Off-Duty Cops Face Federal Charges for Capitol Rioting

Plus: China tech giants escape U.S. investment ban, law and order liberals reappear, and more...

Off-duty police officers from around the country are turning up in photos and video footage from the January 6 Capitol riot. Two cops from Rocky Mount, Virginia, have even been arrested and indicted on federal charges, after being "photographed in the Capitol building making an obscene gesture in front of the John Stark statue."

Those officers—Jacob Fracker and Thomas Robertson—are charged "with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds," according to a Department of Justice (DOJ) press release.

Not only did the Virginia cops photograph themselves breaking the law, they also posted about it themselves on social media. From the DOJ:

On social media, Robertson is quoted as saying, "CNN and the Left are just mad because we actually attacked the government who is the problem and not some random small business … The right IN ONE DAY took the f***** U.S. Capitol. Keep poking us." He also stated that he was "proud" of the photo on an Instagram post that was shared to Facebook, because he was "willing to put skin in the game." On Facebook, Fracker posted a comment that read, "Lol to anyone who's possibly concerned about the picture of me going around… Sorry I hate freedom? …Not like I did anything illegal…y'all do what you feel you need to." The post has since been deleted.

You can read the full complaint here.

Fracker and Robertson weren't the only off-duty cops at the Capitol riot who have caught the feds' attention. "An 18-year veteran of the Houston Police Department is under federal investigation for his participation in the riot at the U.S. Capitol last week," notes The Texas Tribune.

"I can't tell you the anger I feel at the thought of a police officer, and other police officers, thinking they get to go storm the Capitol," Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said at a Wednesday press conference.

As of January 13, at least 28 law enforcement officers from 12 states "have been identified by law enforcement agencies and local reporting as attendees of the Jan. 6 rally in support of President Trump that sparked a riot at the U.S. Capitol," reports The Appeal, which offers more details about each one.*

In perhaps related news, Princeton researchers looking at U.S. protests say American cops were three times more likely to use force against left-leaning than right-leaning protesters. The U.S. Crisis Monitor—"a database created this spring by researchers at Princeton and the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project (ACLED), a nonprofit that has previously monitored civil unrest in the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America"—found that law enforcement authorities used "teargas, rubber bullets, beatings with batons, and other force against demonstrators at 511 leftwing protests and 33 rightwing protests since April," according to The Guardian.

The paper "compared the percentage of all demonstrations organized by leftwing and rightwing groups that resulted in the use of force by law enforcement. For leftwing demonstrations, that was about 4.7% of protests, while for rightwing demonstrations, it was about 1.4%, meaning law enforcement was about three times more likely to use force against leftwing versus rightwing protests."

---

FREE MINDS

We're approaching dangerous territory for civil liberties. "Progressives and liberals have begun to mimic the calls for 'law and order' of their conservative counterparts, even going as far as threatening to expand the 'war on terror,'" writes Akin Olla at The Guardian. "A Biden administration with a 50-50 Senate will seek unity and compromise wherever it can find it, and oppressing political dissidents will be the glue that holds together Biden's ability to govern."

---

FREE MARKETS

China is winning the trade war Trump started. China "closed out 2020 with an overall trade surplus of $78 billion for December, according to official customs data released Thursday," reports CNN:

China's overall surplus for the year hit a record $535 billion, up 27% from 2019. Exports, meanwhile, rose to an all-time high.

"Amid all the noises on de-coupling and de-globalization, somewhat unexpectedly, the pandemic has deepened the ties between China and the rest of the world," wrote Larry Hu, chief China economist for Macquarie Capital, in a research report.

In other Trumpian-fails-on-China news:

 The Trump administration has scrapped plans to blacklist Chinese tech giants Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu, four people familiar with the matter said, providing a brief reprieve to Beijing's top corporates amid a broader crackdown by Washington.

[…] E-commerce giant Alibaba, search engine giant Baidu and video game leader Tencent, which owns messaging app WeChat, were on the short list to be added to a catalogue of alleged Chinese military companies, which would have subjected them to a new U.S. investment ban.

But Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, widely seen as taking a more dovish stance on China, pushed back, freezing the plans, the people said. The companies as well as the Treasury, State and Defense departments did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

More here.

---

QUICK HITS

• The House has voted to impeach Trump—now what? The matter moves to the Senate, which can hold a trial on impeachment even after Trump has left office.

• Ten Republicans voted for impeachment in the House yesterday: Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Tom Rice of South Carolina, Dan Newhouse of Washington, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Fred Upton of Michigan, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, Peter Meijer of Michigan, John Katko of New York, and David Valadao of California.

• Oh look, celebrities love politics again.

• It's that time of year again…

Here we go with the #sexpanic surrounding the #SuperBowl - Over 70 Arrested in Florida Prostitution Sting Ahead of Super Bowl LV - There people will now go on the prostitution registry in #florida and be subject to police harassment. ⁦@ENBrown⁩ https://t.co/E3KS4wWY0P

— SWOP Behind Bars (@swopbehindbars) January 14, 2021

• Nick Gillespie talks to Techdirt's Mike Masnick about decentralizing the internet.

• Even Snapchat is banning Trump now.

• Andrew Yang is officially running for mayor of New York City. On his platform: TikTok Hype Houses.

• "Cloth masks, especially homemade ones, were supposed to be a stopgap measure. Why are so many of us still wearing them?" asks The Atlantic.

---

* CORRECTION: This post previously attributed The Appeal's analysis of cops at the Capitol riot to The Intercept and has been corrected.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Off-duty police officers from around the country are turning up in photos and video footage from the January 6 Capitol riot.

Undercover.

[Ron]

I love the new term stormed the capitol. no a few did then they opened doors and the rest probably didn't know about those who broke in and walked in. there is evidence of that like the picture of them walking within the roped area.

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

Already declared a 'Super-Spreader' event by the MSM too. They have no shame.

[jack murphy]

i can't wait to go back to simpler times when super spreader was porn

[billy yum-yum two-by-two]

double anal/double vag is a logistical nightmare

[Revolting]

And! Let us not forget: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCu2gxVZ4E8

[Zeb]

Should have worn masks.

Did any of the cops do anything bad, or is this pure political purge?

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[TJJ2000]

Off-duty police officers from around the country are turning up in photos and video footage from the January 6 Capitol riot.

BECAUSE.................. Some Cops really are Patriots and took a little meaning to their "oath of office" and want to protect YOUR Individual Liberty and Justice.

In complete contrast to practically EVERY Democratic National Socialist Party member.

