By Wrongly Calling The Capitol Rabble 'Terrorists' Joe Biden Will Likely Create Some
The hyperventilating over Wednesday's MAGA cosplay in the Capitol Building continues:
In a blistering speech one day after pro-trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an unprecedented security breach, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden said the perpetrators should be considered 'domestic terrorists'."Don't dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob. Insurrectionists. Domestic terrorists. It's that basic. It's that simple."
That the incoming president declares a number of activist from the opposing party to be 'terrorists' demonstrates how unqualified he is for that job.
Is this a terrorist?
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Those rabbles were in no way terrorists. They were not even a mob. Most of them were out-of-town rednecks who felt that they had been wronged. They wanted to express that. They were surprised when they found how easy it was to enter the Capitol and they apparently took more time to take pictures than to rearrange the furniture.
This was not a coup attempt either. These folks had no weapons, no training and, most importantly, they had no plan of what to do except to maybe enter to then leave:
And yet, and yet…. This was no Vietnam-level rioting. This wasn’t even a serious occupation, which one would think was the point, to keep Congress from executing the final ratification of the Biden win. Could you image the spectacle of democracy chastened if the Trump mob had held the Capitol and forced Congress to scramble find a hotel ballroom in which to finish their official business?Nope, Congress was back in business by 8:00 PM, roughly seven hours after the barbarians stormed the walls, albeit with pretty much everyone badly rattled and some Trump supporters rapidly backpedaling from their former positions.
Despite the gravity of the event, if you look not very hard at what happened, both sides in their different ways were shambolic.
Another such view:
[L]et’s be clear about what did not take place at the Capitol Building last night. This was not a fascist coup, as so many shrill, supposedly liberal commentators are claiming. Their flagrant use of the word ‘fascist’ to describe every political movement they disapprove of is an insult to reason and history. This wasn’t a coup full stop. The National Guard suppressed the morons, the barricades were put back up, and even their hero Donald Trump told them to go home. A coup is a conscious effort to illegally seize power from the government. These people couldn’t even believe they made it into the Capitol Building. They were like children finding a candy store unguarded.
A children's game. Indeed.
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There was also a curious lack of resistance from the relevant authority:
[Rep. Anna] Eshoo also blasted the Capitol Hill police, calling their lackluster response a “failure across the board” and describing the barricades outside the Capitol complex “like doggy doors … it was like, ‘Welcome, I’m taking you on a tour.’ ”Lawmakers, she said, had gotten a detailed memo about street barricades and procedures, but when she arrived and looked across the Capitol Hill plaza, “I thought, where is everyone?”
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These were not terrorists but tourists who came from all over the states to Washington for fun and to register their disagreement with the 'elites'. The Capitol Hill policeman correctly recognized that the protesters were not enemies of the state but rather normal Americans:
Maggie Haberman @maggieNYT - 4:16 UTC · Jan 8, 2021
Cops gave rioters directions to Schumer’s office but aimed a gun at a photographer and didn’t believe she was a journalist. Astonishing this is the level of security in the halls of a co-equal branch of government in the post-9/11 era.
Yet Biden and others are furious about the stunt because it lifted the veil off their vaunted U.S. 'democracy' and its empty rituals:
Nicholas J. Fuentes @NickJFuentes - 21:01 UTC · Jan 7, 2021
The US Capitol is hardly a “sacred temple of democracy,” it’s the sleaziest brothel in the world, totally bought and controlled by powerful interest groups and foreign governments. Who are they kidding?
Congressional processes are dirty fights about the distribution of the loot. There is nothing sacred about it. Just consider the massive bribes that were taken during the Georgia Senate races. Those hundreds of millions of 'donations' will have to be paid back in kind.
The real danger to the people does not come from those 'deplorables' who walked into the Capitol but from the 'elite' who will use the incident for their purposes:
The threat inflation, the wild claims about a fascist coup, are transparent efforts by the cosseted political and cultural elites to endow their project with moral importance; to give their restoration of managerial, technocratic power after the four-year populist experiment – which is fundamentally the project that Biden and his influential supporters are currently engaged in – the gloss of historical urgency. It is mission creation.Worse, this narrative-building will allow the elites to circumscribe even more forms of political thought and speech than they already desire to do, on the basis that the latent fascism among the American rabble is likely to be stirred up by inflammatory ideas and commentary. Indeed, we’ve already been given a chilling glimpse of this post-incursion clampdown on ‘violent’ speech in Twitter’s extraordinary decision to ban, outright, three of Trump’s tweets last night and to lock him out of his account for 12 hours.
It strikes me that this unilateral use of corporate power by Silicon Valley to prevent the democratically elected president of the United States from engaging with millions of his voters and supporters, to physically forbid him from partaking in online discussion, is a grave assault on democracy, too. More grave, I would say, than the immoral and anti-democratic incursion of the Capitol Building. Already, right away, we are seeing that the threat-inflating response to last night’s events will likely have longer-lasting negative consequences for open debate and democratic norms than the thing itself.
It is even worse than that. The Democrats reaction to the slapstick action is likely to create more strife.
That Biden now falsely declares that the people who enter the capitol are terrorists, who thereby need to be handled as such, will deepen the rift within the U.S. society. It guarantees that some of the 'deplorables' who Biden designates as terrorists will become real ones. The U.S. military has ample experience with doing that in Iraq and elsewhere. During the early years of the occupation it designated legitimate resistance to the occupation as terrorism and thereby sowed the seeds for real terrorism.
An even worse strategy is to blame the whole incident on the 'terrorist leader' Donald Trump. During the rally that preceded the Capitol incident Trump did not tell the people to enter the building:
“I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,” Trump told the crowd on Wednesday.
After the people had unexpectedly entered the Capitol building Trump asked them to leave:
He 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."
Some 74 million people voted for Trump. What will they do if the Democrats now unfairly try to impeach him over an incident he did not cause?
Do not expect them to ignore it or to change their opinions. This analogy is apt.
Max Abrahms @MaxAbrahms - 14:21 UTC · 5 Jan 2021
Careful what you wish for.
My research shows leaders often restrain lower level members.
So taking out the leader tends to make the group more — not less — radical in its tactical choices.
I have loads of empirical & theoretical work on this finding if you’d like to discuss.
Even the Islamic State foresees that this will lead to more strife within the U.S.:
[T]he bitter feeling of defeat that the supporters of the 'Taghut' Trump have expressed during their recent protests- which followed the protests of their adversaries from the supporters of the 'Democratic Party' during the past year- will push them to exert more effort and offer more support for their Taghut during the next four years or whoso stands with him alongside the seat of the presidency, in order to achieve revenge for themselves and achieve victory over their adversaries again. This means that the conflict between the two parties and their supporters inside America will be very intense, and the focus of the policies of the two parties during this time will be greater on the internal issues to guarantee gaining more electoral votes.
By using the 'terrorist' moniker Biden, and the media, are taking this thing into the wrong direction. It creates more extremism and will likely have bloody consequences.
Posted by b on January 8, 2021 at 19:00 UTC | Permalink
next page »They are terrorists to him because Biden is terrified. I would be in his shoes.
Posted by: Norwegian | Jan 8 2021 19:05 utc | 2
What about the cop that had his head bashed with a fire extinguisher?
Posted by: Michael Weddington | Jan 8 2021 19:13 utc | 3
The US is revealing its true self here - a sinkhole of right wing, reactionary and ultra capitalist trash culture.
The best way I can see to both sort the internal problems, and the much more important (for the rest of the world) external problem, is to break up the US into (at least) five different countries. This would allow more democratic input by the people of the US as the capital(s) would be more accessible to local input, and the military-industrial complex would be split between competing countries.
It could be expected that there would be no united viewpoint towards the rest of the world by a segmented US - e.g. California might be more welcoming towards China, an overseas neighbour, while any central republics would be un-interested in external affairs. The Eastern seaboard might be more interested in European affairs, the South in Mexico and Central America.
Meanwhile, the armed forces would be spit into less threatening units. With any luck, the central States might start to threaten the Eastern and Western seaboards with their residual nuclear armaments(!) :-)
Posted by: Jams O'Donnell | Jan 8 2021 19:22 utc | 4
That Lego image makes the whole thing a total farce, great catch. The world is laughing.
Compare Actual Capitol Image with Capitol Invasion
Some terrorists!
