

Despite these apparent pro-Trump views, a county election official in Ohio told CNN that he registered in 2013 but "never voted nor responded to any of our confirmation notices to keep him registered," so he was removed from the voter rolls at the end of 2020 and the state said he was not registered in Ohio. A county clerk in Illinois, where Crowl was once registered, also confirmed he was not an active voter anywhere in the state. ...

Many involved in the insurrection professed to be motivated by patriotism, falsely declaring that Trump was the rightful winner of the election. Yet at least eight of the people who are now facing criminal charges for their involvement in the events at the Capitol did not vote in the November 2020 presidential election, according to an analysis of voting records from the states where protestors were arrested and those states where public records show they have lived. They came from states around the country and ranged in age from 21 to 65. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/01/us/capitol-rioters-non-voters-invs/index.html

 

[Souleater]

Here's an oddly disturbing twist on the Capitol invasion mob. CNN has determined that at least 8 of the guys in custody for attempting to overturn the 2020 election hadn't bothered to vote in the election whose result they were violently disputing.


FULL STORY: https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/01/us/capitol-rioters-non-voters-invs/index.html

Priceless!

 

[gordonrutter]

Here's an oddly disturbing twist on the Capitol invasion mob. CNN has determined that at least 8 of the guys in custody for attempting to overturn the 2020 election hadn't bothered to vote in the election whose result they were violently disputing.


FULL STORY: https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/01/us/capitol-rioters-non-voters-invs/index.html

As far as I am concerned if you don't vote in a legitimate poll / election you have lost the right to bitch about the results.

 

[Spookdaddy]

As far as I am concerned if you don't vote in a legitimate poll / election you have lost the right to bitch about the results.

Although I suspect it's something that, in reality, would be neither popular or practical I've always thought that it should be a legal requirement to vote - with the proviso that there should be a built in option to spoil your vote deliberately. Protest as action, rather than inaction - in this context the latter, to my mind, is meaningless.

 

[Austin Popper]

One of my uncles told me, when I was in my teens, that he was all for increasing voter turnout until he entered the work force and got to know more people.

Most of the zombies are now in custody, while the perpetrators and the spineless enablers walk free. For now.

 

[Beresford]

Although I suspect it's something that, in reality, would be neither popular or practical I've always thought that it should be a legal requirement to vote - with the proviso that there should be a built in option to spoil your vote deliberately. Protest as action, rather than inaction - in this context the latter, to my mind, is meaningless.

Some countries already have compulsory voting for at least some elections, such as Australia and Belgium.

In a previous life I was involved in politics and often found that those who complained the loudest were the least likely to participate in the democratic process.

 

[Spookdaddy]

Some countries already have compulsory voting for at least some elections, such as Australia and Belgium...

I knew voting was a legal requirement in some countries - but I've always had a feeling that once you get over a certain eligible population level the enforcement of such would become less and less realistic. I'm not entirely sure why I think that might be the case, and I may well be totally wrong.

...In a previous life I was involved in politics and often found that those who complained the loudest were the least likely to participate in the democratic process.

This doesn't surprise me in the very least. Serial shouters always seem more involved in the process of shouting than they do in the process of engaging with and rectifying the thing they are shouting about. Often, and sometimes after a very short time, I find myself sympathising with the problem - or supposed problem - more than I do with the persons inconvenienced: If cycle lanes cause you so much pain, then the first thing I do when I get out of here is find one and give it a hug - that kind of thing.

 

[Austin Popper]

Voting in Colorado is very easy, as it should be. I think it's over ten years since I visited a polling place. We get our ballots in the mail, and usually mail them off. Then we get email messages telling us our ballots have been accepted and counted. Our system has been called a model for the whole country to follow. No need to stand in line for hours in neighborhoods where polling places have been closed. You know, places where the population is likely to vote against the status quo.

 

[Ogdred Weary]

If cycle lanes cause you so much pain, then the first thing I do when I get out of here is find one and give it a hug - that kind of thing.

Are you that bloke who was convicted with having sex with a pavement back the in 90s?

 

[Spookdaddy]

Are you that bloke who was convicted with having sex with a pavement back the in 90s?

I explained all that at the time. I was cooling off in a conveniently located puddle after inadvertently setting fire to my trousers on the bus. I retired from government very soon afterwards, in order to spend more time with my family.