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[Ra's al Gore]

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/425820/

Section 230 is the carrot, and there’s also a stick: Congressional Democrats have repeatedly made explicit threats to social-media giants if they failed to censor speech those lawmakers disfavored. In April 2019, Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond warned Facebook and Google that they had “better” restrict what he and his colleagues saw as harmful content or face regulation: “We’re going to make it swift, we’re going to make it strong, and we’re going to hold them very accountable.” New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler added: “Let’s see what happens by just pressuring them.”

Such threats have worked. In September 2019, the day before another congressional grilling was to begin, Facebook announced important new restrictions on “hate speech.” It’s no accident that big tech took its most aggressive steps against Mr. Trump just as Democrats were poised to take control of the White House and Senate. Prominent Democrats promptly voiced approval of big tech’s actions, which Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal expressly attributed to “a shift in the political winds.”

For more than half a century courts have held that governmental threats can turn private conduct into state action. In Bantam Books v. Sullivan (1963), the Supreme Court found a First Amendment violation when a private bookseller stopped selling works state officials deemed “objectionable” after they sent him a veiled threat of prosecution. In Carlin Communications v. Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph Co. (1987), the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found state action when an official induced a telephone company to stop carrying offensive content, again by threat of prosecution.

As the Second Circuit held in Hammerhead Enterprises v. Brezenoff (1983), the test is whether “comments of a government official can reasonably be interpreted as intimating that some form of punishment or adverse regulatory action will follow the failure to accede to the official’s request.” Mr. Richmond’s comments, along with many others, easily meet that test. Notably, the Ninth Circuit held it didn’t matter whether the threats were the “real motivating force” behind the private party’s conduct; state action exists even if he “would have acted as he did independently.”

Either Section 230 or congressional pressure alone might be sufficient to create state action. The combination surely is.

[Ra's al Gore]

CALIFORNIA’S INTERNET CENSORSHIP OFFICE IS WATCHING WHAT YOU SAY
http://www.danielgreenfield.org/2021/01/californias-internet-censorship-office.html

A government office created by California Democrats is monitoring hashtags, classifying political speech it opposes by “threat level”, taking screenshots of posts, and then storing the information indefinitely, before reporting the offending speech to social media companies for censorship.

[JesseAz]

The USSC finally chose to take up the court case on California requiring non profits to disclose donors to them.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-donors/u-s-supreme-court-takes-up-dispute-over-california-nonprofit-donor-disclosure-requirement-idUSKBN29D35D

[Ron]

I like how it claims to be non partisan when there is only one party in California.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

I've never understood those who desire one party rule. There is no democracy in the world that has one party rule. Having to obey the one party is what communists do.

[Zeb]

In this country with the system we have, if one party became completely dominant across the whole country, it would likely very quickly split in two. It's not an accident that we seem to be stuck with two parties. Of course, if the split is in the Democrat party, then we might end up with Hillary Democrats vs. Bernie democrats or something which isn't a very nice choice.

[Kungpowderfinger]

I’ve never understood those who desire one party rule

One-stop-shopping for bribery

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

Right. Allows the donor class to not have to double down on the donations to both parties to get their will done.

[DarrenM]

The same reason for the support of mega-corporations, which used to be an issue with the left, but was tossed in favor of identity politics and outrage over use of the "wrong" gender pronouns. That's "progressive".

[TJJ2000]

The USA has only ONE definition -- The U.S. Constitution. Until every party learns how to respect that this nation will be in division trouble with [WE] mob totalitarian Power-Madness. The steak between hungry dogs.

'Democracy' is the short-name for Democratic National Socialism - The Steak and the 'Party' Dogs. The only 'unity' hope is ONE Constitution - "The People's" law over their government.

[TJJ2000]

^^^ This is where Mass-Media and Commie-School as ruined this country.. WE ARE NOT A DEMOCRACY!!!!

[TJJ2000]

We are a Constitutional Union of Republican States.
Article IV, Section 4:
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government.

[perlhaqr]

I'm sure the newly expanded SCOTUS will censure Congress severely for their actions.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Those officers—Jacob Fracker and Thomas Robertson—are charged "with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds..."

So you can charge cops for violating 4th Amendment rights but only for a very certain house.

[Juice]

The 4th amendment protects We the People and that's We the People's house. You and I ain't We.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

As Zappa said, they only lookout for #1, and you ain't even #2.

[Moonrocks]

Only when they don't toe the right line.

[OpenBordersLiberal-tarian]

"law and order liberals reappear"

Well, maybe in the context of prosecuting the plotters of the attempted coup. But in general liberals are on board with the Koch / Reason #EmptyThePrisons agenda.

[JesseAz]

You need somewhere to put the reeducation camps for Trump supporters.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"A Biden administration with a 50-50 Senate will seek unity and compromise wherever it can find it, and oppressing political dissidents will be the glue that holds together Biden's ability to govern."

At least he's not tweeting law and order in all caps.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland]

Ahhh the boot neck unification theory

[The White Knight]

So, it’s better to have an authoritarian President who tweets in ALL CAPS than an authoritarian President who doesn’t. Got it.

[JesseAz]

What authoritarian policies did you imagine were passed the last 4 years?

Spying on journalist? Nope, previous one
Warrants on journalists? nope, previous one
Ex-judicial drone strikes on US citizens? Nope.

You call the president that had the full media, activist district judges putting nationwide injunctions, an open and public resistance in the Executive branch.... the authoritarian?

Do you even try logic?

[Earth Skeptic]

The logic: not acting authoritarian (in the right way) is authoritarian.

[Eeyore]

Authoritarian with a smile.

[Griffin3]

A kinder, gentler authoritarian hand.

[DarrenM]

You forgot the very epitome of authoritarianism: mean tweets.

[Ra's al Gore]

https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/larry-grathwohl-requiem-american-hero-matthew-vadum/

...For reasons that historians will argue about for decades to come, the revelation that socialist Barack Hussein Obama was close personal friends with unrepentant Weather Underground bombers Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn failed to torpedo Obama’s presidential bid. In fact, it caused little more than a ripple at the time in the mainstream media and only came up when alleged journalist George Stephanopoulos, a longtime Bill and Hillary Clinton loyalist, raised the disturbing connection during a primary-season presidential debate to hurt Obama’s campaign.

...By contrast, media outlets are enthralled by Ayers. Few treat him as a villain. Newspaper articles typically treat him as a well-intentioned community organizer or at worst as a misguided eccentric. The headline of a particularly infamous New York Times softball of a profile published on Sept. 11, 2001, labeled Ayers a mere “War Protester.” This would be akin to describing racial arsonist Al Sharpton as a social worker or a motivational speaker.