Posted by: Norwegian | Jan 8 2021 19:23 utc | 5
What a disaster. Biden has Two years to make people forget about the con man by changing the subject and actually doing something about the real problems the country faces. Since his Party is behind many if not most of them he does not have much of a chance unless there is a massive wakeup
Posted by: c | Jan 8 2021 19:25 utc | 6
That Lego is superb. I want one.
Note that Pelosi and others are pushing for "impeachment" to stop, legally, Trump from standing for President in four years time. That is what they fear, a return of the Orange with 75 million voters for starters.
Pelosi is obviously planning her own return as well. Immortality for the queen Bee?
Posted by: Stonebird | Jan 8 2021 19:36 utc | 7
Capitol Hill police are channeling Fight Club
“Remember this. The people you're trying to step on, we're everyone you depend on. We're the people who do your laundry and cook your food and serve your dinner. We make your bed. We guard you while you're asleep. We drive the ambulances. We direct your call. We are cooks and taxi drivers and we know everything about you. We process your insurance claims and credit card charges. We control every part of your life.
We are the middle children of history, raised by television to believe that someday we'll be millionaires and movie stars and rock stars, but we won't. And we're just learning this fact. So don't fuck with us.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
Posted by: TJ | Jan 8 2021 19:38 utc | 8
Senator Lindsey Graham Confronted And Chased Out Of DC Airport By Trump Supporters
Posted by: Norwegian | Jan 8 2021 19:43 utc | 9
There will not be another election since the deplorables know that the system and the elections will be stolen. As we proceed into 2021 and the economy slows, the ungovernables will do their best to counter the deep state at every turn. 70 plus million people will be thinking of ways to turn the ivory castle to ashes. If only 3%, more than 2 million carry out acts as acts of opportunity, then the elites will be in agony.
Posted by: Nev | Jan 8 2021 19:46 utc | 10
"it’s the sleaziest brothel in the world"
Whoa, I like this.
To the post, I'd add that a woman-protester was martyred (so to say). Shot dead. That's an important moment, in context you're presenting here...
Posted by: Mao Cheng Ji | Jan 8 2021 19:47 utc | 11
Why is anyone surprised ?
The first thing they did after the election was start the Trump Accountability Project seeking to blacklist staff who worked for the Trump administration.
They tried to derail his administration before he even took office.
Now they’re going after the people who voted for him.
Got to make examples out of them.
Now they will be going after his supporters.
Make an example of them!
Posted by: Down South | Jan 8 2021 19:50 utc | 12
By allowing the protesters into the Capital Building, the chance to challenge the certification of the various states' electors was lost. This was Trump's and his supporters' last chance. They have been played like a piano. Quite brilliant, in its way. Game over.
Posted by: Hal Duell | Jan 8 2021 19:53 utc | 14
They let them in because they were chanting "USA, USA" and waiving American flags. Everything every American has been taught to do since the first grade.
Posted by: Renodino | Jan 8 2021 19:53 utc | 15
This will be one for history to try to decide: Conspiracy or Fuck-up?
The shambolic fuck-up view is already very well articulated in b's article, and parses well.
The conspiracy view would acknowledge that Trump walked right into a trap that he himself set. No one knew it would be so easy to stroll into the Capitol building, and therein lies the judo throw to the mat - and if that was planned, then credit is due to the planners. If it was contrived in any way then it happened through whomever/whatever was dictating Capitol security.
Posted by: Grieved | Jan 8 2021 19:55 utc | 16
Maybe this is the new type of terrorist: One who is too dumb to even realize that he is one.
In these hours the U.S. maybe took a step to a new form of government: The Idiocracy ...
Posted by: hazard9 | Jan 8 2021 20:05 utc | 17
For four years the Democrats tried to defile the Constitution
and disenfranchise those Voters that gave Donald Trump their vote in 2016.
An attempted coup - make that coups, plural.
The Voters noticed. They witnessed the treachery, the endless Russiagate lies, the attempt to nullify their votes.
All the while they were also told 24/7 that the President was a racist
and by extension so were they the Voters.
The ***reaction*** that occurred was not blamed on the Deep State, nor it's echo chamber the MSM,
nor the treacherous Democrats. No, it was blamed on Donald Trump so that
they could attempt to coup him one more time.
Today Voters witness the Democrats attempt *another* coup.
What reaction from the Voters do they seek this time?
Posted by: librul | Jan 8 2021 20:05 utc | 18
First of all, I agree this was not a coup, it was a bunch of literal LARPers messing around. However I think trying to absolve Trump from this is silly, do you really think that if he hadn't spent 2 months whining about how the election was stolen from him and his supporters needed to "stop the steal" this would have still happened? That being said, I think impeaching him (again) is silly, it's just a symbolic act that distracts from more pressing issues.
Posted by: Shaun | Jan 8 2021 20:06 utc | 19
Gee Mike #3, what about that cop who got his head bashed?
How about the cops who got KIA'd over the summer during the mostly peaceful protests?
Where is the outrage?
From a few steps back, this whole thing serves many purposes but the one thing for sure is that it will in crease the Red vs. Blue BiPolar divide in the US of A!
Posted by: Chevrus | Jan 8 2021 20:08 utc | 20
"These were not terrorists but tourists who came from all over the states to Washington for fun and to register their disagreement with the 'elites'. The Capitol Hill policeman correctly recognized that the protesters were not enemies of the state but rather normal Americans"
What a ludicrous claim! At least 25 police injured, one killed; I heard the howling of death threats. Those thousands of evolutionary throwbacks with the collective IQ of a flatworm are Trump's Sturmabteilung, made up of nazis, white supremacists and other assorted fascists, and are meant to serve the same purpose. Trump has on several public occasions egged this mob on to violence.
I'm utterly gobsmacked to see you joining their ranks, and attempting to whitewash that bloodthirsty rabble. If there's ever another Nuremberg court, you may find yourself in the dock -- after all, as you well know, Germans were jailed and hanged in 1946 just for propagandizing in support of Nazi crimes.
Please, come to your senses and return to the human race.
Posted by: AntiSpin | Jan 8 2021 20:15 utc | 21
Grieved @16--
In our discussion of this last night, the wife and I agreed that the primary actor in this is the "Security Services" since they stand to benefit ASAP as with 911. I posted the following to Escobar's FB earlier this morning:
"Biden called the protesters 'Terrorists;' but, how could Biden make such a huge mistake when he was up to his neck in the facilitation of genuine terrorists in Libya then Syria? I'll bet there's lots of dirt connecting Biden to the development of Daesh and support for Al-Ciada and kin. No one has really looked thanks to the various Hunter Biden sideshows."
The economic situation I described in my reply to Gruff @350 in the Leaving in Style thread is ripe to generate many more protests. And the protests will retard attempts to crush COVID and thus worsen the Depression further. It would be wise to review how social unrest progressed during the First Great Depression to get an idea of what will come.
Posted by: AntiSpin | Jan 8 2021 20:15 utc | 21
Link to 25 police injured please. Because I like to save this sort of thing.
Posted by: Tom | Jan 8 2021 20:23 utc | 23
It was fun to watch "upper cast" (politicians) trembling in fear hiding behind their seats while mob was trying to break doors. They thought they were above it all and that they are under protection from their masters, yet they found out they are just as expendable.
This is the shock they are feeling now.
Posted by: Abe | Jan 8 2021 20:27 utc | 24
Next up will be people (terrorists) who very publicly point this out this "Anti-Narrative" - like you have just done.
Censorship is on the way, because facts have become the enemy and now there is justification. YOU ARE INCITING VIOLENCE BY EXPOSING THE FACTS!!!!!!!!!!!
And if censorship does not work, then you WILL become a member of the Julian Assange Club!
Watch your back out there, because this will get worse before it becomes better.
Posted by: James Cook | Jan 8 2021 20:28 utc | 25
The invasion wasn't as peaceful as the author of this blog paints (five dead, three explosives located), but yes, it wasn't a coup.
But this wasn't good for the Trumpists. They killed a cop. Killing a cop is the second gravest sin one can commit in America, behind only treason to the USA itself.
@Antispin
" If there's ever another Nuremberg court you may find yourself in the dock"
Are you f# cking serious? If the rabid, foaming at the mouth justice idiots like yourself keep on your neo-liberal Nazi crusades, then you've got one hellava confrontational ride coming up in the next couple of years.
