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c0lo (156)

c0lo
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Journal of c0lo (156)

The Fine Print: The following are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Thursday January 14, 21
05:28 AM
/dev/random

Some among America's military allies believe Trump deliberately attempted a coup and may have had help from federal law-enforcement officials

... a French police official responsible for public security in a key section of central Paris, and two intelligence officials from NATO countries who directly work in counterterrorism and counterintelligence operations... said the circumstantial evidence available pointed to what would be openly called a coup attempt in any other nation.

...

One NATO source set the stage, using terms more commonly used to describe unrest in developing countries.

“The defeated president gives a speech to a group of supporters where he tells them he was robbed of the election, denounces his own administration’s members and party as traitors, and tells his supporters to storm the building where the voting is being held,” the NATO intelligence official said.

“The supporters, many dressed in military attire and waving revolutionary-style flags, then storm the building where the federal law-enforcement agencies controlled by the current president do not establish a security cordon, and the protesters quickly overwhelm the last line of police.

“The president then makes a public statement to the supporters attacking the Capitol that he loves them but doesn’t really tell them to stop,” the official said. “Today I am briefing my government that we believe with a reasonable level of certainty that Donald Trump attempted a coup that failed when the system did not buckle.

...

The French police official said they believed that an investigation would find that someone interfered with the deployment of additional federal law-enforcement officials on the perimeter of the Capitol complex; the official has direct knowledge of the proper procedures for security of the facility.
...
It is routine for the Capitol Police to coordinate with the federal Secret Service and the Park Police and local police in Washington, DC, before large demonstrations. The National Guard, commanded by the Department of Defence, is often on standby too.

On Wednesday, however, that coordination was late or absent.

“You cannot tell me I don’t know what they should have done. I can fly to Washington tomorrow and do that job, just as any police official in Washington can fly to Paris and do mine,” the official said. The official directs public security in a central Paris police district filled with government buildings and tourist sites.

“These are not subtle principles” for managing demonstrations, “and they transfer to every situation,” the official said. “This is why we train alongside the US federal law enforcement to handle these very matters, and it’s obvious that large parts of any successful plan were just ignored.”

...

The third official, who works in counterintelligence for a NATO member, agreed that the situation could only be seen as a coup attempt, no matter how poorly considered and likely to fail, and said its implications might be too huge to immediately fathom.

“Thank God it didn’t work, because I can’t imagine how hard it would be to sanction the US financial system,” the official said. By sanctions, he means the imposition of the diplomatic, military, and trade blockages that democratic nations usually reserve for dictatorships.

“The broader damage around the world will be extensive in terms of reputation, and that’s why Putin doesn’t mind at all that Trump lost. He’s got to be happy to take his chips and count his winnings, which from the Trump era will be a shockingly quick decline in American prestige and moral high ground.

“Every moment the Americans spend on their own self-inflicted chaos helps China, it helps Putin, and, to a lesser extent, it helps the mini-dictators like [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan and [Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orban, who breathe cynicism about politics, human rights, and democracy as their air,” the official said. “They won’t miss Trump; they will be glad to see his drama leave so they can enjoy the poisoned political climate.”

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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
  • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday January 14 2021, @05:32AM (12 children)

    by aristarchus (2645) on Thursday January 14 2021, @05:32AM (#1099914) Journal

    Always good to have the external view. It is the political equivalent of "Do these pants make my Trump look big?"

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday January 14 2021, @06:02AM (3 children)

      by c0lo (156) on Thursday January 14 2021, @06:02AM (#1099930) Journal

      "Do these pants make my Trump look big?"

      The two impeachment stains are barely visible from this distance - they are on the inside of the pants anyway.
      But, with the pants on or without [wikipedia.org], the shit your Trump dumped [wikipedia.org] on the international stage was and still is showing and stinking.

      It is the political equivalent of ...

      I know the question was rhetorical; howevs, for the benefit of some others 'round here, the explicit answer is yes.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @12:37PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @12:37PM (#1100025)

        Watch for big stuff next week: https://i.redd.it/p08ewtyr7ab61.jpg [i.redd.it]

        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Thursday January 14 2021, @12:50PM (1 child)

          by c0lo (156) on Thursday January 14 2021, @12:50PM (#1100034) Journal

          This [twimg.com] is more likely.

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
          • (Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @12:59PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @12:59PM (#1100040)

            Q was just people who used the twitter api to get trump tweets a bit before they were available on the site due to caching delays.

            Very useful for stock market, and it was publically available so not insider info.

