Breaking 1-06-21: MAGA terrorist attack on Capitol

Let’s Go Brandon stores are a growth industry

 

Ashli Babbitt's Violent Past Doesn't Justify Her Death
After the cops killed her, the A.P. gave her the "no angel" treatment.

https://reason.com/2022/01/04/ashli-babbitts-violent-past-doesnt-justify-her-death/

 

trumps lawyer, shocking…

 

Althouse

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2022/01/working-with-information-from-online.html

January 5, 2022
"Working with information from online sleuths who style themselves as 'Sedition Hunters,' the authorities have made more than 700 arrests — with little sign of slowing down."

I'm trying to read "Prosecutors Move Quickly on Jan. 6 Cases, but Big Questions Remain/In the year since the assault on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, more than 700 people have been arrested, with little public indication from the Justice Department of how high the investigation might reach" in The New York Times.

"Sedition Hunters"?! That stopped me. What is sedition? If you Google, the top article you'll see is "‘Sedition’: A Complicated History/As a mob stormed the Capitol, the word 'sedition' was on many people’s lips. Its force is clear, but its echoes across American history are more complex and ambiguous" in the NYT, from January 7, 2021, one day after the mob scene in the Capitol.

The word "sedition" was on many people’s lips — You know the "many people" and how they talk — how they talk and how they've hunted, assiduously, for a big revolutionary movement among the Trumpsters of America. They've been saying "sedition" for a year, and what have they found?

Yes, 700+ people have been arrested for the things we saw happening before our eyes on January 6th, but that didn't take a sophisticated investigation to discover. A big outdoor protest turned into an indoor event. They broke in where they weren't allowed. That was as bad as it was, but it ended that day. What else was there? Apparently there's "little indication" of anything else, but who knows "how high the investigation might reach"?

Today's NYT article is a big slog, because it won't simply say the hunt for some higher level offense has come up empty. There's "no public indication of the degree to which" the Justice Department might have something more.

There is an admission that the government is struggling in processing the existing cases:

Overworked courts hav tried to balance the laborious exchange of discovery materials with speedy trial protections and to manage the bleak conditions at Washington’s local jails where some defendants are being held without bail. They have also faced a fundamental, underlying tension: how to mete out justice on an individual level to hundreds of defendants who together helped form a violent mob.
​

In other words, the usual criminal procedure is followed. What's the "tension"? That in the United States, criminal defendants are individuals, with individual rights? What is that in tension with? The desire for a mass trial, a kangaroo court, a lynching?

Or is it just frustration that these cases — seen at the individual level — are just so small?

{B}ricklayers, grandmothers, college students, artists, church leaders and long-haul truckers who, by and large, have admitted to little more than illegally entering the Capitol... have [mostly] avoided incarceration, sentenced to probation or stints of home confinement. Others have received only modest sentences, ranging from a few weeks to a few months. In court, those accused of minor crimes have almost always expressed remorse, saying their behavior was foolish, embarrassing or out of character. Some have broken into tears or, in one case, physically collapsed. Others have vowed never to attend a political rally again.​

Posted by Ann Althouse at 6:28 AM​

 

https://www.americanthinker.com/art...urs_in_january_was_not_seven_days_in_may.html

January 5, 2022
Seven Hours in January Was Not Seven Days in May
By Thomas Buckley

As the Congressional Select Committee winds its way to its pre-ordained conclusion that what happened at the Capitol last year was an attempt by former President Trump, every elected Republican, anyone who has ever worn a red hat (MAGA-emblazoned or not), and everyone who has ever stayed at a hotel to overthrow the government, it should be noted -- quite clearly and succinctly -- that seven hours in January was not Seven Days in May.

Despite the endless, tedious and inaccurate anniversary media coverage -- all delivered with a joyously smirking “kid in a candy store” tenor -- has been claiming, the January 6 riot had all (maybe really only some) of the hallmarks of, well, a riot and none of the indicators of an actual “insurrection,” let alone an attempted coup d’état.

A coup is an extremely tricky proposition, as Burt Lancaster’s character in the 1964 film Seven Days in May, discovered much to his chagrin. The film (and the book) notes the level of detailed planning necessary, the prior co-option of various levers of power that needs to occur, the cruciality for speed of implementation, and -- just as importantly -- the requirement of a post-coup strategy. It cannot in any way, shape, or form be said that the event of January 6 even remotely involved any of these elements, a fact proven, ironically, by the very information being released or leaked or whatever by the Select Committee itself.

In a proper insurrection or coup, one of the key elements is control of the media. If this were a legitimate attempt to overthrow the government, the planners, in theory, would have made sure that only evil Fox News was left on the air, that it had changed its logo to incorporate buffalo horns, and that all other media -- including social -- was broadcasting or retweeting or posting reruns of “Welcome Back, Kotter.” The fact that Fox News personnel were real-time texting government officials imploring them to quell the Capitol situation immediately is pretty much the exact opposite of that.

Detailed prior planning is also a condition of a coup attempt. In theory, Trump would have made absolutely sure troops were in place to help the mob -- he didn’t (there does seem to be some confusion as to exactly what happened with the National Guard but, most assuredly, if Trump had immediately sent in the Guard to end the disorder it would have been -- and would still be -- portrayed as a proof of evil intent, heads I win, tails you lose as it were).