Posted by: Time2wakeupnow | Jan 8 2021 20:33 utc | 27
"These were not terrorists but tourists who came from all over the states to Washington for fun..."
...
Official US Policy is Terrorism.
Economic sanctions are Terrorism.
Military "interventions" and outright bombing invasions are in fact Official US policies OF Terrorism.
US media condones and supports US War Crimes of Terrorism.
“The greatest purveyor of violence in the world : My own Government, I can not be Silent.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.
The US govt left/right and its propagandized complicit citizens are the "greatest" terrorist on the f'n planet.
Posted by: CitizenX | Jan 8 2021 20:34 utc | 28
It seems from the comments the the barflies are all convinced that the election was NOT stolen from Trump. I wonder why? The unanimity of the MSM that it WAS stolen and the unanimous refusal of the various courts to even consider hearing Trump's case, seems very fishy to me. Maybe he lost, but I would not care to bet on it.
Posted by: foolisholdman | Jan 8 2021 20:39 utc | 29
Posted by: AntiSpin | Jan 8 2021 20:15 utc | 21
I noticed that Democrats increasingly sound Nazi like too, calling their opponents "Low IQ", "Dumb", "Rabble", with "lower education", etc.
It sounds increasingly pro-elite and anti-working class.
Note that the left of the 20th century never sounded like that, and embraced "the poor", the "lowly educated", the "rabble", the "low classes", etc. vs the "highly educated" and the "elite", that had the highest education possible.
It again reminds me that actual Left does not exist in the US, rather a heavily propagandised and brainwashed by the local elite pseudo left that is mostly controlled by the elite.
Posted by: Passer by | Jan 8 2021 20:40 utc | 30
I was watching live footage from Status Coup while the protesters were fighting the cops at the gates, literally had a front row seat of what was going on, and all I could think of was how undermanned and ill prepared the cops were with a bunch of bike cops and very few cops with full riot gear. The mayor had been begging for days if not weeks for more equipment and men but he never got it. It really seems like this was a planned event for some reason, maybe to try and impeach the orange wonder so he can't come back in 4 years and ruin Biden's day. Not that it matters much because neither of them are really in charge of anything important and they're both scumbags anyway, but it would be nice to see the dem elites humiliated in 2024.
Posted by: Atreides | Jan 8 2021 20:43 utc | 31
Reply Tom | Jan 8 2021 20:23 utc | 23
USA Today has the injured police count at 14, I think it was PBS that announced 25 injured, OPB says “more than a dozen”
Then there's this --
“In addition to invading the House and Senate chambers, driving members of Congress into hiding, the extremists attacked police ‘with metal pipes, discharged chemical irritants, and took up other weapons against our officers,’ U.S. Capitol Police said Thursday.
. . .
“More than 50 USCP and MPD sustained injuries during the attack on the Capitol. Several USCP officers have been hospitalized with serious injuries.” (emphasis added)
https://www.uscp.gov/media-center/press-releases/statement-steven-sund-chief-police
Posted by: AntiSpin | Jan 8 2021 20:44 utc | 32
This certainly wasn’t a coup. However, the murder of a police officer means it wasn’t a peaceful protest either. Exaggerations on one side or the other do no good. It was a crowd of protesters who, in part because of the lack of security, got out of control.
Posted by: TimmyB | Jan 8 2021 20:46 utc | 33
Is there video evidence of the protesters attacking and bashing the police officer with the fire extinguisher? This is quite important to know. The police officer (Brian Sicknick) was able to walk back to his station after the attack and it was there where he collapsed. He was known to be a Trump supporter himself. Until there is visual evidence or witnesses to the attack are able to speak freely, we cannot say who or what was responsible for his collapse and death. It may be that something else unrelated to the attack happened later on that caused his death.
Posted by: Jen | Jan 8 2021 20:51 utc | 34
Some of these "everyday, average" people hung a noose on a gallows outside the Capitol building. Some of them went into the building with zip ties. Clearly, some of them intended something other than just a tour through the lobby.
Also, I do believe this post is ignoring 4 years of Trump's insisting that anyone who doesn't support Trump is not just a Democrat (which is apparently awful and damning enough on its own), but a communist, socialist, hard-left liberal who wants to ruin the country for the real patriots/Americans. He completely ignored the fact that over a third of the country are independents (not affiliated with either party), and that not even all - maybe not even most - Democrats regard themselves as "liberal" Democrats. It got to the point where it was Trump voters versus everybody else; and his followers saw the country in exactly that light. Hell, he made a point of making sure that the "Democrat states" did not get Covid PPE, would not get any emergency funding, and directly said they weren't getting it because they were headed by Democratic governors. He repeated incessantly that the "Democrat states" were "bad" places and that Democrats were "bad, dangerous" people.
In other words, Trump was the one who divided the country more deliberately and openly than any other politician I've ever seen. And he's been at it the entire time he's been in office. Now his supporters HATE people who don't like him. Really, I've never seen anything like this. It's not just some argument about policies - they want to do physical harm to the "libtards" and they think anyone who doesn't worship Trump falls into that category.
Posted by: teri | Jan 8 2021 20:53 utc | 35
You're going too far, b, with your support of Trump. Sure poor whites are complaining about being overtaken, but White Supremacy is not a justifiable cause. What about the rights of the blacks and Latinos?
The demonstrators were let into the Capitol, whether by order or not (probably by order). This is connivance with the destruction of the state.
https://twitter.com/christina_bobb/status/1347596278583197698
Posted by: Laguerre | Jan 8 2021 20:56 utc | 36
By the way, no more money from me, while your support for the far right continues.
Posted by: Laguerre | Jan 8 2021 20:59 utc | 37
MAIDAN COMES HOME TO MOMMY
Nothing in this year's elections surprises me. I predicted all this over four years ago in August 2016. The only thing that surprised me was that Trump was sworn in on January 20, 2017. For a short time I believed that the United States was a democracy where elections could change policy. It is not!
(I originally wrote this as comment to Andrew Korybko's Facebook post on August 15, 2016.)
Why Trump can't winEven if Trump gets a majority of the votes the chances of him actually becoming President are slim. Here are some of the tactics and tricks the Hillary camp could use to block his election. I cannot say what is the probability of these options, but they have all been tested in previous US sponsored color revolutions.
- Massive propaganda campaign will pressure the electorate to vote against their favorite candidate.
- If Trump still gets over 50% of the vote, the vote count will be falsified. (Something similar seems to have happened in the Austrian presidential election.)
- If the election results actually show a victory for Trump, the results will be annulled. DNC will claim that "Putin" hacked the voting machines. The Supreme Court will declare Hillary the winner.
- If all else fails, Hillary will call for a Maidan-style occupation of Washington DC. The revolutionaries will take over the Capitol and the White House -- with the support of pro-Hillary officials.
I continued in the original post on August 16, 2016.
Trump cannot be allowed to win precisely because — as you say on the video — he represents the non-system opposition. He does not even have the support of his own party. This is not a simple question of counting votes. For him to actually become president, he has to win by a large margin.Andrew, you are an expert on hybrid war. Why would Hillary not unleash the full array of hybrid war weapons on Trump? In fact they are doing it already. Trump has been labeled the "Manchurian Candidate". Ukraine fell to Maidan because no one in Ukraine was willing to defend the institution of the presidency or the Ukrainian constitution. Why would the US be any different.
You write: "4 wouldn't fully succeed because of the counter-Color Revolution technology that the Trump supporters could organize in their own demonstrations and movements" You are wrong. These are not "Trump supporters" but "Putin Trolls". Why would any mainstream media give any voice to these people?
For an anti-Trump Maidan or coup to fail, Trump would personally have to lead the opposition. In doing so he would be putting his life, liberty and fortune at risk. He can be pressured or "advised" to give up the fight. In fact it would be easiest to just assassinate him.
Many things can happen before we are at scenario 4. The simplest option is to escalate a crisis or war with Russia, Hillary's anti-Trump strategy is already framing the election as between her and Putin. In a crisis scenario Trump would simply be dismissed as a Russian enemy agent.
***
Why am I writing all this delusional stuff about a coup in the US or even of potential civil war?