            That has nothing to do with the blue tie trump clone, or secret twin, faking, or really, dying and then red tie Trump rising again three days later to rule over the earth in the dawn of the age of Aquarius.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @12:45PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @12:45PM (#1100031)

      Are you familiar with the candleman?

      • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday January 14 2021, @03:29PM (2 children)

        by Gaaark (41) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 14 2021, @03:29PM (#1100081) Journal

        candleman candleman candleman oh SHIT!

        --
        --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
        • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday January 15 2021, @12:49AM (1 child)

          by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Friday January 15 2021, @12:49AM (#1100283) Journal

          He might be talking about the old Candlejack meme. You know, from Freakazoid? The idea is that when you say Candlejack's name he'll appear right behind you and take you away som

          --
          I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @06:39PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @06:39PM (#1100156)

      On a related note, the GOP darling murderer is in trouble when he thought he was getting off the hook after getting bailed out.

      https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/kyle-rittenhouse-allegedly-flashed-white-power-sign-serenaded-with-proud-boys-song-at-mt-pleasant-bar [tmj4.com]

      Bad move Kyle, doubt that is going to help your case which will be looking at your intentions. Sucker punching a girl also doesn't do his character analysis any favors!

      What was it that asshole R said? Oh ya, whomp whomp!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @06:52PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @06:52PM (#1100162)

        Trump's covid-19 vaccine has killed 23 people in Norway already:
        https://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/i/dlvXGz/har-undersoekt-13-doedsfall-vanlige-bivirkninger-kan-ha-bidratt-til-doedsfall-hos-de-svakeste [www.vg.no]

        Check the subs queue, hacked emails revealed the quality control was much higher for the clinical trial batches than what they are injecting now.

        • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday January 15 2021, @12:39AM

          by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Friday January 15 2021, @12:39AM (#1100279) Journal

          Sample size of one here, I know, but I had the first dose of the Pfizer shot just before New Year's and felt fine aside from some arm soreness and slight fatigue. And I'm the kind of person who spends a week feeling like crap after a simple flu shot.

          --
          I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
        • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday January 15 2021, @01:23PM

          by FatPhil (863) <reversethis-{if.fdsa} {ta} {tnelyos-cp}> on Friday January 15 2021, @01:23PM (#1100533) Homepage
          Trump literally had nothing to do with that vaccine. Pfizer's took no funding from the US government for its development. All that happened was that Trump expressed an interest in buying some, which is an incredibly low bar to cross, and true of dozens of countries.
          --
          Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
  • (Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @05:56AM (25 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @05:56AM (#1099927)

    The main reason there was a minimal security presence at DC was specifically because requests for heightened security were repeatedly rejected [washingtonpost.com] by the house leaders. Those leaders are Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell. Ostensibly the reason they gave is that they didn't like the optics of having Biden's vote certified while a military presence protected it. A more cynical perspective is that they wanted to enable protesters relatively simple access to the chambers as a pretext for the coming authoritarian purge, political circus including another impeachment, and passing laws that will likely go down in history as the Patriot Act 2.0

    Oh another fun thing. Trump did tell the protesters to go home. Twitter deleted his post posted January 6th at 4:17pm ET. It was a brief video. Here [factba.se] is what it said:

    I know your pain. I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side, but you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don’t want anybody hurt. It’s a very tough period of time. There’s never been a time like this where such a thing happened, where they could take it away from all of us, from me, from you, from our country. This was a fraudulent election, but we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home. We love you. You’re very special. You’ve seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel. But go home and go home at peace.

    Seemingly unaware his Tweets were being deleted, about an hour and a half later he against reemphasized:

    These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!

    Twitter deleted every post he made telling the protesters to stop and/or go home. It's almost like "they" (by which I am not referring to Twitter alone) did want the protesters to stop or go home. Go figure.

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by c0lo on Thursday January 14 2021, @06:23AM (22 children)

      by c0lo (156) on Thursday January 14 2021, @06:23AM (#1099941) Journal

      Ostensibly the reason they gave is that they didn't like the optics of having Biden's vote certified while a military presence protected it. A more cynical perspective is that they wanted to enable protesters relatively simple access to the chambers as a pretext for the coming authoritarian purge, political circus including another impeachment, and passing laws that will likely go down in history as the Patriot Act 2.0

      Oh... so you are saying that it was clear and very likely that the protesters will get into the chambers and disrupt part of a constitutional process?
      If it was so evident to you, how come the "stable genius" did nothing before it happened? Actually, he explicitely send them there [aljazeera.com] telling them "if you don’t fight like Hell, you’re not going to have a country any more."