...I brought up the subject of what’s going to happen after we take over the government: we become responsible then for administrating 250 million people. And there was no answers. No one had given any thought to economics, how you’re going to clothe and feed these people.

The only thing that I could get was that they expected that the Cubans and the North Vietnamese and the Chinese and the Russians would all want to occupy different portions of the United States.

They also believed that their immediate responsibility would be to protect against what they called the counter revolution and they felt that this counter revolution could best be guarded against by creating and establishing reeducation centers in the Southwest where would take all the people who needed to be reeducated into the new way of thinking and teach them how things were going to be.

I asked, well, what is going to happen to those people that we can’t reeducate that are diehard capitalists and the reply was that they’d have to be eliminated. And when I pursued this further they estimated that they would have to eliminate 25 million people in these reeducation centers. And when I say eliminate I mean kill – 25 million people.

[Ron]

Funny thing is when you start killing people you end up having to kill even more. 25 million would be a drop in the bucket

[Union of Concerned Socks]

Michael Corleone, please call your office.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

It's too bad the entire Weather Underground claque wasn't in that Greenwich Village townhouse when it blew up. The world and the country would be a much better place.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The matter moves to the Senate, which can hold a trial on impeachment even after Trump has left office.

Yes, please make 2021 be about Trump. It's like they want to mimic Bill Clinton's first term on focus and get its outcome two years later.

[JesseAz]

But J. Michael Luttig, a former judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, makes a convincing case that no, it is not constitutional to impeach a former president.

“The crux of my argument is that the very purpose of the impeachment power is to remove an incumbent official,” Luttig said in an interview. “That seems to me to be crystal clear and inescapably true under the text of the Constitution itself.” Speaking of the text of the Constitution, these are the relevant portions concerning impeachment:

“The president, vice president and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors ...

“The House of Representatives ... shall have the sole power of impeachment ...

“The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the chief justice shall preside: And no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present.

“Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States: but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law.”

The plain meaning of these passages is that impeachment, in the case of a president, is designed to remove that president from office. A secondary purpose is to disqualify a removed president from ever holding federal office again.

“It’s the impeachment that is the authority for the disqualification,” Luttig said. And a former president, by definition, cannot be removed from office. And, by the way, the Constitution specifically lays out the way to deal with wrongdoing once the president is out of office: He will be “liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law.”

https://martinsvillebulletin.com/opinion/columnists/york_byron/byron-york-this-latest-crazy-impeachment/article_f4a1b40a-55b3-11eb-8cf4-b717398802d6.html

[Mr. Tibbs]

So where is the legal argument that if a primary objective can’t be accomplished the secondary objective has to be abandoned? This line of reasoning is useless without that.

[Dean Kolus]

There is no authority to pursue a secondary objective in the Constitution.

[mamabug]

They got Trump, and now they are coming for the opposition:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/13/us/politics/republicans-capitol-tours.html

[perlhaqr]

Hey when you purge, you gotta really purge.

[DarrenM]

We may as well impeach and try every previous President, too, while we're at it, just to get it out of the way.

[Ra's al Gore]

https://twitter.com/JMichaelWaller/status/1347404353934680065

Washington DC Mayor Bowser tweeted 24 hours before the Capitol protests began that she told the Trump Administration that she did not want federal law enforcement support and "discouraged" the feds from taking action on their own.

[perlhaqr]

https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1349461860060434435

Rep Louie Gohmert R-TX being cancelled by leftist media for inciting violence by literally quoting Nancy Pelosi verbatim is the most 2021 thing ever.

[perlhaqr]

Democrats: Hold my wine spritzer.

[Rat on a train (FR)]

Toga, Toga, Toga!

[Earth Skeptic]

Road trip?

[Rat on a train (FR)]

When you are on double probation, any futile gesture is on the table.

[Roberta]

Don't you mean, "Tora, Tora, Tora!"

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ten Republicans voted for impeachment in the House yesterday...

A House united against Trump.

[Ra's al Gore]

AOC and other progressives have a new goal: Silence the press
https://nypost.com/2021/01/13/aoc-other-progressives-have-a-new-goal-silence-the-press/?utm_source=twitter_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been a wellspring of truly terrible ideas for years, but her new one might be her worst on yet: A Ministry of Truth.

During a live stream on her Instagram page, Ocasio-Cortez was asked by a viewer if, to help with national healing, there were congressional plans to institute any “truth and reconciliation or media literacy initiatives.”

The socialist congresswoman replied that, yes, indeed, she and some of her colleagues have been exploring media literacy initiatives to help “rein in” the press and combat misinformation after last week’s riot at the U.S. Capitol.

“It’s one thing to have differentiating opinions but it’s another thing entirely to just say things that are false,” Ocasio-Cortez added. “So that’s something that we’re looking into.”

[Moonrocks]

But that is not an attack against the free press. That can only come from the political right.

[The White Knight]

Straw man. Attacks on the free press can, and do, come from both major parties.

[JesseAz]

Thanks captain obvious, nice to see you admit the obvious for once.

[OneSimpleLesson]

Straw Man - an intentionally misrepresented proposition that is set up because it is easier to defeat than an opponent's real argument.

Maybe you're thinking of tu quoque?

[Sevo]

"Maybe you’re thinking..."
Doubtful.

[Michael S. Langston]

It was sarcasm....so at least you got the first letter right.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Why would they need to rein in the press? They vote for and support the same policies.

Oh yeah, this is the internal purges that always happen with radical left-wing movements.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Oh look, celebrities love politics again.

"it is with a heavy heart that i must announce that the celebs are at it again."

[Dan_In_Philly]

"I can't tell you the anger I feel at the thought of a police officer, and other police officers, thinking they get to go storm the Capitol," Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said at a Wednesday press conference."

Especially rich coming from that guy and his department.

[nobody 2]

He's angry that his subordinate violated his standards by breaking into a house without murdering anybody inside.

[Fat Mike's Drug Habit]

Also skipped the "fabricate evidence to obtain a bogus search warrant" step, which is part of the Houston PD's SOPs.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Here we go with the #sexpanic surrounding the #SuperBowl

THERE'S A PANDEMIC I'M TOLD

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

Handies with masks and gloves only.

[Earth Skeptic]

At the least, no swallowing.

[Claptrap]

You jest, but the NYC health dept has issued helpful advice on sexing in the time of COVID.