Democracy requires a free press. That no longer exist in the West. Instead the Powers that Be have created an enormously powerful hybrid war machine that they have turned on Libya, Syria, Russia (and on European democracy). They are able to manipulate reality like never before. They are a huge danger to any state or any democracy.
I am just trying to imagine what would happen if these tools were turned on the USA.
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Jan 8 2021 21:06 utc | 38
@ Passer by | Jan 8 2021 20:40 utc | 30
Well said.
Imo, it's because they are not left or even pseudo left. Their party currently serves global, the most predatory kind of capital, and they constantly invoke 'racial' grievances. That's typical far-right shit.
Posted by: Mao Cheng Ji | Jan 8 2021 21:09 utc | 39
That the incoming president declares a number of activist from the opposing party to be 'terrorists' demonstrates how unqualified he is for that job.
You shouldn't be surprised at the rhetoric of the Democrats. It is their corporate identity to call black white and white black. BLM savages, smashing shops, looting and burning cars are "peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators." A white (already guilty!), unarmed woman, Trump supporter (doubly guilty!) shot at point-blank is a "terrorist".
The same thing happened in Ukraine (which is the zone of responsibility of the Democrats) after the coup - residents of Donbass who refused to accept the coup were declared "terrorists". Despite the fact that it is the Kiev regime that is terrorist - it arranges a blockade of Crimea and Donbass, blows up power transmission towers, tries to enter Crimea to commit terrorist acts, makes successful and not very successful attempts to kidnap people in Donbass and even in Russia, etc. Not even talking about the murders of political and military leaders of the LDPR, secret fascist prisons for torturing people...
But with all this, it is the inhabitants of Donbass who are "terrorists".
You know, absolute hypocrisy as a way of being.
Sorry, B:
It was a coup attempt.
And had Pelosi or Schumer been caught by the mob, the terrorist label would have been valid.
These were not simply out of towners angry at DC. And irony, they fit DJT's definition of "terrorist".
Trump is guilty of sedition, and should be prosecuted, whether he is kicked out of office in the next 2 weeks or not.
Posted by: Jay | Jan 8 2021 21:11 utc | 41
well said. random thoughts:
- the point about "taking out leaders" is true. just look at juarez or post-medellín colombia (not to mention iraq). when the alpha dog gets put down the betas all fight for his place.
- funny how supposedly "left" twitter twats fail to see this as "chickens coming home to roost" and instead whine about coups and "insurrections".
- not so funny how the same people (rightfully at the time) disgusted by rittenhouse are basically spewing the same stupidity he and his supporters have been spewing for months. the difference being of course that he was a dumbass militia LARPer and a twitchy spaz whereas these are ostensibly grown-ass adults. it's almost verbatim: "derp the guys with guns were totes scared of the unarmed dorks behind a barricaded door with heavily armed police on the steps directly behind them" to "she was on their propertah! looting means shootin'!" to "f_cking white bitch had it coming because breonna taylor" and so on and so on. never mind the media flatly stating "she was into Q so screw the dumb bitch she deserved it".
it's also quite an elephant in the room when you watch the video and the asshole who shot her in the neck appears to be a black (or at least dark skinned) cop. maybe it was just shadows or whatever but wouldn't that make their response all the more illuminating.
this is just further evidence of advice i was given as a child:
"remember that for every person who wants equality there are ten who want superiority".
- funny seeing the brothel comment because my alternate headlines for this were:
"Brothel Stormed: Pimps Watch Safely From Fairfax VA and Manhattan" and
"Bosses Storm Office: Several Killed by Their Employees"
- despite naive denials by otherwise sharp observers it's hard not to look at this and imagine the cops thinking "let's see if you commies want to defund us now".
Posted by: the pair | Jan 8 2021 21:12 utc | 42
The Viking Guy has an online profile - on the Backstage talent promotion website
Posted by: Heironymous Dosh | Jan 8 2021 21:12 utc | 43
@Chevrus | Jan 8 2021 20:08 utc | 20
Gee Mike #3, what about that cop who got his head bashed?
How about the cops who got KIA'd over the summer during the mostly peaceful protests?
Where is the outrage?
No one gives a shit about cops. It was their job to secure the public space. If they can't do their jobs then tough shit. Either stand aside and not get hurt, or do their jobs right so everyone is safe.
I think the main point here is not that some cops got their heads bashed in.
As b's arguing, and I tend to agree, the ratcheting of pressure is happening, for real. It will polarize the parties in the conflict even more.
If that is the plan then I reckon 'they' are playing with fire and throwing caution to the wind. It might buy them some time, but it locks the whole thing in.
History, the one I know, shows that this will backfire sooner or later. Action and reaction...just a matter of time.
Posted by: Idiocrates | Jan 8 2021 21:13 utc | 44
I'm going to repost my pertinent comments that I wrote on the Open thread here, since it took a while to get to this point.
Until then I leave you with this.:
Don't trivialize or make a mockery of the LAW!
You finally slithered out from under the rock brandishing all your true colors. Oh yes, they are red, white and blue alright!
But, they are OUT OF ORDER, and are not Stars and Stripes,
🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺 Are they???
Posted by: Circe | Jan 8 2021 21:15 utc | 45
@ 36 - I don't think b is at all supporting Trump. He is just pointing out some of the absurdities of this whole situation. And I am a latino citizen of the USA.
This whole spectacle has made me very sad. Guy Debord hopefully is laughing.
I always expected this moment. Chickens come home, taste of our own medicine, etc.
I fear what the future holds for the entire planet with the Bidet administration. At least the orange one created enough discord that we didn't start any new wars. And to me, he seemed sincere in ending some of the ones we have been engaged in for decades.
I think the color of our revolution will be rainbow.
Posted by: lex talionis | Jan 8 2021 21:17 utc | 46
teri @35
"Some of these "everyday, average" people hung a noose on a gallows outside the Capitol building."
This imagery was used by radical right Israelis who opposed Yitzhak Rabin shortly before his assassination in 1995.
https://www.richardsilverstein.com/2021/01/06/democracy-the-noose-and-the-coffin/
One guy wearing an animal skin cloak is actually the son of a New York State Superior Court judge and powerful Democratic Party leader.
The stench of shenanigans is overwhelming.
Posted by: Heironymous Dosh | Jan 8 2021 21:19 utc | 47
@Jen | Jan 8 2021 20:51 utc | 34
Pretty sure they'll determine his cause of death to be due to covid.
Posted by: pokums | Jan 8 2021 21:20 utc | 48
".. the left of the 20th century never sounded like that, and embraced "the poor", the "lowly educated", the "rabble", the "low classes", etc. vs the "highly educated" and the "elite", that had the highest education possible..."
Passer by@30
I agree, B's analysis is spot on in this instance. Congress has been more or less taunting the people for years, daring them to show the displeasure that the oligarchy has ensured cannot be communicated through the ballot box.
Was the election fraudulent? Of course it was- the Green Party cannot even get onto the ballot in many states. The whole system is corrupt and 'the fix' is in in every election. This has been the case for a long time but never more than during the cycles beginning in the Bush 'win' in 2000, since when there has been a rapid and general deterioration in the enforcement of civil rights acts relating to voter suppression and the regulation of election spending. During the same period the Democrats have taken several measures to prevent primary voters from selecting candidates and elected Convention delegates from controlling conventions, policy and party elections.
So when Trump said that the election was corrupt-echoing the claims Clinton made in 2016- it is not surprising that millions took him seriously, because except for the detail that he actually did not win, what he said confirmed what everyone knew.
The surprising aspect of the election is the complete solidarity of the oligarchy, its media and bien pensant opinion that the 2020 Presidential Election was absolutely fair, a model of democracy.
Hell, if what took place in the US had happened in Bolivia the same oligarchs, media etc would have been urging the people of La Paz to storm the Assembly. And they'd have paid the army to back them up and kill.
We saw that just over a year ago. The airwaves still vibrate with calls to eject the new Assembly in Caracas too, after an election besides which the Biden Trump affair looks very shameful.
As to Laguerre: you have been supporting the far right, in the shape of Macron and the appalling violence against the gilets jaunes and the neo-liberal antidemocratic EU for years. That you support Biden and the Washington Post uis no surprise.
