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Bump bump bumpity bump-ba-dump-bump.
(I hate it when the thread needs a new page. This is how I cope.)
Listen to me. Wealth is the only reality. And the only way to obtain wealth is to take it away from somebody else. Wake up, Blake!
There is a conundrum in that, and I think it’s what motivated Karl Marx to write Das Kapital.
If one can only obtain wealth by taking it from someone else, then how did wealth first originate? Where did the first wealthy person obtain wealth?
They clearly stole it, but take it up with Avon.
Changing tack, this is great to see:
England’s schools inspectorate, Ofsted, has been overwhelmed by more than 10,000 emails from parents, mostly singing the praises of their children’s schools, after Gavin Williamson urged them to complain if they were not satisfied with the remote education on offer.
The education secretary’s comments last week sparked outrage among teachers and parents, but there are now fears the growing deluge of complimentary emails could result in genuine safeguarding concerns being delayed or missed by overstretched staff.
Ofsted’s call centre team are sorting through emails to identify genuine complaints or concerns, but the vast majority are believed to be from parents praising their child’s school during lockdown in defiance of Williamson’s advice.
I saw somewhere else that several more officers are being investigated.
2 Capitol Police officers suspended after attack
WASHINGTON – Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio says two U.S. Capitol Police officers have been suspended as a result of their actions during last week’s attack on the Capitol.
Ryan told reporters on Monday that one of the officers took a selfie with someone and the second officer put on a “Make America Great Again” hat. He says of the latter that the “interim chief determined that to be qualifying for immediate suspension.”
Thousands of pro-Donald Trump insurrectionists stormed the Capitol, forcing lawmakers to flee and hide. Five people died, including a Capitol Police officer.
The congressman says Capitol Police are looking at everybody involved that could have potentially facilitated the incursion “at a big level or small level in any way.”
Ryan says they don’t want an officer working on President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration “who was not doing the job on the Jan. 6th event.”
Capitol Police did not immediately reply to a request for more details.
Ryan serves as chair of a House subcommittee that oversees funding for Capitol Police.
It is crazy. If you had considered any scenario where a crowd of protestors broke into the Capitol Building, would anyone have thought that it would end up without dozens of people being shot?
Even crazier, it’s the dumbest insurrection, too. They successfully enter what is the center of US power and… just fuck around for a few hours. It’s not comparable to any of the riots or looting for Black Live Matter protests – this was a direct assault on the National Mall, not a shopping mall.
But when they get in there, where does the plan go from there? Take hostages? Grab the Electoral Ballots? Burn the place down?
They just had no clue which is essentially a metaphor for Trump’s whole presidency – no clue. I take it back, Trump, just after he lost the election, actually manage to become the worst president in our history – by a large lead.
The QAA podcast which follows the q madness had a very touching episode on the capitol siege, it is worth listening to.
At this point, it is probably the best time to really call for serious financial and tax reform and force transparency in the financial industry on the whole since that is usually where the siphon begins.
That would be nice and all, but in all probability, it’s the complete opposite that will happen… They’re gonna use the recession as an excuse to lower taxes, they’ll do the usual “trickle down” bullshit dance, promise job creation and all that jazz, and like always, the rich will get richer and the rest will get fucked. Watch as it happens… shit, one of the first things Obama did was bail out the banks, who then didn’t suffer ANY consequences and in fact got bigger than too-big-to-fail… so yeah, I don’t see Biden doing squat to change any of that.
The same thing is probably gonna happen world-wide too, I doubt it’s a US exclussive thing.
I see that the story about Boris Johnson having a bike ride 7 miles from home is gaining traction.
I understand people wanting to make sure that public figures keep to the lockdown rules but (while I don’t have much time for Johnson) I don’t really think he’s done anything fundamentally wrong or unsafe here.
It’s just that (as we’ve said before) the UK lockdown rules are so drafted in a way that’s so vague and woolly that no-one knowns precisely what is or isn’t allowed.
And when you have high-profile examples of people testing the limits of those rules it creates more uncertainty and encourages others to be more lax in their own interpretation and observance of the rules.
So while I don’t think it’s a complete non-story I also don’t necessarily feel that Johnson has broken the rules, I think it’s more about highlighting the loopholes and weaknesses in the current lockdown rules, as with some of the other heavily reported ‘borderline’ cases in the news over the past week.
Nail him to the wall. If people have to be told in great detail how to deal with this, then we’re going to lose against this virus. The rules are vague? Who set them? He did. He has a greater responsibility to set an example, but the one he just set, of spinning the distance as local, of citing loopholes, is the wrong one. It encourages more rule breaking and that will kill people.
But when they get in there, where does the plan go from there? Take hostages? Grab the Electoral Ballots? Burn the place down?
One has to wonder what would have happened if they’d somehow run across Nancy Pelosi. I don’t think there’s a chance they wouldn’t have taken her hostage, if not lynched her on the spot. It’s sheer luck that something like that didn’t happen.
But when they get in there, where does the plan go from there? Take hostages? Grab the Electoral Ballots? Burn the place down?
One has to wonder what would have happened if they’d somehow run across Nancy Pelosi. I don’t think there’s a chance they wouldn’t have taken her hostage, if not lynched her on the spot. It’s sheer luck that something like that didn’t happen.
Especially since an elected congresswoman, I forget her name but let’s call her Q-bitch, livetweeted Pelosis location to these fucks.
I see that the story about Boris Johnson having a bike ride 7 miles from home is gaining traction. I understand people wanting to make sure that public figures keep to the lockdown rules but (while I don’t have much time for Johnson) I don’t really think he’s done anything fundamentally wrong or unsafe here.
I haven’t seen the story: did he ride his bike from his house for 7 miles, or did he travel 7 miles and then ride his bike around?
Either way, when you’ve got Derbyshire police giving out automatic fines to people who have driven a few miles to walk in an open area, claiming their cups of coffee count as a picnic, I can see why people would be angry with Johnson freely cycling 7 miles away.
The suggestion is that he travelled seven miles and then cycled, but it isn’t clear yet I don’t think.
And yes, it’s obviously going to be seen in the context of those recent reports of action taken on relatively minor infringements.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Johnson is definitely at fault here for being in charge of a set of lockdown rules that is poorly drafted and allows for too much wiggle room, but it’s that element that should be the focus rather than the press going for the “gotcha” story of him breaking the rules.
Because however you spin a story like that, it’s going to have a negative impact on public compliance – the “one rule for them” aspect. But if you go after them on the rules being poor then the focus becomes on tightening up, from a point of view of wanting to do that and enforce a tighter lockdown, rather than wanting to expose violations.
Doesn’t make for such a sensational story though.
Nail him to the wall. If people have to be told in great detail how to deal with this, then we’re going to lose against this virus. The rules are vague? Who set them? He did. He has a greater responsibility to set an example, but the one he just set, of spinning the distance as local, of citing loopholes, is the wrong one. It encourages more rule breaking and that will kill people.
The trouble is that I don’t think it works like that. I think the Cummings episode showed that exposing wrongdoing among the rule-makers has a negative effect on public compliance in general, the “fuck it, if they’re not sticking to the rules then I don’t have to” effect.
I’m not sure how irresponsible Johnson’s actions are without knowing the full details, but last year’s experience shows us that if you make that the focus rather than pursuing better, clearer, safer guidance then you lose people.