4. Take care during sex.
• Kissing can easily pass the virus. Avoid kissing anyone who is not part of your small circle of close contacts.
• Rimming (mouth on anus) might spread the virus. Virus in feces may enter your mouth andcould lead to infection.
• Wear a face covering or mask. Maybe it’s your thing, maybe it’s not, but during COVID-19 wearing a face covering that covers your nose and mouth is a good way to add a layer of protection during sex. Heavy breathing and panting can spread the virus further, and if you or your partner have COVID-19 and don’t know it, a mask can help stop that spread.
• Make it a little kinky. Be creative with sexual positions and physical barriers, like walls, that allow sexual contact while preventing close face to face contact.
• Masturbate together. Use physical distance and face coverings to reduce the risk.
• Condoms and dental dams can reduce contact with saliva, semen or feces during oral or anal sex. Visit nyc.gov / condoms to find out how to get free safer sex products.
• Washing up before and after sex is more important than ever.
o Wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
o Wash sex toys with soap and warm water.
o Disinfect keyboards and touch screens that you share with others.

[Eeyore]

No heavy breathing. No singing. No moaning. No screaming.

[Roberta]

I want to know whether they encourage incest, which is where I figured this was all going last spring. I figured that if the pandemic lasted long enough, we'd all be confined to our households, so the next generation would be inbred.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Nick Gillespie talks to Techdirt's Mike Masnick about decentralizing the internet.

Bezos has already acquired the rights to the decentralized internet and is dismantling it for parts.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Even Snapchat is banning Trump now.

The cancer that is censorship is spreading across the cancer that is social media.

[Earth Skeptic]

Do you want to die from AIDS or leprosy?

[jack murphy]

earth skeptic, i don't get it

[Sometimes Bad Is Bad]

"We're approaching dangerous territory for civil liberties."

We've been boiling in that pot for some time, but reason koch pushing for it now is laughable.

[JesseAz]

Theyve spent over a year defending it. Ignoring the soft fascism that has been present since Obama.

[Eeyore]

Conflating legal with good.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Andrew Yang is officially running for mayor of New York City.

The Big Apple wants its $1,000.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"Cloth masks, especially homemade ones, were supposed to be a stopgap measure. Why are so many of us still wearing them?"

Trump's gone. We can challenge orthodoxy now.

[Minadin]

Unfortunately, they mean that people should stop wearing homemade masks and only buy the mass-produced ones, but of course keep wearing them at all times.

[mad.casual]

Homemade cloth masks were just a stopgap, not The Final Solution.

[Ra's al Gore]

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1349514741358669824

The fact that Silicon Valley overwhelmingly supports the Dem Party, and the Dem Party is now about to be responsible for regulating (or not regulating) these tech giants, makes it chilling when the demands for censorship from Dem politicians are honored.

[Juice]

Kinda like radio in the 1930s under Roosevelt.

[Gray_Jay]

In retrospect, approaching a guy like Gen. Smedley Butler, later author of "War Is A Racket," was probably a poor choice... Assuming Butler wasn't making it all up, of course.

Betcha MacArthur would've done it. Interesting to think of how history would've changed if 'The Businessmen' had pulled it off.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

FDR is the darling of the left. They don't mind that he put people in camps.

[newshutz]

"he put people in camps"

AoC seems to be drawing inspiration from it.

[Wearenotperfect]

Individuals who pursue a career in law enforcement don't have an authoritarian complex, right?

[Earth Skeptic]

"In perhaps related news, Princeton researchers looking at U.S. protests say American cops were three times more likely to use force against left-leaning than right-leaning protesters."

Now tell us the number of "events" and participants by left vs right, and the number of destructive and/or illegal actions.

[JesseAz]

Did Princeton also say the likelihood rioters would get a plaza named after them? Have cops kneel with them? Have a D.A. drop a charge against? Have a building lit on fire? Have frozen water outlets, fireworks, and layers used against police?

[Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland]

Can't do that, honest reporting of evidence challange the narrarative

[Muzzled Woodchipper]

The paper "compared the percentage of all demonstrations organized by leftwing and rightwing groups that resulted in the use of force by law enforcement. For leftwing demonstrations, that was about 4.7% of protests, while for rightwing demonstrations, it was about 1.4%, meaning law enforcement was about three times more likely to use force against leftwing versus rightwing protests."

Now do the numbers with a count of how many fires were lit.

It simply can’t be that left wing protest is exponentially more violent and destructive than right wing protest. It’s racism.

JFC.

[Minadin]

Leftwing protests are also less likely to clean up after themselves and leave the area looking nicer than when they showed up.

[Minadin]

"I can't tell you the anger I feel at the thought of a police officer, and other police officers, thinking they get to go storm the Capitol," Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said at a Wednesday press conference.

I can't tell you the anger I feel at the thought that Art Acevedo is still employed.

[Juice]

thinking they get to go storm the Capitol without a falsified warrant

[OneSimpleLesson]

Bashing in a door without knocking while NOT wearing a badge?! How dare they?!

[Gray_Jay]

I thought he was still busy investigating the Nichols/Tuttle shootings?

If you can't laugh, you'd cry. Murdered two people minding their own business in their own home, and HPD is just about done blaming the entire sordid mess on one rogue officer.

[Earth Skeptic]

"China is winning the trade war Trump started."

ENB must be channeling her inner mercantilist. In other words, acting like Trump.

[JesseAz]

ENB thinks the trade war started in 2017. Like beohm, she is economically illiterate.

[Nardz]

The D government is going to take everything you have, and the media (but I repeat myself) including Reason will help them do it.
The left will not stop unless they are stopped.
Look what's happening now, and they haven't even been officially installed in power yet.

[SQRLSY One]

Maybe... Just maybe... If trumpanzees hadn't rioted and tried to replace democracy with mob-ocracy... MAYBE some of this wouldn't be happening! Ya think? Just maybe?

[Nardz]

No, you irrelevant idiot.
Stop spamming in support of totalitarianism.

[SQRLSY One]

Says the asshole trumpanzee who wants to just GRAB power through violence!

I read many years ago, in books by M. Scott Peck, that we should be grateful that "evil has no self-discipline", basically. Had the trumpanzees had the self-discipline to plot in secret, and grab power with a bit of self-control, they MIGHT have succeeded! But, THANK GOD, "evil has no self-discipline"!!! Trumpanzees rioted out of control, like the out-of-control, stupid beasts that they are. Now all can PLAINLY see their evil, power-grabbing ways!

Power-grab some more, evil NAZI! See what it gets you! It does NOT lead to your Happy Place!

[bignose]

Stop spamming in support of death squads.

[Nardz]

You've never said anything interesting.

[bignose]

I'll take being boring over being a fascist any day of the week. Wouldn't you?