      Oh another fun thing. Trump did tell the protesters to go home.

      Ah, after the mob did the damage.
      Isn't this like pushing grandma down the stairs then helping her dust her garments while thinking "Damned witch, she didn't break her neck"?

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
      • (Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @07:00AM (17 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @07:00AM (#1099952)

        He did act earlier as well. I didn't mention his other Tweets since they were not deleted, but I just realized people can't see them anymore since Twitter banned him. At 2:38pm, exactly 5 minutes after reports that some rioters had entered into Statuary Hall, Trump tweeted:

        "Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!"

        There's a pretty good timeline available here [usatoday.com]. As for "fighting". It's rhetorical. This [youtube.com] is what an actual call to violence from a politician looks like. Skip to around 1:05 for the juicy bits. You don't need to somehow divine some magical intention. Politicians do not use innuendo in calls to action.

        By contrast, Trump used "fight" rhetorically throughout his speech. Let's ctrl+f the term. I'll even do it for you. Apologies for the length of the final quote, it was the conclusion of his speech (and the one the media have focused on) and so I wanted to provide complete context for it.

        ---

        Rudy, you did a great job. He’s got guts. You know what? He’s got guts, unlike a lot of people in the Republican party. He’s got guts, he fights. He fights, and I’ll tell you.

        There’s so many weak Republicans. We have great ones, Jim Jordan, and some of these guys. They’re out there fighting the House. Guys are fighting, but it’s incredible.

        Did you see the other day where Joe Biden said, ‘I want to get rid of the America-first policy.’ What’s that all about, get rid of …? How do you say, ‘I want to get rid of America first?’ Even if you’re going to do it, don’t talk about it. Unbelievable, what we have to go through, what we have to go through and you have to get your people to fight. If they don’t fight, we have to primary the hell out of the ones that don’t fight. You primary them. We’re going to let you know who they are. I can already tell you, frankly.

        Republicans are constantly fighting like a boxer with his hands tied behind his back. It’s like a boxer, and we want to be so nice. We want to be so respectful of everybody, including bad people. We’re going to have to fight much harder and Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us. If he doesn’t, that will be a sad day for our country because you’re sworn to uphold our constitution.

        And we were going to sit home and watch a big victory. And everybody had us down for a victory. It was going to be great. And now we’re out here fighting. I said to somebody, I was going to take a few days and relax after our big electoral victory.

        The American people do not believe the corrupt fake news anymore. They have ruined their reputation. But it used to be that they’d argue with me, I’d fight. So I’d fight, they’d fight. I’d fight, they’d fight. Boop-boop. You’d believe me, you’d believe them. Somebody comes out. They had their point of view, I had my point of view. But you’d have an argument. Now what they do is they go silent. It’s called suppression. And that’s what happens in a communist country. That’s what they do. They suppress. You don’t fight with them any more, unless it’s a bad. They have a little bad story about me, they’ll make it 10 times worse and it’s a major headline. But Hunter Biden, they don’t talk about him. What happened to Hunter? Where’s Hunter? Where is Hunter? They don’t talk about him.

        With your help over the last four years, we built the greatest political movement in the history of our country and nobody even challenges that. I say that over and over, and I never get challenged by the fake news, and they challenge almost everything we say. But our fight against the big donors, big media, big tech and others is just getting started.

        Our brightest days are before us, our greatest achievements still wait. I think one of our great achievements will be election security because nobody, until I came along, had any idea how corrupt our elections were. And again, most people would stand there at 9:00 in the evening and say, ‘I want to thank you very much,’ and they go off to some other life, but I said, ‘Something’s wrong here. Something’s really wrong. Can’t have happened.’ And we fight. We fight like Hell and if you don’t fight like Hell, you’re not going to have a country any more.

        Our exciting adventures and boldest endeavours have not yet begun. My fellow Americans for our movement, for our children and for our beloved country and I say this, despite all that’s happened, the best is yet to come.

        So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, I love Pennsylvania Avenue, and we’re going to the Capitol and we’re going to try and give … The Democrats are hopeless. They’re never voting for anything, not even one vote. But we’re going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones, because the strong ones don’t need any of our help, we’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.

        So let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I want to thank you all. God bless you and God bless America. Thank you all for being here, this is incredible. Thank you very much. Thank you.

        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday January 14 2021, @07:56AM (15 children)

          by c0lo (156) on Thursday January 14 2021, @07:56AM (#1099966) Journal

          As for "fighting". It's rhetorical.