One has to wonder what would have happened if they’d somehow run across Nancy Pelosi. I don’t think there’s a chance they wouldn’t have taken her hostage, if not lynched her on the spot. It’s sheer luck that something like that didn’t happen.
At least one person who made it into the Capitol had a whole pile of those zipties you use for temporary handcuffs, and someone had erected a gallows outside. It’s entirely possible that these two aren’t connected, of course – but the sentiment of a lot of people there seemed to be to cause bodily harm to politicians.
Yeah, in that atmosphere with the mass hysteria of the crowd, if they’d run into one of the major “enemies”, I don’t think there could’ve been any other outcome really.
Having a bad day? Political turmoil getting to you? Don’t worry, Doctor YouTube has just the thing for you.
Which is why nailing Johnson to the wall for his arrogance is all that’s left, the damage was done months ago by Cummings. Not that anything will happen. The only times rules have been applied to Johnson is Hastings firing him and divorce.
Nor could the media not report on it, cue cries of cover-up.
I think it’s fine for them to report on it, but the trying to nail him for violating the rules is the wrong approach here I think.
(This is a very different situation to the Cummings breach as we’re talking about Johnson being a few miles from his home for a short bike ride, not travelling the length of the country with his family in tow to stay with relatives for a week.)
I think it’s pretty clear that Johnson didn’t violate the letter of the rules, but I think it’s fine for people to argue about whether he’s really acting in the spirit of the rules, because then that conversation again becomes about the weakness of the rules as drafted, which is the core of the problem here.
I’ve just seen some of this morning’s coverage and Cressida Dick seems to be saying a similar thing. So maybe this could lead to some greater clarity and tightening up of the language around the rules.
this was a direct assault on the National Mall, not a shopping mall.
I’m going to borrow this for my next tirade on Facebook.
I understand people wanting to make sure that public figures keep to the lockdown rules but (while I don’t have much time for Johnson) I don’t really think he’s done anything fundamentally wrong or unsafe here.
Isn’t this the same as Meadows complaining about haircuts months ago? It may not be intrinsically wrong but it still bothers people.
Trump supporters at U.S. Capitol riot face consequences at home
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Standing amid a throng of flag-waving supporters of President Donald Trump in front of the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday, Rick Saccone decided to capture the historic moment.
The former Pennsylvania state lawmaker handed his cell phone to his wife to record his message. “We are trying to run out all the evil people and RINOs that have betrayed our president,” said Saccone, using a term to disparage moderate Republicans as Republicans In Name Only.
“We are going to run them out of their offices,” he said and posted the video to his Facebook page without giving it a second thought. The next day, he was forced to quit his job.
Saccone, 63, resigned as a political science adjunct professor at Saint Vincent College in Pennsylvania where he taught for 21 years, after the video was widely condemned.
In an interview with Reuters, he said he regretted making the video, but said his message was taken too seriously.
“We were just playing, having fun,” said Saccone, who has removed the video from his social media account. “I’ve been making Facebook Live videos for years. They’re meant to be lighthearted.”
Saccone, a Republican who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2018, said he was exercising his constitutional First Amendment right to free speech and did not go inside the Capitol nor participate in any violence. He said he received hundreds of death threats after the video went viral.
Saccone joins a growing number of Trump supporters facing unexpected consequences after photos and images surfaced online of their presence during the siege of the U.S. Capitol.
Five people died, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer, when supporters of the president stormed the legislative complex as lawmakers began certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over the Republican Trump in the November election.
Trump has claimed, without evidence, that he won the election.
Many participants documented their involvement in the day’s events on social media. Some went without wearing masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus infection, making them easy for armchair detectives to identify.
Some have lost their jobs. Some face criminal charges. The Pentagon has opened 25 investigations into domestic terrorism related to the riot. The FBI has asked the public for tips on those involved in the assault.
“Many of Trump’s followers are living in a fantasy world,” said Eric Foner, an American historian and author of the book “Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877.” “They don’t appear to have given any thought to the consequences of their actions.”
PRIVATE PLANE TO A RIOT
The mob that stormed the Capitol included a disparate collection of anti-government extremists, including “boogaloo boys” and white nationalists. It also included some apparently well-to-do Americans, who openly cheered on the violence.
Jenna Ryan, a Texas real estate broker, chronicled her visit to the U.S. capital after arriving on a private plane. Her Facebook page shows she checked into The Westin Washington the night before the rampage.
The following day, while thousands of people fired up by Trump marched towards the U.S. Capitol in an avowed bid to “Save America,” Ryan videotaped herself outside the Capitol saying, “We’re going to be breaking those windows.”
She later tweeted, “We just stormed the Capital. It was one of the best days of my life.”
The Trump supporter also posted a photo of herself smiling and flashing a peace sign while standing next to a broken Capitol window. Included in the tweet was a threat against the media. “And if the news doesn’t stop lying about us, we’re going to come after their studios next…”
Days later, amid complaints to the Texas Real Estate Commission demanding it revoke her license, Ryan issued a statement saying she was “truly heartbroken” over the lives lost during the assault.
“Unfortunately, what I believed to be a peaceful political march turned into a violent protest,” she stated on Twitter.
Attempts to reach Ryan were unsuccessful.
The commission, in a statement on Twitter said that while it did not condone what it called “this type of behavior, actions of a license holder that occur outside of a real estate transaction are beyond its jurisdiction.”
Jenny Cudd, a Texas florist, is a former mayoral candidate who videotaped herself saying, “We did break down Nancy Pelosi’s office door and someone stole her gavel.”
Now her business, Becky’s Flowers, is under fire as well.
“We do not condone the acts of violence and destruction that occurred at the Capitol,” The Knot, a wedding planning app, said in a statement on Twitter. The app has “removed the Becky’s Flowers business listing from our vendor marketplace pending further review.”
Attempts to reach Cudd were unsuccessful.
“Gee, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean nothing by it! We were just fooling around!”
Oh, well. You shouldn’t have gone in the first place.
Saccone joins a growing number of Trump supporters facing unexpected consequences after photos and images surfaced online of their presence during the siege of the U.S. Capitol.
To wit: They expected no consequences for their actions.
Saccone joins a growing number of Trump supporters facing unexpected consequences after photos and images surfaced online of their presence during the siege of the U.S. Capitol.
To wit: They expected no consequences for their actions.
They thought because they were white, nothing would happen to them.
I understand people wanting to make sure that public figures keep to the lockdown rules but (while I don’t have much time for Johnson) I don’t really think he’s done anything fundamentally wrong or unsafe here.
Isn’t this the same as Meadows complaining about haircuts months ago? It may not be intrinsically wrong but it still bothers people.
I think it’s a bit more than that – I think you can definitely argue that what Johnson did was wrong and somewhat irresponsible, just not explicitly illegal under the current lockdown rules.
It’s a different scale to the Cummings saga but I imagine lots of people may see it similarly.
Really it just exposes the woolliness and vagueness of the English lockdown rules and their exercise loophole, which I know we’ve been discussing here for a while now. I think slightly firmer guidance is probably needed so that people know exactly what is meant by “local”.
(Apparently the rules in Scotland and Wales are a little clearer on this.)
(Apparently the rules in Scotland and Wales are a little clearer on this.)