[Nardz]

You are a fascist

[Gray_Jay]

I don't get that from bignose at all. Earnest disagreeing about the integrity of the election, and the use of violence to achieve political goals, doesn't make someone a fascist. The opposite, really.

[SQRLSY One]

My violence good! Your violence bad! Wow, we're sure gonna make some heady, breath-taking progress with THIS Brilliant and Brave New Thought! How progressive, Comrade!

[bignose]

Appreciated.

[Nardz]

It constantly sides with leftists, and only posts comments to distract from posts critical of leftism, never an original idea or thought.
It is a useless piece of garbage, and if it wants to throw in with literal fascists it will be called such.

[Gray_Jay]

Non-concur---particularly on the "useless piece of garbage" bit, though there are certainly more prolific posters here who do fit that description---but you're not going to be convinced otherwise.

Agree to disagree.

[bignose]

It constantly sides with leftists

When? You seem awfully sure about what my beliefs are, given that I rarely (if ever) share them on this board.

only posts comments to distract from posts critical of leftism

No, I often post to call you out for supporting death squads while claiming to fight totalitarianism.

if it wants to throw in with literal fascists it will be called such.

Only one of us calls for violence against his political opponents. And it ain't me, guy. I don't wish any harm against you, though you clearly can't say the same about me. If I'm a fascist, I'm doing a piss-poor job of it.

[The White Knight]

There was not one word there in favor of totalitarianism.

[Nardz]

Yea, except blaming leftist totalitarianism on capitol rioters.
You really aren't intelligent.

[SQRLSY One]

Nadless the Nardless, Nasty NAZI says that if trumpanzees riot to grab power... If they conspire to capture and make POWs of elected representatives... or to detonate home-grown terrorist nukes to "make a point"... We the people, and our elected representatives, need to "respect their privacy" while they conspire to do these things! Freedom = a societal suicide pact! If you disagree, you're a totalitarian!

[JesseAz]

Except in the other threads where he defends deplatforming, up charges on the rioters, one sided application of the law, and use words like "fight" to file charges against his enemies but not his friends.

[SQRLSY One]

Your endless lies are so old and boring any more, only the ones who WANT to believe your lies, believe them any more!

[Sevo]

Flag, refresh.

[DarrenM]

I'm sure you can provide us with new and much more entertaining lies.

[SQRLSY One]

Government Almighty LOVES you!

[Troglodyte Rex]

Reason will help them do it.

That assumes Reason is relevant.

[JesseAz]

The future of education under Biden.

https://newsla.localad.com/2021/01/13/report-public-school-instructs-third-graders-to-deconstruct-their-racial-and-sexual-identities-to-understand-power-and-privilege/

[Juice]

Christians are in power in California?

[JesseAz]

Umm what?

A public elementary school in California

You think critical race theory is christian?

Holy fuck.

[mamabug]

Maybe he meant this quote from the article:

"The teacher reportedly began the lesson with a slide entitled “Dominant Culture,” which includes “white, middle class, cisgender, educated, able bodied, Christian” individuals who “hold power and stay in power.”

Pretty sure 'Christian' is nowhere on the list when it comes to who is the dominant culture in California.

[Zeb]

Depends where you go. The immigrants and farmers tend to be pretty Christian.

[Zeb]

And that's a really funny thing about putting Christian on the list. Probably the most solidly Christian groups in CA are blacks and immigrants.

[mamabug]

When intersectionalists say 'Christian' they are always thinking of it in terms of WASPs. Minorities, immigrants, and working class and poor whites are more religious but couldn't be counted as part of the dominant culture in the way they mean.

Of course, most of the former WASPs (generally the NE elite) are not on the Left which makes it okay for them to still be in power.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

Haha. That’s a funny contradiction with the lefty atheists I know. They love to mock Christians. But not those Christians! Heavens no!

It’s almost like they expect white people to know better while giving a pass to the, ummm, ‘lesser cultures.’

They really are pathetic racists.

[Kungpowderfinger]

R.I. Meyerholz Elementary School, part of the Cupertino Union School District in San Jose, Calif., reportedly held a lesson on “social identities” during a math class for third-grade students where the teacher asked students to list their race, class, gender, religion and family structure in an “identity map,”

Stick a fork in it, we’re done.

[Eeyore]

Strange math.

[Muzzled Woodchipper]

But remember: it’s a lack of funding that’s the problem, not that math teachers are cramming SJ down 8 year old throats.

[Gray_Jay]

"...it’s a lack of funding that’s the problem..."

Yeah, totally. In Cupertino. LOL. Tarpaper shacks there go for 750K. (And are filled with fifteen illegals from SE Asia.)

It's Conservatives' own fault for not defending their culture, and denigrating people wanting to go into teaching, way back when. Paraphrasing Nobel-winning physicist, Glenn Seaborg, but if an enemy imposed this system of public education on the US, the 50's United States would have considered it an act of war.

[perlhaqr]

That was the quote I was going to paste, yeah.

During math class, as if it wasn't already WTF enough.

[JesseAz]

Jake tapper asks if someone who lost 2 legs fighting for the country is a patriot, procedes to double down.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bronsonstocking/2021/01/13/tapper-questions-war-heros-commitment-to-democracy-n2583103

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

What a scumbag Tapper is, a real Saxby Chambliss.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Even Snapchat is banning Trump now.

There's always TikTok.

[Sevo]

About the time you figure Newsom has bottomed-out, well, he proves to be as idiotic as the SF government:

"Newsom proposes California Creative Corps pilot program to use artists to fight pandemic"
[...]
"In November, the San Francisco Mayor’s Office and partner organizations announced the San Francisco Creative Corps, a pilot program to hire artists to encourage public health best practices such as mask wearing and social distancing in some of the city’s most crowded areas.
Now, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest budget proposal dedicates $15 million for a similar pilot program at the state level. The California Creative Corps would hire artists “to fuel positivity, regain public trust and inspire safe and healthy behavior across California’s diverse populations through a media, outreach, and engagement campaign,” according to the plan..."
https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/theater/newsom-proposes-california-creative-corps-pilot-program-to-use-artists-to-fight-pandemic

I don't know about you, but a guy in a clown suit probably isn't gonna make me like face-diapers any more than I do now.

[Earth Skeptic]

Human intelligence might have limits, but not human stupidity.

[Sevo]

Especially when the human in question is a politico.

[mamabug]

They really haven't had any new ideas on job growth since the W.P.A. have they?

[yet another dave]

They could paint turds on the sidewalk, I mean who wants to poop on someone else's poop.