Posted by: bevin | Jan 8 2021 21:22 utc | 49
The Spiked-Online article makes very valid points. However, I share teri's view that Trump is primarily responsible for creating the atmosphere of division in the country right now. That is not to say that the corporate owned Democrats and traditional or neocon Republicans haven't been doing it for years behind the scenes and through the use of corporate MSM and NATO state backed "journalist" trickery (see: Russiagate, just about anything Bellingcat has to say), but Trump did so on steroids.
Once again his supporters are trying to have it both ways and refuse to own up to their own viewpoints or take responsibility for what has happened. Yesterday my American social media feed was full of the EXPECTED "antifa" allegations and talk of false flags, crisis actors, etc. and it' shocking and surprising to me how every day more and more people are added to the ranks of the "anything that doesn't favor me or Trump is an elite conspiracy committed by EVIL Democrats and "liberal" media." There is no in between anymore when the majority of a group of 74 million voters actually believes in Qanon, Pizzagate, and that literally everything the media has said about Trump to be untrue (unless of course it favors him, which HAS happened). The social media giants are of course largely responsible for this as they amplified it until it reached a level that they and the Democrats became uncomfortable with and the censorship, de-platforming started. Also, there ARE actual conspiracies. There ARE child sex trafficking rings. There ARE power elites scheming to help themselves and their 0.01% accomplices/cohorts in the effort to vacuum up whatever little is left of the 'national treasure' of the USA like they've been doing to other countries for decades.
BUT, which is it? Trump supporters cannot seem to be consistent. For example, we know for a fact that right wingers and anarchists were largely responsible for the BEGINNING of violence in cities like Minneapolis, Oakland and somewhere in Texas. So I'm watching the video yesterday of a Trump supporting protestor breaking glass windows at the Capitol and some woman starts screaming something like "ANTEEEEFA STOP!" over and over. They can't even take ownership of the actions of their own fellow Trump supporting "patriots." It's like Trump himself. Has the man EVER admitted to making a mistake or demonstrated an ounce of self-awareness? No. His attitude has now been embraced by most of his 74 million voters who are now completely convinced that the election was "stolen" (despite all the pre-election theivery of Republicans by means such as purging valid voters, gerrymandering, other ways of preventing Blacks and Hispanics from voting, etc.) and that literally EVERY case of election mishandling or "thievery" was committed in favor of Biden. NEVER once, even in Trump supporting areas were any votes "stolen" on his own behalf. It boggles the mind.
Not having lived in the USA, b has moved beyond sarcasm and is using language that encourages these kinds of false beliefs. Like I'm so sure, EVERY SINGLE COURT, including those with Trump and Republican appointees, found against EVERY SINGLE allegation of widespread or local vote fraud because they are beholden to the Evil Democrats and Joe Biden or the "liberal" elites that pull their puppet strings. That's not how the world works.
Increasingly on both sides, under Trump, it has become an all or nothing, with us or against us, painting the other side as Evil and therefore justifiably arrested, killed or injured. For the wokeleft the other side are Fascists and racists who are fighting for white supremacy. For the Trump, conspiratorial post-reality right it's the same thing, Democrat are cancel culture fascists and the real racists who worship Satan and traffic children around the world for sex and rituals. In both cases that makes the other side "evil" and Trump has done more to stoke the fires in the tinder that was already in place than any politician I can think of, ever, in my lifetime.
Disclaimer: I was a Bernie Sanders Democrat Socialist until I realized he was merely a sheepdog for Killary Clinton in 2016. Same thing happened in 2020. You want to talk about REAL election theft, look at the Democrat primaries. Every single year. I don't live in the USA anymore, but I could have and chose not to cast a ballot for either Trump or Biden from overseas. I should have voted Howie Hawkins, but I was too down in the dumps about the pandemic and we were pretty locked down here (about to be again). So I'm not defending Democrats, Biden or Kopmala. I just look at my own personal social media feeds and see how crazy and out of touch with reality most Trump supporters have become and it worries me when MOA seems to be encouraging it. At this point it might be a good idea for b to devote a post to breaking down the allegations of election fraud across the USA and aggregating all of them in one place to be examined and debated. I have no interest in doing that at ZeroHedge or Newsmax.
Posted by: _K_C_ | Jan 8 2021 21:23 utc | 50
Posted by: bevin | Jan 8 2021 21:22 utc | 49
Agree with your post in its entirety. I meant to say a couple of things you did in a much shorter, mor concise post.
Posted by: _K_C_ | Jan 8 2021 21:28 utc | 51
Reading around the blogs, some authors believe there was no vote rigging and others believe there was something in Trumps claims. Last election Clinton was put up as the face of the Us deep state - five eyes anglosphere and they believed that the controlled media would carry her to victory.
This election, they took no chances, ensuring Trump could not use social media, and although he may well have lost simply due to his policies - covid, china, ect ect, it is also inconceivable to think the powers that be did not tinker with votes. If I could eat the stuff, I would have a big supply of popcorn. This is like watching the headchoppers of Idlib blowing each other away.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jan 8 2021 21:29 utc | 52
"It will polarize the parties in the conflict even more."
And what's important is that with Rs now jumping Trump's ship, the working class must feel that they don't have any political representation at all. Thus, it could turn into the early-to-mid-nineties model with organized armed militias and all that.
Posted by: Mao Cheng Ji | Jan 8 2021 21:30 utc | 53
Wrong B
You do not know the USA , they are terrorists and white racists and the white police were collaborating with them and helping them and directing them into the halls of the Capitol building.
They are racists incited by Trump who is criminally responsible for their acts as well as mr Juliani and senator Cruz .
Red neck stupids and the government will get them sooner or later , Biden and his justice Dept will teach these bastards lessons they will never forget .
Some of them are already lost their jobs because they participate in this criminal act.
If black group or Muslims did this , they will be shot on site .
So go figure .
Again you lost your sense on this issue
Posted by: Bobb | Jan 8 2021 21:35 utc | 55
Biden is famous for mixing his words up. He meant to say that the protesters were "domestic tourists". I'm sure he meant to thank them for doing their part to revitalize America's service economy.
Posted by: William Gruff | Jan 8 2021 21:35 utc | 56
Viking Guy certainly got around during the protests - prominent on the takeover of the scaffold tower and leader in confronting the police.
https://rusvesna.su/sites/default/files/styles/node_pic/public/besporyadki_kapitoliy_ssha.jpg
As undisputed leader of Binomo, I hereby recognise Viking Guy as the legitimate President of the US.
Posted by: Heironymous Dosh | Jan 8 2021 21:37 utc | 57
vk @26
"They killed a cop".
Police statement:
"Siknic was brought in to respond to the protest situation on Wednesday, January 6, at the US Capitol and was injured after making physical contact with the protesters."
A very interesting description of what(ever) happened.
Posted by: Heironymous Dosh | Jan 8 2021 21:40 utc | 58
Could be an interesting spectacle if true: https://www.rt.com/usa/511982-trump-insurrection-impeachement-draft-leaked/
Looks like a 2nd attampt to impeach Trump. I reckon chances are it will succeed. Everyone wants to increase the pressure it seems.
Posted by: Idiocrates | Jan 8 2021 21:41 utc | 59
@Heironymous Dosh | Jan 8 2021 21:40 utc | 58
A very interesting description of what(ever) happened.
Yes, indeed. The cop bashed their baseball bats with his head..
Posted by: Idiocrates | Jan 8 2021 21:43 utc | 60
thanks b....
laguerre... you really have lost the theme... i agree with @ 46 lex in their comments to you...
@ Passer by | Jan 8 2021 20:40 utc | 30... bang on.. thank you... ditto @49 bevins comments, who is looking at this much like myself...
@ 35 teri and @ 51 K_C_... trump is just a distraction... biden will also be a distraction in a similar way while the usa continues to lose relevance on the world stage.... so instead of getting caught up in this red verses blue dog and pony show, i think it is better to focus on the underlying dynamics that have brought the usa to this point.. putting it on trump is perfectly in line with what the elite ruling corporoatocracy wants you to do! look over here while we fuck you over there!
@ passer by... i am enjoying your commentary quite a bit as of late! thanks..
Posted by: james | Jan 8 2021 21:43 utc | 61
Are you out of your mind MoA? a police officer died from physical trauma, others were attacked w/pipes. You are making it sound like Spring Break. I saw a video of another cop being forced to retreat upstairs as he was chased, he didn't look like he was having a good time. There was broken glass, furniture, and the one woman was shot after forcing an entry while a cop had a gun trained on her, a definite sign of stress and I'm not saying it was a 'good shooting'.