Yeah I know in the first lockdown the ‘stay local’ request in Wales was more specific, saying it should be within 5 miles of your home. I’m pretty sure Ireland had a 5km thing too.
We’re going into a 2 week lockdown here starting tomorrow. They are very specific, we can’t leave our district or travel further than 10km.
Yeah I know in the first lockdown the ‘stay local’ request in Wales was more specific, saying it should be within 5 miles of your home. I’m pretty sure Ireland had a 5km thing too.
I think the current rules in Wales even talk about exercising from the point at which you leave your house, so as to address the confusion around whether you can travel somewhere and then start exercising there (eg. drive to a local beauty spot for a walk).
I honestly don’t see how distance travelled matters one bit. If I cycle alone, does it matter whether I go 7 metres or 7 miles, as long as I’m outdoors and not interacting with any other person? I think I would be far, far safer doing that than doing a completely legal trip to the local supermarket, and I think I would be within both the letter and the spirit of the rules.
On the other hand, if those two women were fined £200 for doing essentially the same thing the other day, then I hope Johnson is fined at least the same amount.
I honestly don’t see how distance travelled matters one bit. If I cycle alone, does it matter whether I go 7 metres or 7 miles, as long as I’m outdoors and not interacting with any other person? I
If that’s the case it doesn’t really matter.
I think the problem really is when rules are vague and unclear they give extra elbow room for those that want to push the envelope and find loopholes. So the next guy decides to cycle 24 miles on his own, crossing into another county, stops in a couple of shops to get a bit to eat and drink (all of which can be interpreted as allowed) and then potentially spreads the virus into an area with lower cases and defeating the purpose of a lockdown.
Yeah, I agree and it’s one of the reasons I’m not too bothered about Johnson’s example itself (because on its own it seems pretty harmless) but more what it says about how ineffective the rules are in terms of containing someone who might want to push further.
As with so much of this stuff, the government has left room for people to exercise a degree of “common sense”, which is fine for the 99% of people who will be sensible but not for the people who either aren’t clear on what they can and can’t do, or want to exploit a loophole.
Breaking news is that some supermarkets will start refusing entry to people without masks, unless they are medically exempt.
I thought that had been happening for the last 9 months anyway?
The problem here is that anyone can claim they are medically exempt, and the supermarket has no way of challenging them. But law (under anti-discrimination laws) you can’t ask someone to prove what their disability is. And if the supermarket refuses entry to someone who legitimately does have a disability, they are again foul of anti-discrimination law.
So this announcement seems like a bit of an empty gesture on the part of the supermarkets. Maybe it’s designed to frighten more people into wearing masks, which is a bit worrying if so. Supermarkets shouldn’t be in the business of controlling us through fear (that’s the government’s job).
It is crazy. If you had considered any scenario where a crowd of protestors broke into the Capitol Building, would anyone have thought that it would end up without dozens of people being shot?
Even crazier, it’s the dumbest insurrection, too. They successfully enter what is the center of US power and… just fuck around for a few hours. It’s not comparable to any of the riots or looting for Black Live Matter protests – this was a direct assault on the National Mall, not a shopping mall.
But when they get in there, where does the plan go from there? Take hostages? Grab the Electoral Ballots? Burn the place down?
They just had no clue which is essentially a metaphor for Trump’s whole presidency – no clue. I take it back, Trump, just after he lost the election, actually manage to become the worst president in our history – by a large lead.
Hey don’t sell them short. According to AOC, the succeeded in stealing some of her shoes. And I have it on good authority that Trump loves to wear women’s shoes. This was a big win. The biggest. Very well planned. Some might even say the best plan.
I thought that had been happening for the last 9 months anyway?
Masks have only been required in shops from July if I remember right.
Even then though, in my experience it has been more of a polite request that people wear them. I’ve been in plenty where people have entered without a mask and haven’t been challenged.
This makes it sound like they intend to get firmer and ask people to wear one or explain that they have an exemption.
I think the bulk of the Trump administration could use some lecturing on that particular subject.
Trump supporters at U.S. Capitol riot face consequences at home
I feel bad for some of them. Wait — no I don’t, they ALL deserve whatever legal punishment they receive from law enforcement, social media, and their employers. They willingly accepted, WITHOUT A SHRED OF EVIDENCE, what Trump told about the election being stolen. They came to Washington DC with zip ties, tasers, automatic weapons, assault rifles, Molotov cocktails, and pipe bombs, with the intention of breaking into the US Capitol with the intent of FORCING legally-elected representatives of the US Legislative branch to ignore the results of the 2020 presidential election and restore their leader to the highest office in the country. And their actions resulted in numerous deaths, including those of offices of the Capitol Police Department, as well as leaving a permanent black mark on our nation as upholders of Democracy. Loss of a job should be the least of the punishments handed out to every one of them. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!
Hey don’t sell them short. According to AOC, the succeeded in stealing some of her shoes. And I have it on good authority that Trump loves to wear women’s shoes. This was a big win. The biggest. Very well planned. Some might even say the best plan.
Too bad he’s not going to the inauguration; he could have worn a chic pair of AOC’s shoes with his blue suit and red tie.
Sarah Sanders: Former Trump spokesperson gets lectured on First Amendment by her old high school teacher
Every time I hear an American claim that they’re exercising their First Amendment rights, I’m tempted to ask them to recite the text of that Amendment that they’re referring to.
For the record, here’s the First Amendment. I don’t see anything there that entitles you to break into the US Capitol with the intention of taking hostages, or worse.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Sarah Sanders: Former Trump spokesperson gets lectured on First Amendment by her old high school teacher
Every time I hear an American claim that they’re exercising their First Amendment rights, I’m tempted to ask them to recite the text of that Amendment that they’re referring to.
For the record, here’s the First Amendment. I don’t see anything there that entitles you to break into the US Capitol with the intention of taking hostages, or worse.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The 1st Amendment limits the government, you idiots
With Twitter banning Donald Trump and Parler being limited and people losing their jobs over their participation in an armed rebellion against the United States, some idiots on the right are screaming that their 1st Amendment rights are being violated … which just goes to show once again that these people who claim to be patriots don’t understand the most basic things about the country they pretend to love.
Here’s an excerpt from my book HOW TO ARGUE THE CONSTITUTION WITH A CONSERVATIVE that explains it all:
The 1st Amendment says that the government cannot limit your rights. The government.
Every day there’s another article about someone whining that their 1st Amendment rights were violated because they lost their job or got kicked off Facebook or got criticized for something they said. All that does is demonstrate to the world that you have no idea what the 1st Amendment is.
One recent case involved a bank teller who was fired for saying “Have a blessed day” to her customers. She also criticized patrons for “taking the Lord’s name in vain” and talked to people about “salvation.” She was told by her boss to stop that, but she didn’t, because Jeebus demands her to do so or something. And she was fired.
An employer has the right to tell their employees not to discuss religion, or politics, or anything of the sort with the customers, in the same way they can tell you to not wear boxing shorts and tank tops to work.
There’s a place for everything, and that is not the place. It’s a business decision.