[Eeyore]

Don't forget the walls of buildings. The goal when public pooping is to start the stain as high as possible on a wall and have it streak down the wall onto the sidewalk.

[Gray_Jay]

"Ah, I See You're a Man of Culture As Well."

[Earth Skeptic]

"Oh look, celebrities love politics again."

No, celebrities can love the Dear Supreme Leader again.

[JesseAz]

China is really regretting spending so much money on Swallwell who must be banging Pelosi to keep getting plum assignments.

"Osama bin Laden did not enter U.S. soil on September 11, but was widely acknowledged that he was responsible for inspiring the attack on our country," Swalwell said after the first hour of the debate on the latest impeachment effort against President Trump on Wednesday. "And our president, with his words, using the words, 'fight,' with the speakers he assembled that day who called for trial by combat, and said we have to take names and kick ass, that is hate speech that inspired a radicalized people to storm the Capitol."

Words like "fight" used in hundreds of speeches a year.

But this is the joke that the elite and Sullum have become. They too want to take away free speech under such vague guises as using the word fight.

[The White Knight]

Good ol’ JesseAz selective reality:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-condemns-antifa-violent-protests

[JesseAz]

Lol. You use one instance and ignore the dozens of others.

https://defconnews.com/2021/01/11/all-the-times-democrats-incited-violence-and-werent-banned-or-impeached/

You really are a running joke here chipper.

[JesseAz]

Here is Bidens reaction to Kenosha at the time it happened.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/09/02/why_wont_biden_condemn_antifa_or_blm_violence_144118.html#!

He defended the uprising as a need to stop systemic racism, ie defending the rioting.

You lost an interview answer only after he is directly asked about it to stop criticism he was receiving during the debates.

Do you know how partisan you even are?

[Mother's Lament]

Do you know how partisan you even are?

I think it's beyond that. I'm convinced he's paid to shitpost here.

[Serial Microaggressor]

I'm sure there's a handful of those. Why would they waste their time here when 4chan is far more influential is a mystery though.

[Gray_Jay]

This. Who views this site that destabilizing it would be worth the effort?

I'd buy bored minor employees or interns shitposting though.

[Dean Kolus]

Yeah, but you're an idiot.

[Nardz]

The left has a seemingly endless supply of drones, and Reason is the public face of libertarianism.

[perlhaqr]

Is it wearing a mask? Because it doesn't look much like libertarianism these days.

[Mother's Lament]

Media Matters has used commenters to mold the direction comment sections of mainstream news sites and magazines for +20 years now.
Of course 4chan, reddit and even places like imgur and 9gag are far more important now, but they still haven't adjusted their strategy for legacy sites like Reason.

[JesseAz]

"I denounce political violence from all ends of the spectrum, but make no mistake, the left in America has incited far more political violence than the right. For months our cities burned. Police stations burned. Our businesses were shattered. And they said nothing. Or they cheerled for it and they fundraised for it and they allowed it to happen in the greatest country in the world," Gaetz said. "Now some have cited the metaphor that the President lit the flame. Well they lit actual flames! Actual fires!"

Gaetz quickly was muted after. Democrats continue to refuse to acknowledge any violence from last year based on their words and their incitement.

[The White Knight]

Good ol’ JesseAz selective reality:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-condemns-antifa-violent-protests

[JesseAz]

Yeah, I've already laughed at this attempt. Your selective reality is hilarious to watch though.

[Ron]

Heck even Mitt Romney marched in support with rioters they are all shit.

[Sevo]

"NTSB: Electric vehicle battery fires a threat to first responders"
[...]
"The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Wednesday said that electric vehicle fires pose a threat to first responders and that vehicle manufacturers have distributed inadequate guidance to mitigate safety risks..."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ntsb-electric-vehicle-battery-fires-a-threat-to-first-responders/ar-BB1cJk5U

"Green" indeed.

[Don't look at me!]

Gasoline fires: totes safe for some reason.

[perlhaqr]

Not safe, just adequately prepared for. And actually less toxic. Also, less likely to electrocute a first responder.

[JesseAz]

Incitement?

“Now what you hear is, ‘Well, you can’t say that everybody who voted for Trump is like the people who went into the Capitol. Response?” Cuomo asked.

“If you are on that side, you need to think about the side you are on. I am never on the side of the Klan. Principled people, conservative or liberal, never on the Klan’s side. Principled people, conservative or liberal, never on the Nazi’s side,” Lemon responded, lumping together over 74 million American who voted to re-elect the president with white supremacists and Nazis.

I mean lunch a nazi is still on Twitter.

[Moonrocks]

Any irony in the fact that they're literally on the side of the guy putting Jews into ghettos and preparing camps for them in their state?

[OneSimpleLesson]

Is Lemon on planned parenthood's side?
Hhmmmmm.....
Margaret Sanger
"A free race cannot be born of slave mothers."
Or how about the time she spoke to the KKK about: “the gradual suppression, elimination and eventual extinction, of defective stocks — those human weeds which threaten the blooming of the finest flowers of American civilization.”

[Mickey Rat]

How about "Principled people, conservative or liberal, are never on a Marxist's side"?

[Zeb]

So, what the hell does that mean? If the Klan agrees with you on something, then you need to switch sides?

[Jerryskids]

Yep. Both the Klan and the Nazis believe that 2+2=4, that there are only 2 sexes, and that Western Civilization is a great thing.

[Juice]

Why are so many of us still wearing them?

Is it the fines? I'll bet it's the fines. And the need for groceries. That might be it.

[Zeb]

And using masks that might actually do something would be insanely expensive and make it even harder to breathe.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

"I can't tell you the anger I feel at the thought of a police officer, and other police officers, thinking they get to go storm the Capitol," Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said at a Wednesday press conference.

Where is Art's outrage against the officers who falsified a warrant and needlessly stormed the private residence of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas and proceeded to murder them while spraying bullets at each other?

In fact, what the fuck, ENB? How dare you quote that murderer supporting piece of shit police chief? How dare you?

[jcw]

Cancel culture!

[JesseAz]

Democrats are pushing more conspiracy theories to bolster their claims.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/dem-reps-demand-capitol-police-investigation-of-suspicious-tours-day-before-capitol-attack

This includes an initial claim of Rep Boebert giving a tour to rioters the day before due to a picture of her with rioters. Problem is the picture was from a Colorado courthouse in 2019.

[Moonrocks]

Doesn't matter how false it is, it will be the truth just like kids in cages and calling Nazis fine people.

[Sevo]

"...they get to go storm the Capitol,"

Dipshit can't spell "protest".

[Earth Skeptic]

Mostly peaceful.