          Yes, he was addressing to a bunch of people with a honed and keen taste for the exquisite metaphors the yuuugest poet on the stage was reciting for them in the context of a festival of poetry, literature and interpretative arts.
          And, in the heat of the moment, their abilities to perceive the subtle nuances of rhetorics were at their peak, after being fed for two months with the "stop the steal" fiction and kraken mythology, they were really ready to stage the "storm is coming" masterpiece.
          I'm ready to believe that what happened at the Capitol was just that, a happening [wikipedia.org]. Tell me more, those 5 people were consumed by the artistic fire burning in the other actors, right?

          What's next? You gonna try to convince that "inject bleach" was a piece of sarcasm of the same stable genius author?

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @09:36AM (14 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @09:36AM (#1099988)

            Why do you think I'd have the arrogance to believe I could change your view, when I know personally it's probably near impossible for you to change mine even though I'd like to imagine I'm much more open minded than you?

            The one thing I believe is that everybody ought be able to defend a view they disagree with in a fashion that people who hold said disagreeable view would agree is a reasonable representation of their position. I could do that easily enough for your view, but due to media propaganda I strongly doubt you could do that for my view without straw manning - even if completely unintentionally. My one and only goal is to give you that knowledge and ability. And, should it happen that circumstances play out as I expect they will in the future, perhaps *then* you might choose to give more credence to these sort of views and the issues we're discussing today.

            Indeed if things do *not* play out as I expect then I will certainly be the one giving more credence to what you're saying then. Though certainly not today.

            • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday January 14 2021, @10:02AM (13 children)

              by c0lo (156) on Thursday January 14 2021, @10:02AM (#1099993) Journal

              The one thing I believe is that everybody ought be able to defend a view they disagree with in a fashion that people who hold said disagreeable view would agree is a reasonable representation of their position.

              Take into consideration the notion of "responsibility for one's action" too, even when the actions is just speech. If you do it, maybe we could find a common ground, maybe not, but without it is certain that we aren't.

              --
              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
              • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @03:48PM (12 children)

                by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @03:48PM (#1100092)

                But of course. The one issue I expect we'll differ on is that I believe we should interpret people's words in the most charitable way possible, and not the most cynical way possible. There are two reasons for this. The first is simply that the charitable way is generally the correct one. The second one is because English is imprecise and full of metaphor, innuendo, and figurative speech. Sometimes this sort of nuanced word artistry is intended, but many other times it is not - and interpretation can lead you to see things that are not there.

                • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday January 14 2021, @05:37PM (8 children)

                  by DeathMonkey (1380) on Thursday January 14 2021, @05:37PM (#1100135) Journal

                  Lucky for us the legal system uses the preponderance of evidence instead of your feels when determining guilt.

                  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @06:55PM (7 children)

                    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @06:55PM (#1100165)

                    Not necessarily.

                    Preponderance of evidence is in matters such as civil disputes, contract issues and so on.

                    Criminal cases work by reasonable doubt, and based on the ambiguity in the speech and the documented suggestions to go home, there's reasonable doubt all over this case.

                    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @08:19PM

                      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @08:19PM (#1100200)

                      Feelz over realz amirite? TRUMP 2020 (for prison)

                    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday January 15 2021, @12:10AM (5 children)

                      by c0lo (156) on Friday January 15 2021, @12:10AM (#1100268) Journal

                      Apply reasonable doubt then, over what Trump rhetorically said and what part of the audience understood: ‘Death Is the Only Remedy’: Capitol Rioter Charged for Beating D.C. Cop With American Flagpole [thedailybeast.com]

                      --
                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
                      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 15 2021, @04:19AM (4 children)

                        by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 15 2021, @04:19AM (#1100384)

                        You don't even believe this. Take the entire audience that was there. It was easily in the tens of thousands, very possibly in the hundreds of thousands. Now take the number of individuals in that group that actively committed violent acts. Divide the latter by the former to get the percent of the audience that "understood" his message to be referring to actual violence. It's near zero. And that's assuming people would *only* commit violence because they believe Trump would condone it. And of course we must also now ignore Trump immediately calling for peaceful protest the moment that protesters were let into the House was announced.

                        You know this stuff is fake and that it's propaganda. You're consciously blinding yourself to it because you *want* it to be true. Your logic is not even consistent. Would you now attribute the numerous murders, countless assaults, and unimaginable property destruction of the BLM riots to the various politicians that spurred it on encouraged them and spurred them on? And far from calling for protesters to remain peaceful, the political establishment remained absolutely silent on it for months while pretending the violence and destruction of those riots simply did not exist or by marginalizing it in often comically absurd ways [leadstories.com] : "Fiery but mostly peaceful protests" reads the chyron as a reporter looks like he's reporting from Iraq circa 2003.