If the business fired her simply for being a Christian, she would have a wonderful case, because her rights were clearly being violated. For that matter, if the bank fired her for saying any of those things on her own time when she wasn’t working, then I would happily take her case and fight against such a clear violation. But reasonable work rules such as “Don’t piss off our customers” don’t get that kind of protection. (We’ll talk more about this kind of thing when we discuss Freedom of Religion next chapter, especially when dealing with idiots who think that they have the right to discriminate because their god tells them to.)
A few years ago, “actor” Rob Schneider was fired from a nice job doing insurance company commercials when they discovered that he had been arguing against vaccinations. Insurance companies like vaccinations—they save lives and save insurance companies lots of money. But Schneider—who gets typecast as an idiot in movies for a reason—screamed that his constitutional rights were being violated.
Look, Rob, you have every right to say whatever the hell you want to about vaccines. You can spout nonsense about the world being flat if you want to. No one has the right to stop you from doing that. You can continue to spout this idiocy forever if you so choose, because the 1st Amendment guarantees your rights there.
What you don’t have is the right to a job or a platform for your speech. A newspaper doesn’t have to print your opinion. A TV network can cancel your show if you are saying things that they disagree with (especially if it hurts their ratings). A public school can fire you as a science teacher if you’re trying to teach your students creationism. An internet discussion group can kick you out based on what you say. Facebook and Twitter can decide you’ve violated their terms of service. Your freedom of speech is not violated in any of those incidents. You can continue to say whatever you want, just not with an audience provided by someone else. Because the 1st Amendment prohibits the government from taking away those rights. The government. I’ll say it again. The government.
Sarah Sanders: Former Trump spokesperson gets lectured on First Amendment by her old high school teacher
Every time I hear an American claim that they’re exercising their First Amendment rights, I’m tempted to ask them to recite the text of that Amendment that they’re referring to.
For the record, here’s the First Amendment. I don’t see anything there that entitles you to break into the US Capitol with the intention of taking hostages, or worse.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
I think part of the fallacy is encapsulated in the Trump quote “…….and I’m sure some of them were good people.” Some are basically claiming that some, including themselves, came to stand outside the Capitol with signs claiming the election was stolen, which, even though it’s wrong, is covered by the 1st amendment, as long one does not engage in violence over it, and therefore they’re making the claim that the FBI is painting all of them as rioters, even in the face of clear video and photographic evidence that they illegaly entered the Capitol with intent to cause damage, even if they tweeted or FBed that they intended violence, which would serve as evidence against their claims of innocence. It also encapsulates the attitude towards Trump himself- “it’s ok, since he meant a peaceful protest, and used violent language as a metaphor, and this was obvious, and he is not responsible for crazies misinterpreting his words, even though it was obvious some would, as long as he meant to call out ‘the good people'”. 🙄🙄🙄
With Twitter banning Donald Trump and Parler being limited and people losing their jobs over their participation in an armed rebellion against the United States, some idiots on the right are screaming that their 1st Amendment rights are being violated … which just goes to show once again that these people who claim to be patriots don’t understand the most basic things about the country they pretend to love.
The thing is, if you make the wrong assumption that even the government can’t touch Trump or the Rebels for what they said, since Congress is going after the former, and the FBI the latter, Twitter’s decision could be seen as adding fuel to the government’s fire to “mess with their rights” given how powerful Twitter is; basically a slippery slope argument that anyone “canceled” by Twitter will have the FBI come after them. They are just to dumb to connect and certainly, to articulate a feeling of unease over a supposed “slippery slope” for what it is, instead reverting to “Butt muh free speche” But, their “speech” is either not protected or not what “speech” means in the amendment. Thus, they don’t even understand what the 1st amendment means for the government.
Anyone remember the 80’s movie: Breaking 2: Electric Boogaloo?
That is supposedly where the militia group Boogaloo Boys got their name from.
Proud Boys… Boogaloo Boys… have they become mainstream now? Thanks to you know who.
Personally, I am concerned about this Sunday and January 20th.
Personally, I am concerned about this Sunday and January 20th.
What’s happening this Sunday, Al? WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!?
Brexit-related AND comics-related! An interview with John Hendrick about the Brexit customs clusterfuck:
“This is a Nightmare:” Big Bang Comics’ John Hendrick on European Comics Retail, Post-Brexit
Holy fuck, that’s awful for everyone – all due to fucking Brexit
What a clusterfuck.
What’s happening this Sunday, Al? WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!?
I wasn’t joking.
Actually, there is supposed to be, in all 50 state capitols across the country, a militia protest and supposed show of force from them. The news reports say that all the states are calling for extra police and National Guard reinforcements, so they are bracing for it. I don’t even want to get into Biden’s Inauguration.
On a side note, an Olympic Gold Medalist swimmer named Klete Keller was identified as having been at the Capitol riot.
What has gotten into people, radicalizing them? Most mention the expression drinking the Kool Aid (reminiscent of the Jim Jone’s Guayana tragedy), but is it upbringing? Brainwashing? Mental illness? All of the above and more?
Brexit-related AND comics-related! An interview with John Hendrick about the Brexit customs clusterfuck:
“This is a Nightmare:” Big Bang Comics’ John Hendrick on European Comics Retail, Post-Brexit
What a mess.
What has gotten into people, radicalizing them? Most mention the expression drinking the Kool Aid (reminiscent of the Jim Jone’s Guayana tragedy), but is it upbringing? Brainwashing? Mental illness? All of the above and more?
There’s a lot of analysis on this I am sure, but off the top of my head, I’d say decades long erosion of trust in the political system plus the splintering of the American media landscape and the ensuing targetting of the political opponent as enemies of the state plus recently the development of social media and the disinformation and bubble-forming that came with that. The last part is probably what allows for the last step in radicalisation, divorcing people from the reality the majority lives in and getting them ready to commit acts of violence.
This is happening everywhere, having a twitter President just allowed for it to become a perfect storm in the US.
That’s what you get, motherfuckers! That’s what you get! Your sandwiches taken away is what you get!
Dutch officials seize ham sandwiches of drivers arriving from UK
Dutch TV news has aired footage of customs officers confiscating ham sandwiches from drivers arriving by ferry from the UK under post-Brexit rules banning personal imports of meat and dairy products into the EU.
Officials wearing high-visibility jackets are shown explaining to startled car and lorry drivers at the Hook of Holland ferry terminal that since Brexit, “you are no longer allowed to bring certain foods to Europe, like meat, fruit, vegetables, fish, that kind of stuff.”
To a bemused driver with several sandwiches wrapped in tin foil who asked if he could maybe surrender the meat and keep just the bread, one customs officer replied: “No, everything will be confiscated. Welcome to the Brexit, sir, I’m sorry.”
It does feel excessive to not let people bring in food that they’ll consume privately, but I suppose them’s the rules for all non-EU countries?
Looking at those rules, I have a simple solution for these lorry drivers: FISH SANDWICHES!!!!! I mean, this whole thing was about how much the British love fish, wasn’t it?