Dominion releases the Kraken Files $2B Lawsuit against Powell
I read the filing and THIS looks like read trouble for Powell. Unlike her incoherent filings, Dominion methodically rips apart Powell's false claims and more importantly establishes a timeline showing malicious intent which is the key in defamation. They show how she knowingly repeated falsehoods when it would benefit her financially.
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Jan 8 2021 21:44 utc | 62
btw i highlighted this very comment from biden in the previous thread... it is totally whacked! biden needs to be taken to a care home..
"Don't dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob. Insurrectionists. Domestic terrorists. It's that basic. It's that simple."
Posted by: james | Jan 8 2021 21:45 utc | 63
more distraction... yes - grab onto the distraction... it is what most people do... lawsuits... obfuscation.. and on and on it goes..
Posted by: james | Jan 8 2021 21:46 utc | 64
"What will they do if the Democrats now unfairly try to impeach him over an incident he did not cause?" Well B, did he really not? Can you say that without blushing?
I know, this is comming a long way and Tronald is only a symptom. And I agree that this was not terrorism. It could have been a trap. The pictures taken in the Capitol are the ideal Tronald killers. 'Let them in and he is finished.'
But what was his rationale? Create martyrs?
Posted by: pnyx | Jan 8 2021 21:47 utc | 65
Posted by: Heironymous Dosh | Jan 8 2021 21:19 utc | 47
My information on the son of the judge contradicts yours. I'm not sure of the father's party affiliation, but he's an orthodox pro-Zionist Israel high ranking member of the orthodox Jewish community in New York.
That synagogue has been unwavering in its support for Trump and his pro-Zionist Israeli policies in the past.
Aaron Mostofsky, whose father is Kings County Supreme Court Judge Steven (Shlomo) Mostofsky, entered the building wearing fur pelts and a bulletproof vest and carrying a riot shield he said he found, Gothamist reported, citing the New York Post.Mostofsky was photographed several times on Wednesday next to Jake Angeli, a QAnon supporter who also wore a horned hat and furry outfit, though it is not clear that their outfits were coordinated.
He was among the many Orthodox Jews who came to the Capitol to protest, telling the Post that he wanted “to express my opinion as a free American that this election was stolen” from President Donald Trump. Mostofsky is one of dozens of “persons of interest” sought by Washington police for unlawful entry to the building.
“We were cheated,” he said. “I don’t think 75 million people voted for Trump — I think it was close to 85 million.”
Mostofsky’s brother Nachman, the executive director of Chovevei Zion, a politically conservative Orthodox advocacy organization, as well as a Brooklyn district leader and vice president of the South Brooklyn Conservative Club, also attended the rally Wednesday but did not enter the Capitol.
So here we are again. One side simply refusing to believe anything that contradicts the viewpoint they wish was true. I have seen nothing to indicate his father was a Democrat and I'm not going to go out on a limb and say he isn't. But it hardly matters in the orthodox Jewish community as they will support any politician or party that benefits themselves and preserves the Israeli occupation of Palestine, just like Trump's administration bent over backward to do for 4 years.
This posting appears to make an inverse error from those of media and pol accounts that exaggerated the event. There are multiple instances of social media and interviews that show people travelled to this event with the intent of a showdown or even a “revolution” against what they perceived as a socialist takeover and fraud concerning the presidential election.
The US ruling class has ample experience in overturning governments and overturning legitimate elections. There’s no evidence Trump lost by these means. But Trump’s insistence that he was cheated out of his landslide victory has mobilized a primarily racist and reactionary core of followers. These protesters are not people who care about democracy in, say, Venezuela!
There are a number of videos of protesters fighting cops at the Capitol. We have the fact as well that some 5 cops were hospitalized, and one has now died. One protester, attempting to break through a barricaded door inside the Capitol, appears to have been shot point-blank by police.
Given Trump’s ongoing insistence that the country was being stolen from his supporters and that he won in a landslide, in what fashion does b feel this was going to end?
The issue boils down to what extent one feels that even the shell of a rotten democracy matters when forces are gathered to stop its processes. Up until nearly the invasion of the Capitol, Trump was saying that VP Pence needed to stop the counting of what Trump maintained were fraudulent electoral college votes.
In fact, it matters a good deal. When the corrupt “democratic” Provisional Government that replaced the Russian Czar in Feb. 1917 was threatened with military ouster by a Czarist general six months later, the Bolsheviks defended the government against forces that promised a return to oppressive autocracy, if not fascist rule. A few months after that the Bolsheviks overthrew the Provisional Government with the help of soldiers and sailors who hated the fact the PG was still prosecuting the extremely bloody World War.
Today, there is no powerful Bolshevik Party on the left (certainly not in the U.S.). But the Democratic Party has blood on its hands just as the Russian social democrats in the PG did 100 years ago. The issue is also not about a military takeover. But let us look at what would occur if the forces that temporarily occupied the Capitol were to implement their program with a series of victories. These forces are not really populist, but are a plebeian group of rightists who share one thing in common, their hatred and fear of BLM and the idea of black equality in general. It has not been helpful that the Democrats, in administering capitalist austerity for years, have turned a deaf ear to issues such as jobs, leaving poorer whites and lower middle class vulnerable to poverty to turn to racist demagogues like Trump.
To overturn the election in favor of Trump would be to embolden the right and racists. There is a small group of right wing reactionary racists in the military, and it’s not impossible that they could gather more power if society were to descend into more chaos.
Hence, while portraying the takeover of the Capitol as an “insurrection” is hyperbole, underplaying it as just an accidental event with no real harm intended is also incorrect. Trump’s victory in overturning current electoral processes would represent a huge victory for the Right and increase racist attacks. Biden’s win does not bode much lite than a turn back to the status quo, which also has very little to recommend it, for workers, for minorities, and certainly not to the millions who suffer terribly under US sanctions and US-backed oppressive governments abroad.
What we lack is real leadership that can unite both black and white and other minorities with those struggling against US imperialism abroad and bring an end to the rule of the 1% who don’t care how many they kill, or what cynicism or bloody manipulations they use to maintain the rule of their Capitalist class.
Posted by: Jeffrey Kaye | Jan 8 2021 21:53 utc | 67
Sorry, no idea what happened with my handle in post #66. Must have been on my clipboard for some reason. Definitely not hawking that guy's book (leads to a 404 anyway).
Posted by: _K_C_ | Jan 8 2021 21:54 utc | 68
My man Viking Guy has done it again. He managed to trick the son in law of Nancy Pelosi into a selfie at the White House.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErH5LslW4AAOiyv?format=jpg&
Posted by: Heironymous Dosh | Jan 8 2021 21:57 utc | 69
I offer this article as something to peruse and think about. When considering the author's sources, remember that today's voices that provide truths are often marginalized in an attempt to delegitimize those truths--Think of Hudson's political-economic history and his entire corpus of research as an excellent example of the contemporary dismissal of salient Truths. Also it must be acknowledged that real conspiracies do occur, thus those trying to expose them aren't "theorists" but investigators. Also recall the maxim that all plans fall apart as soon as they meet concerted opposition when rethinking the rise of Trump and the 4 years of certain conspiratorial opposition against most everything he tried to do. And also remember that only Trump knows why he made the choices he made, and that the vast majority of speculation remains just that.
Posted by: Outlaw Historian | Jan 8 2021 21:59 utc | 70
Very interesting and perceptive take on the Jan 6 Capital Building incident, from a youtuber name Joe Leonard:
Chaotic Protest at the Capitol in Washington DC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLxX3Rn_EyQ (13 min)
Joe notes the 'photogenic' heavily tattooed Mr. 'Buffalo-Head' alleged MAGA/Q supporter person shown prominently in photos in the Capital Bldg hallways and Rotunda, seems to also have an "actor's resume" web page, and sports a prominent triangular 'Pedo-love' tattoo on his chest.
Not very MAGA Deplorable-ish of Mr. Buffalo/Viking Head, Joe wonders.
Posted by: gm | Jan 8 2021 22:02 utc | 71
Great quote:
The US Capitol is hardly a “sacred temple of democracy,” it’s the sleaziest brothel in the world, totally bought and controlled by powerful interest groups and foreign governments. Who are they kidding?