                        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday January 15 2021, @07:28AM

                          by c0lo (156) on Friday January 15 2021, @07:28AM (#1100442) Journal

                          You don't even believe this.

                          What I believe is that Trump is a narcissistic vindictive person who had nothing to lose and the entire circus since Nov 3 was his way of payback, with the added opportunity to fill some of his coffers [bloomberg.com] and potentially chasing for other things.

                          And, to satisfy his urges, in his disregard of anything else - the welfare of the American during a raging pandemic included - he used the stochastic terrorism tactics [wikipedia.org]. Whether or not he understood what he was doing, whether or not he could predict what could happen, he does bear a responsibility in what has happened.

                          Blaming them and absolving Trump is in no way less disrespectful than Hillary's "basket of deplorable".

                          --
                          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
                        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday January 15 2021, @07:49AM (2 children)

                          by c0lo (156) on Friday January 15 2021, @07:49AM (#1100450) Journal

                          Take the entire audience that was there. It was easily in the tens of thousands, very possibly in the hundreds of thousands. Now take the number of individuals in that group that actively committed violent acts. Divide the latter by the former to get the percent of the audience that "understood" his message to be referring to actual violence.

                          Any normal person could infer that in such a large audience there will be a number of persons that will reside to violence**.

                          Not explicitly telling them to refrain from violence before sending them there - especially when before sending them there Trump played the rhetoric to enhance their feeling of loss and asked for action in words with strong violence connotations - this only and it is still enough to hold Trump responsible.

                          ---

                          ** you yourself admitted as such when ascribing to the "cynical perspective" of "they wanted to enable protesters relatively simple access to the chambers".
                          No matter what Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell wanted or not, fact is Trump pumped them up then sent them there.

                          --
                          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
                          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 17 2021, @04:55AM (1 child)

                            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 17 2021, @04:55AM (#1101392)

                            Any normal person could infer that in such a large audience there will be a number of persons that will reside to violence**.

                            Yes, and for not paying attention to that, Trump does bear some blame. But that does not mean he purposefully and intentionally meant to incite those small numbers of folks.

                            Not explicitly telling them to refrain from violence before sending them there - especially when before sending them there Trump played the rhetoric to enhance their feeling of loss and asked for action in words with strong violence connotations - this only and it is still enough to hold Trump responsible.

                            Yes, his words, while not explicitly calling for what happened, can be way too easily twisted into appearing that he was secretly calling for violence. He bears responsibility for his choice of words. But he also did not,, in those same words, ever explicitly tell them directly to go commit what they committed. So while he bears some responsibility for poor word choice, and not realizing that there were likely to be a small number of nutcases that will take anything too far, the nutcases are directly to blame for the break-in and subsequent activity.

                            • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday January 17 2021, @10:40PM

                              by c0lo (156) on Sunday January 17 2021, @10:40PM (#1101713) Journal

                              He bears responsibility for his choice of words. But he also did not,, in those same words, ever explicitly tell them directly to go commit what they committed. So while he bears some responsibility for poor word choice, and not realizing that there were likely to be a small number of nutcases that will take anything too far...

                              People go to jail for manslaughter [wikipedia.org]

                              --
                              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
                • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday January 15 2021, @01:24AM (2 children)

                  by c0lo (156) on Friday January 15 2021, @01:24AM (#1100295) Journal

                  Yet another "master of rhetoric" Rudy Giuliani Says 'Trial By Combat' Was Reference To 'Documentary' 'Game Of Thrones' [huffingtonpost.com.au]

                  --
                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
                  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 17 2021, @04:59AM (1 child)

                    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 17 2021, @04:59AM (#1101393)

                    And yet, that very phrase: "trial by combat" is used throughout the five Game of Thrones books. So it is also, very explicitly, a Thrones reference.

                    Now, if one has never read the books, and only watched the HBO show, the phrase was not uttered nearly as often in the actor dialog that makes up the show. So only watching the show, one would not see the connection so closely.

                    But in the books, that exact quote occurs easily on a few hundred pages out of the thousand plus pages that make up all five books.

                    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday January 17 2021, @10:36PM

                      by c0lo (156) on Sunday January 17 2021, @10:36PM (#1101712) Journal

                      And you assume, as a precondition to participating in the insurrection, everybody must've read the books or watched the movies?
                      Many of those haven't had enough time to do it, reading and connecting all the Qanons dots.