The current rules are laid down in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/2122, which repeals and replaces the previously applicable Commission Regulation (EC) No 206/2009. This Regulation clearly explains to the general public the rules concerning the introduction of animal products into the EU. Namely:
Travellers are not allowed to bring in meat, milk or their products, unless they are coming with less than 10 kilograms of these products from the Faeroe Islands or Greenland
There is also an exemption for powdered infant milk, infant food, and special foods or special pet feed required for medical reasons, if weighing less than 2 kilograms and provided that:
such products do not require refrigeration before opening
that they are packaged proprietary brand products for direct sale to the final consumer, and
the packaging is unbroken unless in current use
For fishery products (including fish and certain shellfish such as prawns, lobsters, dead mussels and dead oysters), travellers are allowed to bring in up to 20 kilograms or the weight of one fish if this is higher. However, there is no such weight restriction for travellers coming from the Faeroe Islands or Greenland
For other animal products, such as honey, live oysters, live mussels and snails for example, travellers are allowed to bring in up to 2 kilograms
These rules do not apply to animal products transported between the EU Member States, or for animal products coming from Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, San Marino or Switzerland.
https://ec.europa.eu/food/animals/animalproducts/personal_imports_en
Brexit-related AND comics-related! An interview with John Hendrick about the Brexit customs clusterfuck:
“This is a Nightmare:” Big Bang Comics’ John Hendrick on European Comics Retail, Post-Brexit
The thing that struck me from this article is John’s concerns being dismissed (and he’s not blowing smoke here, I was chatting with Bruno and the co-owner of my LCS about this a couple of years ago, Bruno and John were actually investigating setting up a Diamond EU or similar at the time, IIRC) is that a lot of businesses had this head in the sand “it’ll get sorted” attitude that John says he encountered. I work for a really big medical equipment company, and they have a gigantic distribution centre in the Netherlands to serve the entire EU. The idea is that if you order some equipment from your local sales rep, it gets fulfilled there and you have it within 24 hours. Our Brexit briefings for years had a multi-stage fallback of what to do in case of limited or no deal, with notes about how they didn’t expect to have to consider the worst-case scenarios. At this point, I assume they’re considering them, one of whom was invest a couple of billion in building a UK-specific distribution centre
What has gotten into people, radicalizing them? Most mention the expression drinking the Kool Aid (reminiscent of the Jim Jone’s Guayana tragedy), but is it upbringing? Brainwashing? Mental illness? All of the above and more?
There’s a lot of analysis on this I am sure, but off the top of my head, I’d say decades long erosion of trust in the political system plus the splintering of the American media landscape and the ensuing targetting of the political opponent as enemies of the state plus recently the development of social media and the disinformation and bubble-forming that came with that. The last part is probably what allows for the last step in radicalisation, divorcing people from the reality the majority lives in and getting them ready to commit acts of violence.
This is happening everywhere, having a twitter President just allowed for it to become a perfect storm in the US.
What’s tragic and hilarious is that a lot of people who were radicalised in this way have been accusing progressives and left-leaning people of being stuck in echo chambers while being in an even more pervasive one themselves.
I thought that had been happening for the last 9 months anyway?
Masks have only been required in shops from July if I remember right.
Even then though, in my experience it has been more of a polite request that people wear them. I’ve been in plenty where people have entered without a mask and haven’t been challenged.
This makes it sound like they intend to get firmer and ask people to wear one or explain that they have an exemption.
I know it wasn’t required in the first lockdown but I couldn’t remember exactly when it started. July sounds about right.
A better improvement supermarkets could make is bringing back queues. For the last six months, I have never had to queue outside a supermarket — smaller shops, yes, but supermarkets around here have mostly given up. And yet you go into Asda and people are crammed in so that 2m distancing is literally impossible. That feels a lot worse than having a handful of people without masks (I don’t know where the scientific evidence is on the relative risks of maskless vs proximity, but being in a crowd feels like it should be worse). But of course fewer people in the shop means less revenue, so let’s be mask police instead and keep packing them in.
What has gotten into people, radicalizing them? Most mention the expression drinking the Kool Aid (reminiscent of the Jim Jone’s Guayana tragedy), but is it upbringing? Brainwashing? Mental illness? All of the above and more?
I saw this on reddit, it could perhaps answer your question somewhat.
A friendly reminder that this is a direct result of capitalism. John D Rockellefer (one of the most successful capitalists of all time) and his family spent a total of $180 million dollars going back almost 120 years to create and fund the General Education Board which was a NGO dedicated to influencing public education standards and conventions in the South.
Under the guise of instituting a “practical education”, he ensured that poor students primarily in the south were educated to become productive “patriots” (read: mindless agricultural workers) rather than to develop critical thinking skills, understand the endemic power structures and inequities, and our country’s history of hatred, oppression, and violence. So in its infancy (GEB was the impetus for nationwide public high school and the first widespread efforts at universal education for Black children) public education was intentionally geared more towards “practical” skills than civic understanding to keep us dumb and docile. This was just a propaganda extension of union busting.
This doesn’t have anything to do with testing, it goes much deeper and is much more sinister. You can test understanding of America’s violent racism, of its history of labor strike and class warfare, etc. We don’t. Most people in America never have any formal education about Marxism or its history at all outside of an AP course perhaps, and practically none learn about it impartially. Most learn about slavery and racism and gender and sexual orientation based violence anachronistically as an airbrushed artifact of the past rather than an ongoing struggle. Again, we can test for that.
This is because an angry and mobilized (read: not guilty but rather accountable) white populace fully aware of the sins of its forefathers that stands in solidarity with the people it oppresses presents a clear and present threat to the power of the moneyed elite. This isn’t just Republicans either, it allows social-democratic political theory to be stripped of what little anti-capitalism it possesses, thus making even the people who are in theory in favor of improving things (the liberals) counterrevolutionary obstacles to progress. Please do your own research on this and don’t take my word on it, but it’s the truth.
TLDR; public schools were created by billionaires to turn you into a complacent worker for them, and for reasons much more sinister than testing.
I do think the echo chamber goes both ways, though, for what it’s worth. We’ll have to find some way out of it, though I have no clue how.
one customs officer replied: “No, everything will be confiscated. Welcome to the Brexit, sir, I’m sorry.”
Welcome to the Brexit, we’ve got fun and games
We’ll confiscate your sandwiches, if you’re in our transport lanes
We have the people who’ll see through, your hidden lunchbox scam
If your food looks funny, honey, we will take your ham
In the Brexit, welcome to the Brexit, gonna bring you to your….. kn-kn-kn-kn-kn-kn-kn-kn-knees, knees…
I do think the echo chamber goes both ways, though, for what it’s worth. We’ll have to find some way out of it, though I have no clue how.
To some degree, yeah. But it’s my experience that even recently radicalised leftists tend not to go all-in on the conspiracy theories, they just shift to more radical political stances and get really tribal about them, like there’s a lot of people who are really angry at The Squad for voting for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House because they didn’t guarantee a Medicare for All bill as a price for their votes or something.
Meanwhile radicalised conservatives literally believe Kamala Harris is a Communist who’s going to install a dictatorship when Biden either steps down or is assassinated by her in two years.
Meanwhile radicalised conservatives literally believe Kamala Harris is a Communist who’s going to install a dictatorship when Biden either steps down or is assassinated by her in two years.
That’s what you get, motherfuckers! That’s what you get! Your sandwiches taken away is what you get!
Dutch officials seize ham sandwiches of drivers arriving from UK
Dutch TV news has aired footage of customs officers confiscating ham sandwiches from drivers arriving by ferry from the UK under post-Brexit rules banning personal imports of meat and dairy products into the EU.
