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posted by martyb on Wednesday January 06 2021, @10:01PM   Printer-friendly
from the stock-up-on-popcorn! dept.

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:

Dan Scavino 🇺🇸 🦅@DanScavino:

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...

Dan Scavino 🇺🇸 🦅@DanScavino:

...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.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 08 2021, @03:22AM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 08 2021, @03:22AM (#1096832)

    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:

    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 Clinton. Don't you fucking dare blame Clinton on her 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.

    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)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Friday January 08 2021, @03:59AM (#1096845) Journal

    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)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 08 2021, @04:12AM (#1096854)

      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

        by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Friday January 08 2021, @04:17AM (#1096856) Journal

        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)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 09 2021, @04:44AM (#1097308)

      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)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 09 2021, @08:15AM (#1097351)

        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

          by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Saturday January 09 2021, @12:59PM (#1097388) Journal

          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...