                      I didn't read or watched anything "Game of Thrones", I found better ways to waste my time.

                      --
                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
        • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @04:40PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @04:40PM (#1100114)

          Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!

          Sounds like he was referring to the traitors who let the mob in and were part of the mob.

      • (Score: 1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @07:42AM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @07:42AM (#1099963)

        Basically there is an immense amount of pressure put on politicians behind the scenes from the "establishment". Many politicians have been in congress pretty much their whole lives. For instance Biden has been in politics for about 50 years. And the establishment is also very much intertwined with corporate interests which is one reason "public service" is a bit of a misnomer since it's really a great path to becoming a multi-millionaire. These interests includes commercial corporations like Google, Apple, Disney (who owns ABC), Comcast (who owns NBC), the military industrial complex like Boeing, Lockheed, Raytheon, as well as banking interests like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, etc. And finally there are also our intelligence agencies who effectively work as a tool for the establishment.

        Collectively this group (the "establishment") has an amount of influence and control that simply cannot be overstated. Trump made it extremely clear that the goal of the protests was to give their politicians the courage and support needed to do whatever they feel is the just and constitutionally correct thing to do. Right now those establishment interests are currently working to completely destroy any politician who did not support Biden, and every single congressman in DC knew this would happen. Going against the establishment in US politics is *extremely* dangerous and takes immense bravery.

        And this applies not just to the right. Why do you think Sanders goes far left only to jump right back under the umbrella of the establishment, like a trained dog? I don't think it's because of some nonsense like "controlled opposition." It's simply because he knows that if he persists acting in a way that might genuinely imperil the establishment, then they will relentlessly destroy him. And so he probably rationalizes that he can help make 'baby step' changes from the inside. Of course he won't be able to, but at least he's able to lead a comfortable life while still occasionally espousing his views convincing himself that this is better than nothing. Or similarly why do you think democrats lined up to sign away their rights to even vote on the Transpacific Partnership trade agreement when Obama was trying to shove it through in such an undemocratic way?

        Trump obviously knew there would be some violence at the protests, much how democratic leaders obviously also know there will be some violence at BLM related protests. But I think he himself was also caught off guard by the protesters effectively being let into the House. And let in they were. The doors of the House are going to be deeply reinforced. Simply shut and lock the doors and nobody's getting in. But once the protesters were in, the entire image, shape, and character of the protests changed. And I think that was entirely intentional. Just keep this mind as our new mono-government introduces Patriot Act 2.0, under whatever name they will give it.

        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday January 14 2021, @08:36AM (1 child)

          by c0lo (156) on Thursday January 14 2021, @08:36AM (#1099978) Journal

          Basically there is an immense amount of pressure put on politicians behind the scenes from the "establishment".

          listen, I don't know your age, but let me remind you that "politics is the art of the possible". And determining what is possible will always require negotiation in a democracy.
          If the "patriots" will ever manage to create their own party (which I doubt, given they are too heterogeneous and have no idea what they want), they'll play the same style and become "of the establishment" themselves. Because any other set of rules for the play ends being much worse.

          Many politicians have been in congress pretty much their whole lives. For instance Biden has been in politics for about 50 years.

          And you'd want freshers to negotiate your interest with the others, right? With no experience in politics. Somebody who declares "It's my way or I'll throw a tantrum" is exactly the one you'd need?
          What are the chances you're gonna end with something even if only marginally better for all involved?

          And the establishment is also very much intertwined with corporate interests

          Well, the correct solution should involve at least getting rid of the financial consideration in politics, right?

          How come Trump sided more in his 4 years with the corporate world than with the middle class, then?
          His tax breaks for the middle class were scheduled to expire in 2025, the corporate tax break never - even if his whole tax breaks were to add tens of trillions on the US govt deficit, his plans were that only the middle class will cover it.
          He was not at all concerned about "Citizen United" and about letting the corporate money speak in politics.

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
          • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @05:10PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @05:10PM (#1100124)

            have no idea what they want

            I grew up in that culture, and I think they have a good idea what they want.