That really says it all.
Posted by: Mike from Jersey | Jan 8 2021 22:03 utc | 72
Idiocrates @60
Thank you for clarifying American idiom. Now when the police say 'X was injured after making physical contact with the protesters' it really means that 'X was beaten to death with baseball bats'. The US police are certainly coy about these things. I would have expected statements about the case being one of murder. I will never understand Americans.
Posted by: Heironymous Dosh | Jan 8 2021 22:05 utc | 73
The police were stood down to allow the crowd into the Capitol. All in order to discredit Trump and his supporters.
Posted by: lysias | Jan 8 2021 22:08 utc | 74
Great post b, lot of gems. Loved the great "Is this a terrorist?" image and the Lego / candy store point.
For those that mentioned that a cop was killed, that unfortunate fact does not mean that the majority of the protesters were a "mob" or "terrorists" as opposed to being "like children finding a candy store unguarded" - any more than the fact that an unarmed female protester (the Air Force veteran) was unnecessarily shot dead make all of the Capitol police bad. Both were very unfortunate, but to go from that to calling this "terrorism" makes no sense.
Biden urgently instructed the Western media "Don't dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob. Insurrectionists. Domestic terrorists."
If these protesters were "terrorists", what then were those in Hong Kong who went around for months armed with umbrellas, pipes, and bricks, and brutally beat and even threw oil and lit fire to people and infrastructure? Those terrorists, always presented by our hypocritical establishment-serving media as "pro-democracy protesters", were sponsored and encouraged by the US. Five Eyes countries like the US, UK, Canada, and I presume Australia, New Zealand, then offered citizenship as reward for their terrorist services, (along with White Helmets Islamic extremist proxies from Idlib, Syria.)
Also loved the Nick J. Fuentes quote: "The US Capitol is hardly a “sacred temple of democracy,” it’s the sleaziest brothel in the world, totally bought and controlled by powerful interest groups and foreign governments. Who are they kidding?"
Or in Biden's classic words, "The citadel of Liberty".
Posted by: Canadian Cents | Jan 8 2021 22:08 utc | 75
_K_C_ @66
"My information on the son of the judge contradicts yours. I'm not sure of the father's party affiliation, but he's an orthodox pro-Zionist Israel high ranking member of the orthodox Jewish community in New York"
I don't see the contradiction. You agree on the cultural aspect, and say you have no idea of the political aspects.
The information is not mine. It is reported by Richard Silverstein who seems to be well up on these things - and a fervent anti-Trumper. If you have reason to believe his information is incorrect, you could contact him with a correction. I'm sure he is a nice enough chap and would welcome the clarification.
Posted by: Heironymous Dosh | Jan 8 2021 22:11 utc | 76
@Heironymous Dosh | Jan 8 2021 22:05 utc | 73
I will never understand Americans.
That's ok :-) nobody seems to understand them. Least of all themselves.
With all those opportunities, knowledge and power...how did they get into this mess?
It's like they wanted to it to happen...
Posted by: Idiocrates | Jan 8 2021 22:13 utc | 77
"Thank you for clarifying American idiom. Now when the police say 'X was injured after making physical contact with the protesters' it really means that 'X was beaten to death with baseball bats'. "
Meh. For all we know, he could've made physical contact with the protesters, slipped, fallen, broken his neck.
Posted by: Mao Cheng Ji | Jan 8 2021 22:14 utc | 78
Oh noes, I am totally gutted. It turns out the Viking Man is a GRU agent all along, and this is all a last ditch effort by Russia to keep their man in place.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErPQbpTXEAAMxLD?format=jpg&
As the duly selected leader of Binomo, I will be having serious words with my Head of Intelligence over this embarrassing political imbroglio.
Posted by: Heironymous Dosh | Jan 8 2021 22:16 utc | 79
@Heironymous Dosh | Jan 8 2021 22:16 utc | 79
Its all good fun, still. Let's laugh it up while we still can. (No sarcasm)
Posted by: Idiocrates | Jan 8 2021 22:22 utc | 80
The arrival of CIA regime change events in the US is met with a perfect display of hypocracy by the likes of Pelosi and Pompeo.
A beautiful sight to behold (or not) - Nancy Pelosi
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErGBlygVEAIvd-7?format=png&
Lawlessness and rioting is always unacceptable (except when it isn't) - Mike Pompeo
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErGCFu7U0AE6phy?format=png&
Posted by: Heironymous Dosh | Jan 8 2021 22:25 utc | 81
@Heironymous Dosh | Jan 8 2021 21:37 utc | 57
As undisputed leader of Binomo, I hereby recognise Viking Guy as the legitimate President of the US.
The real vikings did not wear horns. That guy is no viking.
Posted by: Norwegian | Jan 8 2021 22:26 utc | 82
Idiocrates @80
Indeed. It won't be long before humour is seen as subversive and worthy of SM banning. We can always bring out Samizdat to work around it.
Posted by: Heironymous Dosh | Jan 8 2021 22:28 utc | 83
"it’s the sleaziest brothel in the world"
A more accurate simile for the Capital Bldg would be a massive rape-room.
Where perverted congress creatures figuratively gang-f**k Americans and people of numerous other countries on a daily basis.
Posted by: gm | Jan 8 2021 22:31 utc | 84
Don't quite know how my other nom de plume was posted @70. Oh Well....
So, what's the upshot? It appears radically war-like D-Party members of the Duopoly who've really made a new low by trying to blame Russia and China for supplying the pro-Trump protesters will soon be taking control of the federal government where I anticipate them to escalate tensions with both Russia and China, although Biden still might offer to extend the New START Treaty with Russia. But Trump's four years has greatly weakened the Outlaw US Empire's ability and most importantly its credibility. The rise of the Eurasian Bloc and the further deepening and strengthening of the Axis of Resistance make any actions in those regions a much tougher nut than in 2017. The Narrative's been the military's responsible for restraining Trump, but we don't know that for a fact. Then there's the problem of the Second Great Depression that only seems to be occurring within the Empire coupled with Neoliberal mismanagement of the dollar that's now causing inflation in commodities along with stocks, bonds and real estate. We'll know much more after Biden gives his Inaugural Speech. The Ds have full federal control, so they can't shirk blame.
The power of propaganda is super-duper intense. Most Democrats think Trump was handed the 2016 election by Russians, and most Republicans think the 2020 election was 'stolen' from them. The 'mob action' on the Congressional vote certification of the electoral college tally was just that - a mob. Mobs are driven by emotion, but essentially headless. The Capitol's security forces were victims of mass incompetence, faulty intelligence, or a mouse's trap. Remember the famous video of JFK's security detail being pulled off the limo?
The anti-establishment fervor in the USA is boiling over and it isn't by any means all Trump supporters. What Trump supporters are however is the low-hanging fruit of easy pickings to react with mock outrage at the attack on our institutions and a cautionary tale for others who'd follow their example of loud-mouthed civil disobedience.
The Establishment in both parties have circled the wagons around the Capitol as the symbol of American Democracy at a time most of the people want heads on pikes. Personally I think false patriotism was spent after 911 and much of what politicians do now will fall on deaf ears.
Posted by: gottlieb | Jan 8 2021 22:35 utc | 86
@Heironymous Dosh | Jan 8 2021 22:25 utc | 81
Seems the guy in that picture in Nancy's office has been arrested:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/08/capitol-mob-richard-barnett-derrick-evans-arrested
Thats what I call swift justice. (Sarcasm)
Posted by: Idiocrates | Jan 8 2021 22:35 utc | 87
Yasha Levine makes an interesting point that some of the people involved in Wednesday's US Capitol thingie included a hodge-podge of America's very own "weaponized immigrant" communities that the USA deploys for its (cough) pro-democracy regime change and destabilization campaigns around the world.
America's democracy chickens indeed have come home to roost:
"Yesterday did offer a bit of schadenfreude — a PG parody version of the real, deadly coups and assaults that America’s been exporting to countries around the world and selling as democracy. And not surprisingly many of America’s active and failed allies in those conflicts — the weaponized immigrants who live here and who receive ample support from our imperial state — were present at the rally and the storming of the gates: spooky Falun Gong and Epoch Times types, US-backed Iranian terrorist-cultists, Cuban and Venezuelan right-wingers, South Vietnamese die hards, and even Georgians…I’m guessing supporters of the color revolutionary Mikheil Saakashvili. Our democracy chickens — deformed and pumped full of hormones and antibiotics — coming home to roost!"
