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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: 2) by Thexalon on Saturday January 09 2021, @03:53AM

    by Thexalon (636) on Saturday January 09 2021, @03:53AM (#1097302)

    Based on what we know right now:
    1. There were thousands of people involved. It takes time to round up that many people.
    2. Some of the people involved on the wrong side were Capitol Police officers.
    3. Several state-level elected officials were involved.
    4. The FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies knew in advance what was planned (the people planning to attack the Capitol were announcing their plans on social media), and chose not to act to prevent it.
    5. Acts of espionage occurred in the chaos, including classified documents stolen from the desk of Nancy Pelosi, and from her computer.
    6. It seems probable that at least one Cabinet officer, the Secretary of Defense, was involved in what went down (not on the ground, of course, but comfortably behind a desk making sure additional law enforcement and National Guard took hours to arrive).
    7. Based on the item above, public statements about the vice-president, and reporting during the events that the president was watching with glee as this happened, it is entirely possible that the president and his consigliere Rudy Guiliani were involved in ways other than inciting the riot.
    8. It is possible that dozens of members of Congress on both sides of the aisle also were involved in planning what happened.

    And it's worth keeping in mind that the stated intent of the people attacking the Capitol included assassinating the Vice-President and numerous members of Congress.

    That's going to take time to deal with. Sorting out which public officials have to be removed from power, actually removing them from power, who gets charged with what, etc. Adding to the complication is that since there were people inside law enforcement agencies involved on the wrong side, you can't trust that investigations and arrests and charges will happen as they're supposed to. So far, the arrests have been mostly of the small-fry who were directly attacking the Capitol. Presumably, as more evidence is collected, that will change.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
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