 

[EnolaGaia]

Here's an aspect of the Capitol invasion that seems like something from a suspense movie ... Relevant military authorities were unaware on January 6 that Vice President Pence and his military aide were in potential danger from the rioters while they were in possession of the VP's nuclear 'football'.

Military officials were unaware of potential danger to Pence's 'nuclear football' during Capitol riot

Military officials overseeing the authorization process to launch nuclear weapons were unaware on January 6 that then-Vice President Mike Pence's military aide carrying the "nuclear football" was potentially in danger as rioters got close during the violent Capitol insurrection, according to a defense official.

The vice president is always accompanied by a backup of the "football," which contains the equipment to carry out orders to launch a nuclear strike. It must be ready at all times and is identical to what the president carries, in case he becomes incapacitated.

US Strategic Command became aware of the gravity of the incident after seeing a video played at the Senate impeachment trial Wednesday showing Pence, his Secret Service agents and a military officer carrying the briefcase with classified nuclear launch information running down a flight of stairs inside the Capitol to get to safety, the official said.

"As the rioters reached the top of the stairs, they were within 100 feet of where the vice president was sheltering with his family, and they were just feet away from one of the doors to this chamber," Del. Stacey Plaskett, one of the impeachment managers, explained in the senate trial on Wednesday. In one video, the crowd can be heard chanting "Hang Mike Pence" as they stand in an open doorway of the Capitol.

It is not clear if other national security elements of the government such as the National Security Council or top officials at the Pentagon were aware of the gravity of Pence's position and those of his team. ...

Even if the rioters had gotten hold of it, they could not have used any of the information because of the security controls on the system ...

FULL STORY: https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/11/poli...naware-pence-nuclear-football-riot/index.html

 

[Lb8535]

Here's an aspect of the Capitol invasion that seems like something from a suspense movie ... Relevant military authorities were unaware on January 6 that Vice President Pence and his military aide were in potential danger from the rioters while they were in possession of the VP's nuclear 'football'.


FULL STORY: https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/11/poli...naware-pence-nuclear-football-riot/index.html

Apparently you can turn them off remotely. So as a pres exits there need not be a tug of war, one is dead and the new pres is activated.

 

[Ogdred Weary]

Here's an aspect of the Capitol invasion that seems like something from a suspense movie ... Relevant military authorities were unaware on January 6 that Vice President Pence and his military aide were in potential danger from the rioters while they were in possession of the VP's nuclear 'football'.


FULL STORY: https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/11/poli...naware-pence-nuclear-football-riot/index.html

Mike Pence has a nuclear football? Does he also have a cape and wear his pants outside his trousers?

 

[Souleater]

Apparently you can turn them off remotely. So as a pres exits there need not be a tug of war, one is dead and the new pres is activated.

Surely this is very dangerous due to the threat of hacking and we all know how secure the federal databases are
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ny...kers-us-government-treasury-commerce.amp.html

 

[Frasier Buddolph]

Mike Pence has a nuclear football? Does he also have a cape and wear his pants outside his trousers?

We are repeatedly told that only the President has launch authority, but it isn't necessarily true. The government has always been close-mouthed about just how far down the chain of command the authority is delegated. For an unsettling read, pick up "The Doomsday Machine" by Daniel Ellsberg.

 

[Austin Popper]

I've read a number of times that the "football" isn't some automated thing with a big red button. I'm sure it's an elaborate collection of devices, but some general said one time that it's more about robust and direct communication between the Commander-In-Chief and the humans who work the actual controls. Or that's what they want us to think...

The military saved our country again recently. We should not forget that. I have never been a fan of a gigantic military, but fortunately ours is run by sane, decent, intelligent people.

 

[Lb8535]

I've read a number of times that the "football" isn't some automated thing with a big red button. I'm sure it's an elaborate collection of devices, but some general said one time that it's more about robust and direct communication between the Commander-In-Chief and the humans who work the actual controls. Or that's what they want us to think...

The military saved our country again recently. We should not forget that. I have never been a fan of a gigantic military, but fortunately ours is run by sane, decent, intelligent people.

It's not a football. The Times had an article around 1/22 that described it. There are two attache cases carried by a military aide. imagine they rotate that so-far-boring assignment.