Officials wearing high-visibility jackets are shown explaining to startled car and lorry drivers at the Hook of Holland ferry terminal that since Brexit, “you are no longer allowed to bring certain foods to Europe, like meat, fruit, vegetables, fish, that kind of stuff.”
To a bemused driver with several sandwiches wrapped in tin foil who asked if he could maybe surrender the meat and keep just the bread, one customs officer replied: “No, everything will be confiscated. Welcome to the Brexit, sir, I’m sorry.”
It does feel excessive to not let people bring in food that they’ll consume privately, but I suppose them’s the rules for all non-EU countries?
Looking at those rules, I have a simple solution for these lorry drivers: FISH SANDWICHES!!!!! I mean, this whole thing was about how much the British love fish, wasn’t it?
The current rules are laid down in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/2122, which repeals and replaces the previously applicable Commission Regulation (EC) No 206/2009. This Regulation clearly explains to the general public the rules concerning the introduction of animal products into the EU. Namely:
Travellers are not allowed to bring in meat, milk or their products, unless they are coming with less than 10 kilograms of these products from the Faeroe Islands or Greenland
There is also an exemption for powdered infant milk, infant food, and special foods or special pet feed required for medical reasons, if weighing less than 2 kilograms and provided that:
such products do not require refrigeration before opening
that they are packaged proprietary brand products for direct sale to the final consumer, and
the packaging is unbroken unless in current use
For fishery products (including fish and certain shellfish such as prawns, lobsters, dead mussels and dead oysters), travellers are allowed to bring in up to 20 kilograms or the weight of one fish if this is higher. However, there is no such weight restriction for travellers coming from the Faeroe Islands or Greenland
For other animal products, such as honey, live oysters, live mussels and snails for example, travellers are allowed to bring in up to 2 kilograms
These rules do not apply to animal products transported between the EU Member States, or for animal products coming from Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, San Marino or Switzerland.https://ec.europa.eu/food/animals/animalproducts/personal_imports_en
A few miles down the road on the other side of the border, someone needs to open a truck stop with a drive-thru set up for big rigs. It would pay for itself in no time!
To some degree, yeah. But it’s my experience that even recently radicalised leftists tend not to go all-in on the conspiracy theories, they just shift to more radical political stances and get really tribal about them, like there’s a lot of people who are really angry at The Squad for voting for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House because they didn’t guarantee a Medicare for All bill as a price for their votes or something. Meanwhile radicalised conservatives literally believe Kamala Harris is a Communist who’s going to install a dictatorship when Biden either steps down or is assassinated by her in two years.
True – the extreme left or radical left does sometimes have a shallow view toward context and there is still a surprising amount of bonkers leftist propaganda left over from the cold war periods but that is usually in aging and more academic groups that are not at all active in the streets.
Really, radical leftists are more likely to target liberals and each other than right wing extremists target conservatives. The most conspiratorial element of radical civil rights groups is anti-Semitism among some black activists like, obviously, the Nation of Islam which rightly should be considered a hate group, not leftist at all, and there are several black separatist groups like the Black Hebrew Israelites that have been connected to actual violence targeting Orthodox Jews.
Really, radical leftists are more likely to target liberals and each other than right wing extremists target conservatives. The most conspiratorial element of radical civil rights groups is anti-Semitism among some black activists like, obviously, the Nation of Islam which rightly should be considered a hate group, not leftist at all, and there are several black separatist groups like the Black Hebrew Israelites that have been connected to actual violence targeting Orthodox Jews.
A few miles down the road on the other side of the border, someone needs to open a truck stop with a drive-thru set up for big rigs. It would pay for itself in no time!
Sounds like a job for…
I think it’s a bit more than that
Sorry Dave, I should have included an emoji. It was not meant to be serious at all.
That situation for EU comic shops looks nasty. Here’s hoping Burno and John can get it worked out feasibly and quickly
A valid question… pic.twitter.com/f7QLPqspDd
— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) January 13, 2021
Extremists move to secret online channels to plan for Inauguration Day in D.C. (nbcnews.com)
Documents shared via the channel’s file manager include “US Army explosives and demolitions manual” and “US Army Engineer course,” as well as white supremacist content.
A post explaining how to radicalize Trump supporters to neo-Nazism has also circulated on the channel, as well as other far right extremist channels.
Extremists are aware that they are under scrutiny, however, and in the fallout of the riot they have been using online platforms to recalibrate their movements.
On Monday the FBI sent a memo to law enforcement agencies warning about possible armed protests at all 50 state capitols starting Saturday.
Unfortunately, it’s also possible many officers in those agencies already got the memo, so to speak: White supremacists and militias have infiltrated police across US, report says | US policing | The Guardian
Meanwhile radicalised conservatives literally believe Kamala Harris is a Communist who’s going to install a dictatorship when Biden either steps down or is assassinated by her in two years.
I thought I’d heard it all when, my mother told me she has a “friend” on FB, who, after the Capitol attack, called VP-Elect Harris a “whore”
One big element of the civil unrest and hatred toward the government is that it really is pretty infuriating that they shut down the country for most of the year, still do not really address the pandemic in a responsible way AND think that a couple of $600 checks is all the compensation most Americans deserve out of the trillions of dollars they spend to keep the investment economy chugging along ignorant of real working class suffering.
There are nations much poorer than the USA that are giving their citizens more in payments every month AND they have nationalized medicine as well.
I don’t think the media or even the most honest politicians really understand how angry all Americans are on all sides over this.
Yeah the two $600 checks are so infuriating, you really wonder why both sides don’t see how much it feels like a slap in the face to the left and the right. The motivation is to not reveal the full extent of their ability to help us so we don’t expect more from them at all times but even with that in mind you’d think they’d at least make the too-small checks recurring just to limit people’s anger.
Fuck Jim Jordan for trying to justify Trump inciting a riot.
The GOP argument against impeachment is a whole lot of whataboutisms, gaslighting and nothing more. Because they’ve got nothing else. It’s really pathetic to watch these people cower at the alter of Trump even after he helped put all of their lives in danger.
I think the Feds are gonna wait till dude is a citizen again.. Then hit him with everything in the book. Put him in Prison.. He crossed the Feds.. Even Gangsters know you don’t CHALLENGE the Feds.. But we’ll see…. https://t.co/ytW3vGlGaC
— ICE T (@FINALLEVEL) January 13, 2021
6 days left for Trump to reveal his health plan.
Trump’s Health Plan: Die from COVID-19
Trump’s approval rating craters in final days – POLITICO
It looks like only the most rabid, right wing wackos are staying loyal. Even though, honestly, Trump just did a con job to get their support.
Trump’s approval rating craters in final days – POLITICO
It looks like only the most rabid, right wing wackos are staying loyal. Even though, honestly, Trump just did a con job to get their support.
Donny has his eyes on the real prize: As House votes to impeach him, Trump’s focus shifts to brand rehabilitation
Fuck Jim Jordan for trying to justify Trump inciting a riot.
Honestly, I think there will be a higher, a much higher, percentage of Republican senators voting for conviction, then there were GOP representatives for the articles. I think ex post facto, with the articles already given to the Senate, they will be less excuses for flip-floppityness. I also think some of this has to do less with Trump, and more with Pelosi- Republicans hate her more then just the fact that she is the highest-ranking congressperson of the Democrats- it’s personal- I bet there are some GOP congresspeople who will respect POTUS Biden more then Speaker Pelosi. I also think the fact that McConnell is considering voting for conviction versus Rep McCarthy’s refusal to vote for impeachment will play a factor.