[Fat Mike's Drug Habit]

A bunch of right-wingers, known for owning guns and talking about how they're for overthrowing tyrannical government, show up at the Capitol totally unarmed. This is of course their attempt to overthrow the government.

[JesseAz]

Other countries are now banning SV from their elections.

https://thefederalist.com/2021/01/12/uganda-just-nuked-facebook-and-twitter-for-election-interference-and-twitter-is-having-a-meltdown-over-it/

[Ken Shultz]

I used to hype a book around here called, "The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom", which was written before the Arab Spring.

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1610391063/reasonmagazinea-20/

The author was a former dissident in Belarus, and the book is basically a repudiation of the kind of cyber-utopianism that sprang up in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. Everyone was crediting Facebook and Twitter with making the revolutions of the Arab Spring possible. Once people could talk to each other online, dissidents could spread their messages and organize their activities like never before--making the internet a force for freedom, right?

Um . . . not so much.

Social media gave repressive regimes the ability to track dissidents and the people they associated with like never before. Social media gave governments the ability to restrict people's conversations like they never could before. A lot of the stuff he was warning us about governments being able to do with technology are things that the government is doing to conservatives in the USA right now--especially if they're looking to identify pro-Trump protesters through social media.

All of this was not only foreseeable but also foreseen.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

I was thinking about things in light of the discussion about section 230 the other day and decided it needs to go. If no protection means no Reason comments, no Facebook, no Twitter, then by all means, lets do it. People who want to be heard can create their own page or get a publisher like we were doing 25 years ago.

The answer to bad speech is more speech. But we are currently drowning in a sea of bad speech to the point it is impossible to respond to all of it. Now we have the big tech Engineers putting up levees, which is the choice to drown disfavored voices while giving special protection to others from those who would criticize. The claim that it is already being abused is immaterial. The potential for abuse is CCP level horrifying.

The libertarian solution is no special protection for anyone. Giving voice to a 3rd party's message makes you a publisher and you are responsible for what you publish. Feel free to disagree.

[Ron]

we are currently drowning in a sea of bad speech to the point it is impossible to respond to all of it"

this so true I thought about making a comment on huff post once but thought why it will not be heard over the other commenters and it will be gone with the next story in minutes. it is literally tilting at windmills useless. even our comments here will be long gone soon

[Ken Shultz]

Repealing Section 230 won't have the consequences you seek.

The liability protections will be reinstated by way of the consent decree(s)--that are the ultimate goal of almost every antitrust action.

The consent decree(s) will be opened to any social media company that wants to sign onto the conditions. They will offer immunity just like in Section 230, but in order to qualify for that immunity, you'll need to abide by the conditions--no "hate speech", no "conspiracy theories", no "violent threats".

By "hate speech", they mean things like supporting a border wall (xenophobic), opposing gay marriage (homophobic), opposing abortion (misogynistic), or opposing affirmative action (racist). By "conspiracy theories", they mean suggesting that Hunter Biden sells influence on behalf of his father, and by "violent threats", they mean arguing that the purpose of the Second Amendment is so that we can defend ourselves against an oppressive government.

They're not about to repeal Section 230 and let it destroy a trillion dollars in market capitalization off the stock market as a result. They'll repeal it so that the only way Big Tech can keep their trillion in market capitalization is to abide by their rules--as stipulated in the consent decree. It will work almost exactly like the consent decree that prohibits the tobacco industry from advertising in exchange for limiting their liability.

There won't be much in the way of independent voices online in the wake of that--just like every tobacco company in the country (41 of them) eventually felt compelled to sign onto that consent decree in order to get that liability protection and survive. In other words, it isn't just that everyone will feel it necessary to buy collision insurance before they pull out into the street. It's also that the only people out there driving will be the people who are censoring speech along the lines that written up by the Biden administration and approved by the progressives in the House.

Operating a site like this and just letting people post whatever they want will be like driving without insurance. The sites that are still out there won't allow anything close to free thought or speech anymore. Everything you write on a website will probably be pre-moderated before it's posted to where the public can see it. The big sites won't disappear without Section 230. They'll have the same protections from their antirust settlement--and a mandate.

It's just the little guys that will disappear--along with our ability to speak.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

I agree that it is too late.

There was a great quote by one of the Danish or German philosophers that went something like 'the daily news is the death of the truth', which I took to mean that the impetus to generate consistent interest in what is by nature unpredictable comes at the expense of relevance and context. Even more so in our 'Entertainment Age', creating stories that spark people's emotions is much more important than reporting facts.

Social media has blown the problem to obscene proportions. When the when the town square is the size of the nation (or the world), the voices that grate the most are the only ones that get heard.

[Ken Shultz]

Any word on whether they're bringing charges against the Capitol cop who shot Ashli Babbitt?

I keep seeing reports in the news describing her as a conspiracy theorist, etc.--but they don't seem to mention that trespassing, being a conspiracy theorist, and being supporter of Donald Trump doesn't generally justify shooting unarmed protesters.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-man-standing-next-to-ashli-babbitt-as-she-was-shot-and-killed-has-been-arrested-on-charges-of-storming-the-capitol-building/ar-BB1cJ9ri

If they don't charge the cop who killed her, it may partially justify some of her conspiracy theories: I have no idea what she posted online, but if she ever argued that the government and the media were so far gone to the left that someone could shoot an unarmed protester on camera, right in the nation's capitol, and get away with it--so long as the protester were a Trump supporter--then maybe that's not a conspiracy theory anymore.

[Mother's Lament]

A shadowy Russian plot with hookers and pee "discovered" by the Hillary campaign isn't a conspiracy, and the US needs to spend four years and hundreds of millions investigating it.

Accusations and video of ballot box stuffing committed by the agents of election candidates on the other hand, is loony toons and beyond the pale, and the girl deserved to be shot for believing it.

[Ken Shultz]

The FBI submitting a warrant to tap the phones of a presidential campaign--based on an affidavit containing testimony they knew to untrue (and knew was taken from opposition research by his opponent's political campaign--that's a crazy conspiracy theory, isn't it?!

Who would believe such a thing!

[Mother's Lament]

In the last four years we've seen Obama get away with Watergate to the power of ten, and his Vice President get away with selling influence to personally enrich himself.
Meanwhile, we've watched his successor get impeached once for pointing it out, and a second time for inciting an insurrection that he didn't incite and never actually happened.

If any American points at Cuba, or Venezuela, or Egypt in the future and tuts, they should get their hand smacked.

[The White Knight]

You are not part of “We”, Canadian dude.

[Sevo]

"You are not part of “We”, Canadian dude."