The spectacle of our imperial oligarchy thrashing against itself.
https://yasha.substack.com/p/the-spectacle-of-our-imperial-oligarchy-ac2
Posted by: ak74 | Jan 8 2021 22:36 utc | 88
Norwegian @82
I wasn't talking about Vikings. I was talking about 'Viking Guy'(TM) (Pat Pend)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humour
Posted by: Heironymous Dosh | Jan 8 2021 22:37 utc | 89
Well it has to be said that the Trump Presidency has been something of a disappointment for the rulers. No new Countries invaded, failed coups here and there. What they want in the White House is a smooth criminal not blundering Bull. Well this failed foolish Capitol invasion looks like more of the same from incompetent Trump. But is it? How and why did the mob get so far into the Building? When Trump decided to move on his real enemies in 2016 he did pretty well. There are some that hope the next 11 days will be the most interesting ever in American history. I personally think that a 2024 run is the more likely the goal but then I'm not Donny Trump.
Posted by: Corkie | Jan 8 2021 22:37 utc | 90
Posted by: Heironymous Dosh | Jan 8 2021 21:19 utc | 47
First of all, let's be clear, Trump is a Ziofascist who also straddles Christian White Power. There are two groups that consider themselves WHITE PRIVILEDGED and ENTITLED: Ziofascists and NeoNazis. This is not the first time in history they are frenemies. Both have a common ideology: Supremacy. Both are fighting what they consider a demographic existential threat. So, am I surprised that they find common ground? Of course not! But, there is no honor between them and when they are through with the common goal to destroy their demographic enemy, once again, one will try to eliminate the other, because there is zero trust between them and each wants absolute power.
*************
18 U.S.C. § 2384.
To oppose by force the authority of the United States government; to prevent, hinder, or delay by force the execution of any law of the United States; or
To take, seize, or possess by force any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof.
-These are the operative clauses that Trump could be charged with having abetted, encouraged and/or inspired.
Trump's cult mob forced their way into the capital to prevent, hinder, or delay by force the execution of Congressional Election protocol: a vote to make the Election results legally binding confirming the new President and Vice-President.
There is no doubt crimes have been committed; and Trump will probably issue a self-pardon, a pardon for Giuliani and let's see if he throws his ready, susceptible and responsive cult mob under the bus. They might be left holding the bag and have to take the fall as is typical with Trump if it means saving his own skin.
Stand back and stand by. Yes, Mr. Trump, words have consequences, and you knew that when you spoke them!
Ergo,
September 29,2020 - The Debate
Proud boys, stand back and stand by.
January 6, 2020 - Congress to Certify Election (Trump Demonstration and post and prior rantings and suggestion on twitter)
= Green light to move.
The cult got their leader's blessing to move, period!
Everyone knew what was taking place in Congress at the time.
And, yes, there was force, mob threat, damage, violence and blood. Don't even try to trivialize it. But what is crystal clear with Trump is a pattern of behaviour, timeline and of course,
Intent. It's all spelled out.
Game, set, match.
Posted by: Circe | Jan 8 2021 22:41 utc | 91
The events at the Capitol buildings was literally the closest the US has ever come to a working class revolution but woke pseudoleftists are completly blind to that since it didn't feature many black trans women and it wasn't sponsored by JPMorgan and Apple
Posted by: Triden | Jan 8 2021 22:43 utc | 92
Here's Mike Davis on the same subject, sorta,
"Yesterday’s ‘sacrileges’ in our temple of democracy – oh, poor defiled city on the hill, etc. – constituted an ‘insurrection’ only in the sense of dark comedy. What was essentially a big biker gang dressed as circus performers and war-surplus barbarians – including the guy with a painted face posing as horned bison in a fur coat – stormed the ultimate country club, squatted on Pence’s throne, chased Senators into the sewers, casually picked their noses and rifled files and, above all, shot endless selfies to send to the dudes back home. Otherwise they didn’t have a clue. (The aesthetic was pure Buñuel and Dali: ‘Our only rule was very simple: no idea or image that might lend itself to a rational explanation of any kind would be accepted.’)
"But something unexpectedly profound happened: a deus ex machina that lifted the curse of Trump from the careers of conservative war hawks and right-wing young lions, whose ambitions until yesterday had been fettered by the presidential cult. Today was the signal for a long-awaited prison break. The word ‘surreal’ has been thrown around a lot, but it accurately characterizes last night’s bipartisan orgy, with half of the Senate election-denialists channeling Biden’s call for a ‘return to decency’ and vomiting up vast amounts of noxious piety...."
https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/riot-on-the-hill
The New Left review's 'sidecar' is a reminder that there is a 'left' which still thinks and produces ideas worth considering. (No sectarianism, please.)
Posted by: bevin | Jan 8 2021 22:59 utc | 93
Sad. B has lost the plot here as he occasionally does, other good posts notwithstanding. A real shame.
Posted by: Olivio | Jan 8 2021 23:13 utc | 94
Take a loot at these images MoA, this is the kind of behavior that spirals out of control quite fast, the work of your average tourists:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErE6J7VXYAEVFAf?format=jpg&name=small
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErFMrGiW8AQ9t1H?format=jpg&name=small
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErFPuAXXIAcaGiB?format=jpg&name=large
Oh and look at this particular tourist, he is especially innocent, having so much fun around.
All they needed was to get a few senate/house members. Then you got a hostage situation and the rest is unadulterated violence. You make a mistake by not seeing this as what they are. It is not important that 99.9% of this mob do not mean any harm. They do not, it is clear they have genuine grievances and want them to be addressed. But what is important is that, 0.1% is outright crazy and will hijack the situation (just as Trump and his son did this week with this mob) and use that to their will without leaving any room for objection from the rest. That is how extremism works and spreads against popular will. The mobs do not have reason, they have passions. And the collective IQ of a mob is lower than that of its most modest member. And do you think they will spare fourth estate? Hell, the first thing they will do is to get rid of "lefties" like this site.
Posted by: Innocent Civilian | Jan 8 2021 23:13 utc | 95
That's a good point about the misuse of the word terrorist. But the bit about it not having been a Fascist Coup is a bit disingenuous. It was not only because it failed. It was certainly a fascist coup attempt. The fact that 70 million Americans are okay with overturning an election in behalf of their guy with zero cause is definitely going to be a problem is a no brainer. They already were. And the fact that they're a bit organized is outweighed by the fact that Afro America is also organized. And as the million moron march folk are frog marched into prison, based on their own gleeful tweets and its easy to see which side has the brains.
Posted by: Ralph Conner | Jan 8 2021 23:16 utc | 96
Your headline and perspective are totally wrong.
All are Terroists - creators of terror.
Your headline and leniency - support - of their cause, and potus45's cause is disgusting.
No more reading of your now questionable blog …
Posted by: Dfnslblty | Jan 8 2021 23:16 utc | 97
Does B not know that there were guns, pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails found along with people carrying zip ties? A cop was killed when his head was crushed with a fire extinguisher. Just some proud patriots who got a little rambunctious? No one was terrorized. Everyone knew it was being done in a spirit of patriotism. Some of those people came a long way. They were entitled to have some fun.
Posted by: David | Jan 8 2021 23:21 utc | 98
the fascist coup happened a long time ago.. unfortunately some are just waking up to it now... and obama and biden supporting the neo-nazis in ukraine hasn't been forgotten by everyone... thinking trump or biden are any different below the surface is the height of ignorance..
Posted by: james | Jan 8 2021 23:22 utc | 99
b drops his thinly disguised mask of journalistic nultrality !
Revealing an all out undercover fascist trump supporter !
Someone should contact ‘media checker’ so much for the shim award,
Just another qanon. No surprise.
B released the kracken.
WERE ALL ANTIFA NOW !!!
https://medium.com/mosquito-ridge/we-are-all-antifa-now-726b307e4255
Posted by: Mark2 | Jan 8 2021 23:29 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
Terrorists? No. Putin's trolls? Yes.
Sarcasm.
Posted by: Nathan Mulcahy | Jan 8 2021 19:05 utc | 1