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2021-01-07 14:44:44 UTC: UPDATE (See below the fold).
Pro-Trump rioters breach the US Capitol on historic day in Congress:
Supporters of President Donald Trump breached the US Capitol on Wednesday while Congress was meeting to certify the Electoral College's votes for president and vice president.
The Capitol has been put on lockdown and the certification vote has been paused. Vice President Mike Pence was evacuated from the building. House and Senate leadership is safe and in undisclosed locations, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Congress' counting of electoral votes is typically little more than an afterthought. But this joint session was expected to be a contentious affair that would last late into the evening and possibly on Thursday. Some Republicans are objecting to the count and delaying the inevitable certification of President-elect Joe Biden's win.
Also at AlJazeera (In Pictures: Pro-trump mob storms US Capitol building) and c|net (Mob storms Capitol forcing halt of election vote count).
[2021-01-06 22:33:53 UTC; UPDATE] NOTE: This is a chaotic time.
The Electoral College votes are currently being confirmed and tallied. Runoff votes in Georgia are being tallied and the results may swing the balance of power in the US Senate. The Georgia secretary of state [has been] relocated from [State] Capitol for security reasons. Mitch McConnell goes off on Trump. Pro-Trump reporter gloats over access to fleeing Hill staffer's computer. And Trump hand-picks replacement for Atlanta's US attorney after surprise resignation.
Let's please try and keep the discussion civil.
Also, please be polite and share your popcorn!
[Updates Begin]:
(1) Fox News reports Biden's Electoral College victory certified -- hours after Capitol chaos:
The U.S. Congress early Thursday certified the Electoral College vote that gave Democrat Joe Biden his presidential victory -- after a day in Washington that was marred by pro-Trump protesters storming the U.S. Capitol.
Vice President Mike Pence, who had announced he would not overturn the will of voters, confirmed the Biden victory at 3:41 a.m. ET.
Lawmakers had returned to the chamber in an act of defiance, with some Republicans who initially vowed to challenge states' results due to voter fraud concerns announcing they'd instead vote to certify.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called the breach of the Capitol a "failed insurrection," adding that those who "tried to disrupt our democracy" had not succeeded.
(2) President Trump "Responds" via Staffer's Twitter Account after His Account was Suspended:
Statement by President Donald J. Trump on the Electoral Certification:
"Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. I have always said we would continue our...
...fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it's only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!"
(3) Facebook, Twitter lock Trump's account following video addressing Washington rioters:
- Twitter and Facebook on Wednesday said they would lock the account of President Donald Trump after he continued to make false claims about the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
- Facebook, YouTube and Twitter on Wednesday removed a video by President Donald Trump addressing Washington rioters.
- Meanwhile, calls are mounting for Twitter and Facebook to suspend Trump's accounts.
(4) The Associated Press has called the results for the Georgia Senate elections: both Democratic candidates defeated their GOP opponents:
With projected victories in the twin races of Warnock and Ossoff, President-elect Joe Biden will have the narrowest majority in the Senate, with both parties holding 50-50 seats apiece, allowing the tie-breaking vote to be cast by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Also at The New York Times.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday January 06 2021, @11:23PM (22 children)
You know who you are. Whatever your reasoning was or is, this is on you now. You are part of this, you let it happen, you fed into the madness, there is blood on your heads, and you will burn.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 07 2021, @12:09AM (2 children)
Thank you troll.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday January 07 2021, @12:15AM (1 child)
If the light burns you, that's your fault, not mine.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 07 2021, @01:19AM
Thank you troll. Knowledge will set us free.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Phoenix666 on Thursday January 07 2021, @03:14PM (9 children)
And people like you are why the civil war will go hot. It's only a matter of time now.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Thursday January 07 2021, @04:18PM (7 children)
"Criticism will make us violent, so shut up or whatever we do is somehow your fault!" 🙄
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Thursday January 07 2021, @05:51PM (6 children)
When you demonize the other as Azuma did, there is no reconciliation. There will be a fight.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Tork on Thursday January 07 2021, @06:36PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 07 2021, @06:50PM (2 children)
Yet you've been totally silent as Runaway and others do the exact same thing. Take your gaslighting bullshit and shove it up your feefee ass. Republicans have demonized liberals and called for imprisonment and murder of their political opponents for yeeeaaaaaaars now. Strangely you were silent the entire time.
What horse shit
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 08 2021, @12:38AM (1 child)
Right back at you cupcake. Your side was looking to impeach Trump before he was ever sworn in. Probably before the November 2016 election even took place, your side was plotting.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 08 2021, @10:57PM
Well, he was already incompetent and illegal even before he was elected, so there was more than enough grounds for impeaching him prior. Would have saved the US a lot of fuss.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 07 2021, @06:56PM
Ah, yes, Phoenix666 Chamberlain has arrived! What you fail to realize, Recurring Bird, is that Azumi did not demonize them, they are demons! Compromising with evil just gets you attacked later on, as England found out. These people are fascists. Fortunately, they are also cowards, so the "fight" will be rather short. And mostly only with law enforcement.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday January 08 2021, @02:42AM
People like that deserve no civility. This rioting and terrorism in the heart of the nation is the distillation of what the Trump message was all about and who its base always truly was. Hard to demonize people like that more than they demonize themselves already, you know?
