Disgusting scenes in Washington

[foxy]

There’s video around if you can stomach it. There’s a group of protesters who have managed to get into a stairway. It’s loud, angry and threatening and the cops have been overrun. She was climbing through the smashed glass in a door into a hallway and as she’s about to get through, someone the other side decides she’s not welcome.

If I was security for people behind that door, with an angry mob trying to get access, clearly not just coming in for chat, I think I’d have shot too.

Yep she was dangerous she was carrying a lethal banner, make America great again.

 

[Brew_DD2]

Yep she was dangerous she was carrying a lethal banner, make America great again.

You storm a government building as part of an armed mob, you run that risk I'm afraid. She's lucky she made it as far as there. Others have been gunned down for far less.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Joe Biden needs extreme security now from these fascists terrorists. Look at what happened to Lincoln and Kennedy.

 

[chopps]

Yep she was dangerous she was carrying a lethal banner, make America great again.

Foxy, there’s no benefit of the doubt in this circumstance or pausing for a few seconds to do a full risk analysis. Government building, mob with guns, politicians hiding under desks and then one of the invaders breaks through the barrier. Shot dead. 100% down to her. A terrible waste and I feel for her family.

 

[chopps]

a mob was attacking your house would you have shot at them?

If they smashed their way in and my family was in the house, absolutely yes.

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

Storm in a teacup, whipped up by the media and similar concerns. When the time comes, Mr Biden will be sworn in, and Mr Trump will congratulate him.

I think you'll find Trump has been whipping them into a frenzy for the last four years or so aided by Fox news, Brietbart etc. As for congratulating Biden, he'll only do do if it's absolutely required of him and then only as a sullen child apologises for something they didn't believe was his fault.

 

[MickDundee]

I think you'll find Trump has been whipping them into a frenzy for the last four years or so aided by Fox news, Brietbart etc. As for congratulating Biden, he'll only do do if it's absolutely required of him and then only as a sullen child apologises for something they didn't believe was his fault.

Even when he was making “appeals” for the violence to stop and for them to obey the curfew, he was spouting his “a landslide victory was stolen from me” rhetoric. There’s no chance he’ll do anything honourable in the next 2 weeks. Rumours this morning was that the cabinet and Pence were looking to use the 25th Amendmant to remove him from office with immediate effect.

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

You storm a government building as part of an armed mob, you run that risk I'm afraid. She's lucky she made it as far as there. Others have been gunned down for far less.

If anti-Trump protestors wouldn't have made it that far and the death toll would have been far greater.

I have to agree with Brew_DD2 about risk. I'm way the other other side of the political spectrum and if I decided to storm the White House, I'd fully expect to be at least shot and wounded, armed or not. The Houses of Parliament? I'd say maybe evens if I was unarmed.

Obviously, there are times when this kind of action is necessary, but because a lying, racist, misogynist desperate to cling to power by whatever means is not one of them

 

[Hanglow]

It is still extraordinary to me that a large proportion of adults genuinely thought that electing said lying, racist, misogynist, narcissist TV celebrity to that position was a good thing in the first place. Let that sink in just how catastrophically stupid and/or unpleasant so many people are.

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

It is still extraordinary to me that a large proportion of adults genuinely thought that electing said lying, racist, misogynist, narcissist TV celebrity to that position was a good thing in the first place. Let that sink in just how catastrophically stupid and/or unpleasant so many people are.

And amazingly in this last election which Biden won, 71M Americans still voted for this "lying, racist, misogynist, narcissist TV celebrity" - a fact that I find staggering

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

It is still extraordinary to me that a large proportion of adults genuinely thought that electing said lying, racist, misogynist, narcissist TV celebrity to that position was a good thing in the first place. Let that sink in just how catastrophically stupid and/or unpleasant so many people are.

To be fair, I think it was the electoral college(s) that won it for Trump, rather than the popular vote.

 

[Hanglow]

Yes, but see Obadiah's post, he still got so many votes even if he did lose the popular vote and was relatively trounced the second time

 

[Appleyard]

It is still extraordinary to me that a large proportion of adults genuinely thought that electing said lying, racist, misogynist, narcissist TV celebrity to that position was a good thing in the first place. Let that sink in just how catastrophically stupid and/or unpleasant so many people are.

They had a simp[ly horrendous choice of candidates when they elected Mr Trump. The next election, they had a similar difficult choice. It is of course impossible to say what would actually have happened had the other one been elected last time, and impossible to say what will happen during Mr Biden's tenure.

Time proves all things. It won't prevent a whole lot of fizzing and gassing though.

 

[kelper]

The Capitol has its own police - 2,000 of them. I'm amazed we didn't see soldiers abseiling down from helicopters. I guess there are escape tunnels which were used to evacuate the VP and other Congressional officers. These could have been used to quickly reinforce the Capitol Police. But with 23 law enforcement agencies in DC alone, it might be hard to organise! I think there was complicity from some in the CP.

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

They had a simp[ly horrendous choice of candidates when they elected Mr Trump. The next election, they had a similar difficult choice. It is of course impossible to say what would actually have happened had the other one been elected last time, and impossible to say what will happen during Mr Biden's tenure.

Time proves all things. It won't prevent a whole lot of fizzing and gassing though.

The outcome of US Presidential elections seems to boil down to how much money a candidate can attract. Hence no real choice of candidates from left of centre with a much of a chance.

However terrible Jo Biden may or may not be I'd lay serious money on him NOT being as nasty as Trump.

 

[kelper]

However terrible Jo Biden may or may not be I'd lay serious money on him being as nasty as Trump.

Don't be ridiculous! Joe is a pusscat. Why do you hate him?

 

[jof]

I suspect that what was seen when they stormed the place was the police who normaly had 'ceremonial duties' - think of beef eaters at the tower of london.

But when they broke into whatever part where the woman was shot - they encountered those officers charged with bodyguard type duties, who were trained to counter threats to high level politicos.

To be honest I am surprised the death toll was so low - it being USA

 

[trummy]

Well its over and I hope a new chapter in USA politics can be opened, a better one. Also I hope it permanently draws an end to the end to the Trump dynasty in politics.
I can recommend watching this y tube film - its about the rise of AOC, (a very astute young women) and three others trying to change the political landscape in America. I found it very moving.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I doubt there was any need for it, was she a threat to another's life? I wouldn't think so. There are those among us who would take a life, for what reason I wouldn't know. I read the diaries of Albert Pierrepoint and came to the conclusion he enjoyed his job.

If she was shot by the Secret Service (not clear at the moment?) and if they were shooting to kill, then she would be dead before she hit the floor.

Aside from the obvious personal tragedy, it's not in the interests of the wider government for protesters to end up dead, it just creates a martyr.

And frankly, I'm not sure what else they could do faced with a mob that had used mace etc to break through multiple lines of security and had entered the inner sanctum, with the election - in the form of the boxes of electoral college votes - under threat of being literally stolen. And there had been plenty of discussion of taking guns to the protest, and the FBI says they disarmed what appeared to be two IEDs. It's not like Jean Charles de Menezes who had a reasonable expectation of not being shot when using the Tube, if you are a mob storming the heart of government you kinda expect to face resistance.

There's some footage from ITV inside the Capitol, including the shooting (towards the end) :

 

[kelper]

DC has strict laws about civilians and guns which seem to have prevented a bloodbath. Most of the protesters were unarmed. A concealed carry permit in their own state is not valid in DC.