This guy is apparently a lawyer…
GBS is apparently Global Broadcast System. This guy thinks Wonder Woman 1984 is a documentary.
This guy is apparently a lawyer…
That guy is apparently a lunatic.
Having “law” in your twitter handle makes you a lawyer as much as me having ESP in mine (@Espling) makes me a ghost.
Then again I will assume you’ve done more research on the subject than simply looking at his name. After all, you have “Sensible” in yours.
GBS is apparently Global Broadcast System. This guy thinks Wonder Woman 1984 is a documentary.
He’s waiting for Trump to appear on the jumbotron in Times Square!
(Which pedants always delight in saying doesn’t have any audio capability – except in movies and comics of course).
After all, you have “Sensible” in yours.
I’m always kind of taken aback when people take that literally.
After all, you have “Sensible” in yours.
I’m always kind of taken aback when people take that literally.
TakenabackSteve doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.
Yeah the two $600 checks are so infuriating, you really wonder why both sides don’t see how much it feels like a slap in the face to the left and the right. The motivation is to not reveal the full extent of their ability to help us so we don’t expect more from them at all times but even with that in mind you’d think they’d at least make the too-small checks recurring just to limit people’s anger.
While there’s a lot of stuff that went wrong in Germany, one thing they really got right here was “Kurzarbeit”, short-time work:
Kurzarbeit is a social insurance program whereby employers reduce their employees’ working hours instead of laying them off. Under Kurzarbeit, the government normally provides an income “replacement rate” of 60 percent (more for workers with children).
That is, a worker receives 60 percent of his or her pay for the hours not worked, while receiving full pay for the hours worked. So, for example, a worker would only experience a 10 percent salary loss for a 30 percent reduction in hours. The program usually runs for a maximum of 6 months consecutively.
Kurzarbeit is, in many ways, an excellent crisis management tool. In a deep recession, it protects workers’ income and therefore supports aggregate demand. Since workers do not lose their jobs, they have less incentive to save on a precautionary basis. And companies retain firm-specific human capital, while avoiding the costly process of separation, re-hiring, and training.
It is also worth mentioning that Kurzarbeit is an addition to private working-hour flexibility arrangements. Employees in Germany are typically allowed to work overtime and accumulate credit on their “working time accounts”. These can then be drawn down during recessions with no effect on paychecks. Firms are allowed to use Kurzarbeit only when working time accounts are exhausted, which helps contain fiscal costs.
https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2020/06/11/na061120-kurzarbeit-germanys-short-time-work-benefit
This really helped avoid loss of employment and keep the system going. Amongst the problems are that this doesn’t help the unemployed or self-employed – who there are separate relief programs for, but those work less well, apparently. But it really did and does help people keep their jobs, and the government has been paying out the money for this without complaining. I mean, we have a finance minister who keeps saying, hey, no problem, we’ve got the money, we will spend it to keep things going, don’t worry about it. That’s… something you don’t often get in politics.
“Our country has the financial strength this year and next to do everything that is necessary to keep control of the pandemic and to cushion the related economic consequences,” Scholz told the RND newspaper group.
Germany has since March unleashed an unprecedented array of rescue and stimulus measures, financed with record new borrowing of up to 218 billion euros (£194 billion) for which parliament suspended strict borrowing limits in the constitution.
A government source told Reuters last month that Scholz was planning to take on an additional 120 billion euros of new debt next year to finance further aid measures and help companies survive the second wave of the pandemic.
“If needed, we can do more,” Scholz said, adding that citizens had to get used to the “new normality” of social distancing and curbs to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
This guy is apparently a lawyer…
GBS is apparently Global Broadcast System. This guy thinks Wonder Woman 1984 is a documentary.
- This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by Steve Sensible.
- This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by Steve Sensible.
This is just repeating the same QAnon bullshit again. They’ve been sticking to the idea that Trump is going to engage in mass arrests and point to random shit as clues.
This guy is apparently a lawyer…
GBS is apparently Global Broadcast System. This guy thinks Wonder Woman 1984 is a documentary.
- This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by Steve Sensible.
- This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by Steve Sensible.
Man, that’s some good crazy.
I think we can all agree that the true victims in this trying times are the corporate brands that are strongly tied to the concept of America, like Mcdonalds and Coca-Cola
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
Over the land of the fries and the home of the burger.
God bless McDonald’s!
I think we can all agree that the true victims in this trying times are the corporate brands that are strongly tied to the concept of America, like Mcdonalds and Coca-Cola
I bet Bruce Springsteen took it personally.
I’ve now entered that stage of lockdown where I’m actively combating cabin fever, and it’s bringing out my masochistic side, I think. I’ve starting looking over the last few years of my posts, to social media and forums like this, to get a sense of how my own opinions on events have changed.
Having spent the last couple of days perusing old posts/predictions about Trump and/or Brexit, the people who told me I was over-reacting a few years ago as to how bad things could get have been particularly standing out to me. I’m finding myself wondering what they’re telling themselves now.
<script src=”chrome-extension://ghfihlfgmonnaakcnpilbnnmelnbkpnn/dist/ruffle.js”></script>
Neal Kirby, the son of Captain America co-creator Jack Kirby, was distressed to see some of the January 6 terrorists/rioters wearing shirts with versions of his dad’s creation corrupted by the image of the outgoing president. His message to them: pic.twitter.com/RTH9UNs491
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 14, 2021
Neal Kirby, the son of Captain America co-creator Jack Kirby, was distressed to see some of the January 6 terrorists/rioters wearing shirts with versions of his dad’s creation corrupted by the image of the outgoing president. His message to them: pic.twitter.com/RTH9UNs491
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 14, 2021
These morons don’t comprehend that Captain America is the ultimate antifa.
The Capitol Police Had One Mission. Now the Force Is in Crisis.
As old as the Capitol itself, the Capitol Police began in 1801 with the appointment of a single guard to oversee the move of Congress from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. His task, according to a court filing, was to “take as much care as possible with the property of the United States.”
Over the years, the force — whose positions were once filled entirely through patronage — was professionalized and expanded, usually in the aftermath of crises like the shooting of five lawmakers by Puerto Rican nationalists in 1954, the killing by a gunman of two officers inside an entrance to the building in 1998, or the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Today, it is in crisis once again, with calls for a full investigation into what lawmakers have called a “severe systemic failure” that allowed an angry mob of Trump loyalists to storm the Capitol last week, an episode that left five people dead, including one Capitol Police officer.
Three officers have been suspended and 17 more are under investigation, according to a senior congressional aide.
The department is accustomed to being shielded from the type of public disclosure that is routine for ordinary police agencies. But since last week’s rampage, the department’s chief and two other top security officials have resigned, and its congressional overseers have pressed for answers.
On Wednesday, Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio complained that the agency was a “black box.”
“We’re having a hell of a time getting information from Capitol Police leadership,” said Mr. Ryan, who chairs the House committee that oversees the department’s budget. “We fund the Capitol Police. Congress funds the Capitol Police through the Appropriations Committee. We deserve to know and understand what the hell is going on.”
Operating under the protective wing of Congress, the Capitol Police has more than 2,000 officers to defend two square miles and a half-billion dollar budget — bigger than those that fund the police departments in Atlanta and Detroit.