Also, if this had been a real coup attempt, the “bombshell” January 5 text Rep. Jim Jordan sent to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows outlining potential legal arguments regarding the seating of questionable electors would not only have been months before and may also have included what to “do” with those electors afterwards.

Internal security is also crucial. In Seven Days in May, the plotters coordinate using a Preakness Stakes-related code -- if Trump (or anyone in his circle, real or imagined) sent a tweet stating that “The Blue Monkey Walks Alone at Noon” to trigger events there may be actual cause for concern. But, again, that did not happen.

In Edward Luttwak’s extremely interesting book Coup D’état: A Practical Handbook, he outlines a series of practical necessities a successful overthrow entails. A neutralized opposition, media control, military support, dedicated and discrete supporters throughout government offices, speed of implementation, a detailed and logistically feasible organizational action plan, and the immediate institutionalization of the new government are all among the key elements to prevailing. Since what occurred on January 6 not only lacked any of these elements but, by all accounts, had the exact opposite characteristics means, again, the premise that an actual government overthrow was in process is ludicrous.

To an extent, these simple facts are somewhat akin to the key event in the Sherlock homes story “The Adventure of Silver Blaze.” Holmes focuses on a “curious incident:” the dog on the premises did not bark, leading the detective to the idea that the ne’er-do-well was known to the animal. This concept is also known as a “negative fact,” which involves the absence of one thing proving the truth of another.

That is what the Select Committee has been, unwittingly, been providing the public -- in its hellbent effort to make positive assertions to convince the public about what “really” happened January 6, it has actually been supplying numerous negative facts.

Another negative fact is that those participants the feds have rounded up and charged have not been charged with anything even remotely related to a treasonous, insurrectionist coup attempt.

A third negative fact is that the riot, in fact, ended any consideration of and debate about the status of potentially questionable electors. Again, a proper coup would have let the effort move forward in the hope that it would succeed and only be triggered if there was a failure.

A final negative fact is that, despite the avalanche of anniversary coverage, little has been dedicated to the idea of what would have happened if the insurrection had been successful. If those pushing the story now actually thought that it could have “worked” they would be screaming about that horrifying potentiality from the rooftops. Since they’re not, it means even they do not really take the notion seriously.

None of this is to defend the sheer blechiness of the riot -- not only was it wrong and illegal, it was rock paper stupid from a political standpoint -- with the fact that literally everything else went wrong for the administration and the Democrats in Congress in 2021, the riot provided them with the only even theoretically plausible lifeline to retain political legitimacy. In other words, imagine what the Democrats would be talking about if they could not be talking about this? **crickets**

Trump officially lost in 2020 -- now whether that was due to a collaborationist media, vapor trails of zeroes worth of dark money, extremely dodgy election systems, the actual Big Lie that was the Biden campaign, his own personality (but probably not his policies), that there may have been 75,000 white men (the only demographic Trump saw a decline of support in, by the way) who were brainwashed into believing that to vote for him was a racist act, COVID, generalized drama exhaustion, a belief that Biden would in fact be a President, or whatever other reason can be debated, the fact is that Donald Trump is not currently President of the United States.

And that may be the most telling negative fact of all.

Thomas Buckley is the former mayor of Lake Elsinore and a former newspaper reporter.
​

 

Defending that it wasn't an insurrection because of incompetence is quite funny actually.

 

Sure the past of the people killed by cops should not be brought up. However, Babbitt was breaking into Congress during a riot while George Floyd was trying to buy cigarettes with a fake bill. They are not comparable. The headline doesn't make sense. Babbitt's death was justified because of her actions not because she had a violent past.
A better comparison would be the rapist that Rittenhouse shot. The right brings that up over and over as justification for his death while his actions that day are what led to his death. And that case shows the hypocrisy of calling Babbitt a hero and the rapist a villain.

 

Why does bolding the professions or family status of the seditious criminals make a difference?

It was a very strange piece meant to minimize the criminal actions by those who sought to prevent democracy from happening.

 

And comparing it to a fictional coup attempt at that. That article is a special level of dumb.

 

He's here for the lulz.

 

it's tough reading things from another point of view, isn't it

 

The "defending an assault of our Capital" response...

 

they didn't charge the only person who killed anyone that day...

 

Selective memory. Trumpers killed a police officer.

 

it's January 6th Eve!! how are folks celebrating? I'm gonna watch the Rockets lose (in all likelihood) again

 

I'm going to light some tiki torches under my fathead life-sized wall sticker of Trump while praying Tony and Joe choke on McNuggets

 

i think he is referring to ashli babbit. the right wings new martyr and hero. the insurrectionist traitor who violated her oath that she swore when the joined the military. she did something stupid and it got her killed. its her fault in the end, but if you really want to blame someone for her death it should be trump. she was clearly brainwashed by his dangerous lies and it cost her her life. but in the end, she was the one who decided to storm the capitol with a mob of insurrectionists whose goal was to the stop the certification of an election because they were butthurt that their god lost. she made that decision to go through a broken window and over a barricade and she got what she deserved for it. i just wish more of those traitors had gotten taken down. that would have been a good start to ensure that this never happens again, which at this point i have zero doubt that it will.