Your problem is, you used to be a halfway-decent (or at least decent-acting) person, but your rich whiteboy angst got in the way and you got partially transformed into one of these revanchist lunatics. So now you're taking it very personally when someone rightfully calls them--and by extension, YOU--out on their, and your, terroristic behavior and guilt by association. Well too bad, asshole. Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas. You are now as bad as Runaway and in some ways worse because you're not going to die so soon and put us out of your misery.
You brought this on yourself. Go to Hell. Go *directly* to Hell. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200, but instead go straight to Hell.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 08 2021, @06:16AM
Actually, it's people like you who use the plot of The Turner Diaries [wikipedia.org] for your political talking points that will end up taking up arms against your own government.
The rule of law must be paramount. And you have no interest in that. More's the pity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 07 2021, @10:28PM (8 children)
You know, that's exactly what they would say about you too. That "blame and kill every side but mine" attitude never ends well. What you should have said was "how could I have acted differently so that those people looked up to me and my ideals." Grinding them into the dust so their blood will fertilize your garden isn't the proper answer.
Also next time, don't promote someone as corrupt as Hillary. If it was anyone else, Trump wouldn't have won. That's on you. You let that happen.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday January 08 2021, @02:38AM (7 children)
Fuck you sideways. The lesser of two evils is still evil, but the lesser of two evils is still less evil. Even if I had to hold my nose while pulling that lever I'm glad not to have voted for Trump. Don't you fucking dare blame Trump on his opponents. That's like a murderer blaming the good samaritan trying to stop him from killing someone for bruising him up with an ill-placed punch.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 08 2021, @03:22AM (6 children)
The thing you don't seem to understand is that they agree with you on everything in that post, with the sole exception of which was the lesser evil.
This works just as well for them:
Clinton is a horrible evil criminal bitch. Arguing that Trump is worse is not a rebuttal, it is just admitting that truth.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday January 08 2021, @03:59AM (5 children)
Clinton *is* a horrible, evil criminal bitch.
*But the people around her would have been better.* Do you get it now? People focus too hard on the president and not on who he or she will be surrounded by. We have three branches of government but they're not operating in vacuum. Do you really, truly think we would have lost the SCOTUS to the Birchers and fundies had Clinton been elected? No. No, we would not. And now we have to deal with an entire branch of the US government being taken over, for at least the next half century, by the *competent* fascists and theocrats, the ones who've been playing this game since the Kennedy administration if not before.
*That* is why I held my nose and voted for Clinton, not because I had any faith in her, but because I didn't want to see our government hollowed out and zombified like this. Welp.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 08 2021, @04:12AM (1 child)
Appeasement is never the right thing to do. Democrats appeasing the DNC corporate machine by compromising their principles is exactly what caused this situation. If the left had had the guts to stand up and say "give us a decent candidate or fuck off", Trump would never have won. Instead it was all "well, I don't like Clinton, but I'll vote for her because Trump is worse".
"He may be hitting me, but at least he isn't using the end with the buckle. And I deserved it anyway, his dinner wasn't ready and I shouldn't have talked back."
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday January 08 2021, @04:17AM
Damned if I do and damned if I don't then. Fuck that noise, I'm taking the third option and getting the hell out of here before the 2022 midterms if at all possible. Biden got my vote for the most selfish possible reason: his win gives me 2 years of relative (read: "dealing with a pandemic and whatever attempts at Civil War 2.0 Trump's insane base starts") stability to finish saving up, do my paperwork, and fuck off.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 09 2021, @04:44AM (2 children)
I will admit I didn't think of all the extra people an administration would bring into office. I saw Trump as a political outsider. He was a rich white businessman, but he wasn't a lawyer or politician. I knew he was corrupt, but he's bad at corruption. He was out in the open with all the stupid things he tries to do and the media jumped at everything. Clinton was good at corruption. She'd do misdirection and bad background deals that we'd never learn about until 80 years later. So I took the risk. Turned out to be a bad choice, but the government will continue to spiral down if we never take any risks. At least when we're failing quickly people notice. A slow roasting frog will die while a fast roasting one has a chance of jumping out.
That said, I do research all the congress critters before I vote for any of them. Frankly, I research them more than the Presidents. I don't pay much attention to our foreign policy, I care more about what laws are trying to be passed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 09 2021, @08:15AM (1 child)
It's also not a valid argument. Claiming that the hand-picked cronies of an evil corrupt witch are likely to be good people is laughable.
Would Trump's outsiders be better or worse? Who knows, but it's take a chance on them or pick the known evil. Azuma picks the known evil, many others took a chance.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday January 09 2021, @12:59PM
The known and STILL lesser evil. Even just considering her and Trump it was a complete no-brainer. I knew what was coming. On the day after the election in 2016 i was on the phone with my mother telling her the loonie right was going to take over the Supreme Court, that Trump would make Nixon look like an Eagle Scout, and that there were going to be riots over downballot elections as well as in 2020.
Welp. Cassandra strikes again.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...