But it has long suffered from the same troubles that afflict many other police forces: claims of an old boys’ network, glass ceilings, racial bias and retaliation. There have been complaints, too, of lax discipline and of promotions for white commanders who faced misconduct allegations, but harsh treatment for women and Black officers.
A handful of high-profile incidents in recent years — locking down the Capitol but failing to inform Congress; ordering a nearby tactical team not to respond when a gunman opened fire at the Washington Navy Yard; the fatal shooting of a Black woman who made a U-turn at a checkpoint — have raised questions about the department’s procedures and operational paralysis.
Many who are familiar with the department now suggest that these longstanding problems contributed to how easily its officers were overrun last Wednesday.
“Why was I not surprised?” said Sharon Blackmon-Malloy, the lead plaintiff in a racial discrimination lawsuit against the department that has languished for years, while she and a handful of other retired Black officers have staged regular demonstrations on Capitol Hill. “Because I’m going back to the environment in which I worked in all those years.”
While many of the law enforcement agencies that rushed to the scene on Jan. 6 have offered public briefings and comprehensive timelines of what happened, the department that is sworn to protect the building and its occupants has been the quietest.
Capitol Police officials have not responded to numerous requests for comment, nor has anyone in the department addressed the widely circulated videos that appear to show some officers allowing the rioters to enter the building, or treating them in a sympathetic manner, while their colleagues were being assaulted with fire extinguishers, flagpoles and hockey sticks.
The officers who have been suspended include one who took selfies with members of the crowd and another who put on a “Make America Great Again” hat and directed rioters into the Capitol, according to Mr. Ryan.
Law enforcement experts noted the apparent absence of commanders and supervisors as the mob breached the building. A memo from members of the department’s Capitol Division, written after last week’s rampage, praised Inspector Thomas M. Loyd, the division commander, for fighting “shoulder to shoulder” with the rank and file, while implicitly criticizing the rest of the leadership.
Inspector Loyd “did not retreat inside the building to attempt to ‘lead’ from his office,” said the memo, a copy of which was provided by a retired officer. “He did not stay back, away from the line, to avoid any physical conflict, but rather pulled officers off the line and took their place so they could receive medical attention.”
In an interview, Jim Konczos, a former head of the officers’ union, said the department suffered from a longstanding failure to hold the upper brass accountable for alleged misdeeds, calling it a “morale killer.”
In one instance, a commander who had an affair with a married subordinate was demoted one rank and offered a settlement that would have preserved his earlier, higher pay, according to a decision by the Office of Compliance. At the time, he was leading negotiations on the union contract.
In another, an officer assigned to protect high-ranking lawmakers racked up two charges of drunken driving, including one case in which his car struck a Maryland State Police trooper’s unmarked cruiser. The officer continued to climb the ranks, despite an internal investigation for overtime fraud.
“You get to the point where you just get so disgusted with everything — you go to the chief, go to the sergeant-at-arms, and nobody cares,” Mr. Konczos said.
The responsibilities of the Capitol Police are vastly different from those of ordinary police departments. The force protects the Capitol grounds, members of Congress and staff, and it screens millions of visitors a year. Officers are expected to recognize the 535 lawmakers and to avoid offending them.
The delicacy of that task was on full display in 1983, when a House inquiry found that the Capitol Police had botched a drug investigation by creating “the impression that the investigation may have been terminated to protect members” — while noting that, to be sure, no members had been implicated.
Before last week’s televised scenes of officers attacked and outnumbered, the job of a Capitol Police officer was considered relatively safe and prestigious. The pay, starting at $64,000, is higher than at other departments in the Washington metro area, and the job offers a close-up view of dignitaries and heads of state. Officers occasionally make arrests for minor crimes like smoking marijuana outside Union Station, according to a report by a watchdog group that complained of “mission creep.”
“As a rule, you’re not working robberies and homicides and burglaries and disorderly conduct,” said Terry Gainer, who had a long career in other police departments before joining the Capitol Police, where he served as the chief and then, later, as the Senate sergeant-at-arms.
For decades, providing security for “the People’s House” has meant facing criticism for being too intrusive or, just as often, too lax.
The department is overseen by a board that includes the sergeants-at-arms from each chamber, who must answer to their respective majorities and who often take politics into account, former officials said, resulting in a hamstrung force that is rarely able to take swift unilateral action.
“When things started unfolding in an emergency, you want a chief who’s empowered by the sergeant-at-arms to do what needs to be done in an emergency, without playing ‘Mother, May I,’” Mr. Gainer said. “Sometimes you had to be prepared to ask for forgiveness instead of permission.”
Steven Sund — who resigned his post as chief of the department after last week’s rampage — told The Washington Post that he had asked the sergeants-at-arms for permission to put the National Guard on standby last week, in anticipation of huge, possibly violent, crowds. But the sergeants-at-arms refused, he said, citing concerns about “optics.”
The sergeants-at-arms both resigned after last week’s breach; they have not responded to requests for comment.
Though police departments across the country can be notoriously opaque, they routinely release basic information about crime, complaints about misconduct and the racial and gender makeup of the force. The Capitol Police does not. And its officers do not wear body cameras, in part out of concerns over lawmakers’ privacy.
A bill that would have required the department to report crime statistics and strengthen its disciplinary process was introduced last summer by Representative Rodney Davis of Illinois, the ranking Republican on the committee that oversees the department. The bill went nowhere.
Allegations of gender discrimination have dogged the department for years. In lawsuits, female officers have described a culture of sexual harassment, with commanders rarely punished for lewd remarks or for sleeping with subordinates.
At the same time, they say, women have been disciplined harshly for more minor offenses. In one instance, a sergeant was demoted and suspended after she leaked reports that a fellow officer had left a gun in a restroom at the Capitol, according to court papers, while little happened to that officer.
The department has also faced repeated complaints of racism. A lawsuit filed in 2001 by more than 250 Black officers, including Ms. Blackmon-Malloy, remains unresolved, and current and former officers say the problems persist. There are no Black men on the force with a rank higher than captain.
At the same time, many of the officers who have been lauded for heroism, including the two officers who helped stop a shooting in 2017 at a congressional baseball practice, have been Black. So is Eugene Goodman, the officer who was captured on video running up the stairs in the Capitol last week, apparently luring rioters away from the Senate.
In 2015, an email from the department’s intelligence office before the Million Man March warned of potential “fireworks,” citing the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and “rabble-rousing rhetoric” by the organizer, Louis Farrakhan. A year later, Senator Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina, who is Black, said he had attracted suspicion from the Capitol Police on more than one occasion.
The new acting chief, Yogananda Pittman, is both the first African-American and the first woman to lead the department. After congressional leaders urged the department to be more communicative, she issued a very brief statement.
This guy is apparently a lawyer…
GBS is apparently Global Broadcast System. This guy thinks Wonder Woman 1984 is a documentary.
- This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by Steve Sensible.
- This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by Steve Sensible.
Man, that’s some good crazy.
It will be a mass arrest event…..except those arrested will be crazy people who still believe in Trump who try to attack.
Jeez, I do pity the Space Force and its people as they are already the butt of so many jokes. Now, they get dragged into the techno-thriller delusion right wing idiots think they are living.
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