            - Overturn Roe v. Wade
            - Repeal 13A (abolished slavery), 14A (citizenship), 15A (black suffrage), 16A (income tax--they believe this one was never actually ratified in addition to their sovereign citizen woo), 19A (women's suffrage), 22A (term limits), probably 24A (abolished poll tax), and 26A (lowered voting age to 18)
            - Exterminate Jewish, (most) Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, Mormon, and LGBT people (not sure whether they want to exterminate Hispanics these days, and Asians never really came up)
            - Exterminate Democrats, Greens, anarchists, and socialists
            - Enslave Africans (they believe the bible commands this based on the cool bro story about Noah getting drunk off his ass)
            - Rebuild economy for total war [wikipedia.org]

            All of that is supposedly preparation for the second coming of Man Jeebus who will personally lead the total war economy on a jihad to continue the genocides internationally. Supposedly after the jihad, then the world will be ready for New Jerusalem to descend from heaven and rule the world with an iron fist for a millennium. iirc, the white throne judgement ("white throne" takes on a whole new meaning in Christian Identity!!) happens after the millennium.

            They really are that evil and that crazy. The more I look back on it, the more I realize I am lucky I got out alive. Probably the only reason was that Da didn't want to get arrested for my murder. The idiot actually believed I'm a literal shape-shifting demon who murdered his real son. Did I mention these people are nutso?

      • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday January 14 2021, @05:35PM

        by DeathMonkey (1380) on Thursday January 14 2021, @05:35PM (#1100134) Journal

        What, you think the National Guard is under the control of the Executive Branch?!?! FAKE NEWS!!!

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @01:54PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @01:54PM (#1100057)

      Nancy "I just don't even know why there aren't uprisings all over the country" Pelosi is a complete [speaker.gov] idiot. [speaker.gov]

      She pays lip-service to "progressive" causes but uses "dehumanizing language" such as "a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a daughter" [twitter.com] when she's clearly a meatbag with a front hole [thehill.com] and as corrupt as they come. [nationalfile.com]

      • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday January 15 2021, @12:29AM

        by fustakrakich (6150) on Friday January 15 2021, @12:29AM (#1100274) Journal

        Pelosi is in her 17th term. Who are the "idiots"? You think corruption matters to their supporters?

        --
        La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @08:19AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @08:19AM (#1099973)

    Murricans don't like being told what's what by filthy european socialist scum!!!

  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday January 14 2021, @08:27AM (16 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 14 2021, @08:27AM (#1099975) Homepage Journal

    If this were a coup, then some totally inept assholes organized it. I, a lowly supply puke, would have organized such a coup using no less than 4 companies of armed men. One company comes into the building, on the n, s, e, and w sides of the building. One company responsible for securing the first and second floors, one company goes down to the basement levels, one company goes up from the floor we mostly see from all the video shot that day. All troops in full battle armor and gas masks, fully kitted to assault the place. M-16s, shotguns, grenade launchers, and a helluva lot of gas. A helluva lot of gas. Everyone in the building would be on the floor puking and snotting the place up. Oh - that fourth company would be responsible for securing the perimeter - you know, outside the building. There would be no capitol police barging in to interrupt the party.

    No "intelligence" people from any branch of the government planned any "coup" using a couple hundred undisciplined civilians, with a very sparse sprinkling of law enforcement officers. Fucking Bradley Manning couldn't even be stupid enough to have arranged this "coup" using such personnel.

    Compare my scenario, to what we all saw on the videos. Think about it. No, you didn't see a "coup". Had there been a real coup, with even one competent officer, and half a dozen competent NCOs running things, the news would be vastly different today.

    Idiots. To imagine that the military and intel communities are so inept as the fools shown in the news. These are the same idiots who refer to the common AR-15 semi-auto rifle as an "assault rifle".

    --
    Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by c0lo on Thursday January 14 2021, @08:41AM (3 children)

      by c0lo (156) on Thursday January 14 2021, @08:41AM (#1099979) Journal

      If this were a coup, then some totally inept assholes organized it.

      For this one, I can agree with you.

      No, you didn't see a "coup".

      An inept one, but still... "quacks like a coup, moves like a coup..."

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @09:50AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @09:50AM (#1099990)

      Go change your shorts, Runaway, they got cum all over them.

      • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday January 15 2021, @01:31PM

        by FatPhil (863) <reversethis-{if.fdsa} {ta} {tnelyos-cp}> on Friday January 15 2021, @01:31PM (#1100535) Homepage
        I was wondering when someone was going to tell him to put his boner away - that usually seems to be my job, it seems almost everyone else is desensitised to him unzipping and whipping it out?
        --
        Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday January 14 2021, @11:59AM (2 children)

      by c0lo (156) on Thursday January 14 2021, @11:59AM (#1100011) Journal

      There, Runaway, let's see if you read lefty MSM: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/13/politics/capitol-riot-investigation/index.html [cnn.com]

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @03:28PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @03:28PM (#1100080)

        I doubt he can. To him it's like a foreign language.

      • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday January 14 2021, @03:30PM

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 14 2021, @03:30PM (#1100082) Homepage Journal

        The article says nothing more than they are trying to build a case. I hope you didn't think there is any information in that article!

        --
        Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
    • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @04:06PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @04:06PM (#1100099)

      You are, of course, correct. But it is useless telling these folks things like facts. Their High Holy Priests, the media, hath told onto them that it was a coup, so for them it is a coup, and that is that. They will stay forever faithful to their holy of holies, Biden, Child-sniffer in Chief, may the hair of innocents be forever within his nostrils, amen. Until such time as the other holy of holies, Kamala "Penis Breath" Harris doth take over the throne, and then shall rule upon her knees, forever and ever, amen.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @07:23PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @07:23PM (#1100177)

        Their High Holy Priests, the media

        Yup, this is their world [gocomics.com].

        They only know what their High Holy Priests tell them they know, and they only care about what their High Holy Priests tell them to care about today.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @08:26PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @08:26PM (#1100204)

          Gaslght
          Obstruct
          Project

          What did you guys say? God Emperor Trump? lulz you qultists are strange man.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 16 2021, @04:15AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 16 2021, @04:15AM (#1101035)
            See, you've just proven the point. You only picked those words because your high holy priests, the media [gocomics.com], told you they were the important words you should care about.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @05:05PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @05:05PM (#1100123)

      It's more likely the equivalent of Germany's Reichstag fire.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 15 2021, @03:44AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 15 2021, @03:44AM (#1100374)

      Don't forget to take selfies of the 82nd dragging your body out of there.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 15 2021, @04:42AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 15 2021, @04:42AM (#1100396)

      Try again LARPer. You've obviously never made entry anywhere other than a drill. Entering and clearing a building properly with at least one thousand rooms and two thousand people inside would take hours even with a full battalion and perimeter support.

  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @03:26PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 14 2021, @03:26PM (#1100079)

    The most recent video posting from the whitehouse features a marked change in tone.

    It looks like our corporate overlords have managed to school the man in the true exercise of power.

    Moreover, Pelosi and company have dealt Mitch the ultimate trump card, which is why he is gleeful.

    Expect no further mischief.

    • (Score: 2) by nostyle on Friday January 15 2021, @02:21AM (2 children)

      by nostyle (11497) on Friday January 15 2021, @02:21AM (#1100320) Journal

      ...except from the ones who didn't get the memo.

      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday January 15 2021, @03:20AM (1 child)

        by c0lo (156) on Friday January 15 2021, @03:20AM (#1100361) Journal

        There are 20,000 natguards awaiting for them. Really, you can see the pictures [news.com.au]

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 16 2021, @12:27AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 16 2021, @12:27AM (#1100930)

          Sadly they seem to be targetting state capitols and other targets now. I'm sure they had some plans for inauguration day, like celebrating their new Fuhrer which is now off the table ;)

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 16 2021, @12:23AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 16 2021, @12:23AM (#1100926)

      No, that was just fear as he realizes his only supporters are crazy nutjobs who were willing to murder his VP and the realization that he will have to face consequences for inciting his own little insurrection. He has to play the good little choir boy or prepare to let the priests of vengeance in.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 16 2021, @04:18AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 16 2021, @04:18AM (#1101036)

        And the leftist liberals just won't let up.

        He holds a rally, and afterward, some nutjobs break into the capitol, and the leftist liberals accuse him of inciting a riot and/or coup.

        He posts a video doing just what the leftist liberals have been asking him to do for the last week, and the idiot leftist liberals twist it all up so that even doing the right thing, the very thing they've been wanting, is also now wrong.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 16 2021, @08:41AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 16 2021, @08:41AM (#1101102)

          Most likely he had in mind to hold a rally and demonstration to steal the spotlight and headlines from Biden and the electoral count to prove how brightly his brand could shine, but miscalculated very badly in trying to spur his minions onward in their march.

          As a consequence, the spotlight and headlines were about hooligans committing sedition at his urging and brave members of congress returning to count electoral votes in spite of the attack on them that he did in fact launch.

          His brand is now forever tarnished, and every honest business will distance itself from it as far and as fast as it can. His change of tone was a desperate attempt to regain control of the narrative, in hopes of avoiding (yet again) the consequences of his actions. He has now lost all hope of an honorable exit from the white house, and will be remembered throughout history as the first president to launch a violent attack on the congress.

          But defend him if you want to. Lots of people thought Nixon wasn't so bad, but he never played much role in world affairs after leaving the white house.

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