Yep. That "we" is you and the turd in your mouth.

[The White Knight]

Fuck off. You are a traitor to American democracy and civil society.

[JesseAz]

LOL. After his fake apology for being "mean" 2 days ago.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

WK is broken.

[Ken Shultz]

Your bigotry is disgusting.

[JesseAz]

Ahh, selective political xenophobia because he has no intelligent argument. Never change chipper.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland]

You are aware that Canadians can watch American politics right?

[Mother's Lament]

Me - "In the last four years we’ve seen"
White Knight - "You are not part of “We”, Canadian"

Oh, I haven't seen it?
The whole world has seen it you pettifogging flake. America doesn't exist in an alternative dimension.

Here's a a great example of how dishonest this piece of shit is with his cheap rhetoric.
He takes a single word out of a sentence, changes it's inference and then tries to lawyer against it. In this case he's taken the "we" when speaking about witnessing something, and tried to change the implication to the idea that I was identifying as a nationality that I'm not.

"Oh, but a child would see through that", you say? Of course, but White Knight is a fucking clown who doesn't even know the chemical formulae for water.

[Zeb]

Canadians can't see or watch things?

[Fat Mike's Drug Habit]

Their square heads limit peripheral vision.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

Well, yeah, but they still see some stuff, right?

Maybe ML is Scott? Nah. Scott’s a dick.

[Dean Kolus]

"we’ve seen"

"The White Knight
January.14.2021 at 10:47 am
You are not part of “We”, Canadian dude"

THE RETARD THINKS CANADIANS DON'T HAVE EYES LOLOLOLO

[JesseAz]

No idea, but laughed out loud.

[billy yum-yum two-by-two]

WTF is wrong with you?

[Ken Shultz]

People will wake up to this shit.

There was a time when questioning whether the Iraqi people really wanted us to bomb, invade, and occupy their country would get you called a racists by a mob of Republican invaders from other sites.

Now opposing forever wars is a Republican standard, and little Miss Cheney may be out on her ass the next time she runs for election in Wyoming.

There's no question in most people's minds but that both Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton were corrupt pieces of shit, or that Barack Obama was a neocon warmonger, who sold our privacy rights short to the NSA.

The frustrating thing is when we have Cassandra syndrome, and we see what's happening and why--and people just won't listen to us for whatever reason. They'll never react well to, "I told you so", but long after this is over, they'll understand and appreciate what really happened and why.

It's just that when they finally get it, it'll be too late to avoid the negative consequences of their poor decisions. Recognizing our mistakes after the fact isn't good enough. We need to see them clearly in real time and avoid them.

The Democrats and the government and the news media and big tech are all one in the same thing for the next two years. People will understand what they're doing to protesters and protesting and why in the coming months, but most of the damage will be done in Biden's first 100 days.

The ONLY ONLY ONLY way we have to maybe influence policy and prevent packing the Court, the Green New Deal, a massive assault on our gun rights, etc. over the next 100 days is probably a massive protest in Washington DC, and given that fact, it shouldn't be surprising to see the Democratic party, the government, the news media, and big tech working together to make such a massive protest movement practically impossible.

People will get it eventually, but by then, it will be too late.

[Ron]

Massive protest yes but without the violence and hopefully republicans have learned from this. we must reserve the violence for when it is a last choice.

[Ken Shultz]

They won't let the massive demonstration I'm talking about take place.

They shut down Parler to stop people from organizing. They block every post on Facebook that says "stop the steal".

They've put 15,000 national guardsmen around Washington DC.

They're preventing that protest. That protest won't happen until it's too late.

[Serial Microaggressor]

You don't seem to quite get it. Even if there's no violence in the protest, the feds can just whip out another false flag operation. They've done it many times in the past, and plausibly at the capitol, so what's stopping them now?

[Bill Godshall]

"The ONLY ONLY ONLY way we have to maybe influence policy and prevent packing the Court, the Green New Deal, a massive assault on our gun rights, etc. over the next 100 days is probably a massive protest in Washington DC, and given that fact, it shouldn’t be surprising to see the Democratic party, the government, the news media, and big tech working together to make such a massive protest movement practically impossible."

Joe Manchin and Jon Tester are two Democrat Senators who can/will be influenced by their constituents back home, most of whom voted for Trump (especially in WV).

After Schumer realizes that he doesn't have even close to the 67 Senate votes needed to convict Trump (and may not even get 51 votes), he'll likely decide to NOT waste the Senate's time and on an impeachment trial of Trump.

And after Schumer realizes that he doesn't have the 51 Senate votes necessary to end the filibuster, he and other Senate Democrats will stop talking about packing the SCOTUS and federal courts, and stop talking about adding one or two more states, and stop talking about AOC's green new deal that will be DOA in the Senate.

[Ken Shultz]

I hope you're right, Bill.

An impeachment trial would certainly burn through some of their political capital--and if they need to spend it on something, it'll probably be packing the court. Once they do that, all the unconstitutional things they want to do (from the Green New Deal to the assault on our gun rights) gets a lot easier.

Schumer may not be on the same page as Biden and Pelosi in terms of the future not mattering anymore. Pelosi has promised not to seek the Speaker's chair in 2022, and Biden will be too old and decrepit to run for office in 2024. Schumer has a political future, and he presumably cares about it--even if Biden and Pelosi are going kamikaze.

[Don't look at me!]

Biden is too old and decrepit to be in office in 2021.

[Ken Shultz]

Still, we're depending on the kindness of . . . not just strangers, but our enemies.

[Dan_In_Philly]

Yeah you would think a story like Ashli Babbitt's murder would be right up Sullum's alley, considering what a great job he did covering the tragic Tuttle/Nicholas drug raid in Houston.

Maybe that's on his calendar for January 21, 2021.

[The White Knight]

She might have brought on some of this herself, don’t you think, by trying to take the Capitol building by force.

[Sevo]

"...trying to take the Capitol building by force."

Once again, there is no use engaging an 'intellect' incapable of recognizing the difference between honest and dishonest, but asshole of such limited abilities still need to be called out on their bullshit.

[The White Knight]

Fuck off. You are trying to excuse an attempt to take the Capitol building, and overthrow American democracy, by force.

[JesseAz]

Nobody was taking the capitol building. A bunch of people taking selfies isn't the act of someone trying to storm and take over a building.

Your histrionics to push a political point of view are duly noted.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland]

Flag refresh, your comment is offensive

[Mother's Lament]

Look at this disgusting shill lie to about his Reichstag fire.
This fascist fuck is the mouthpiece for the new totalitarians and we need to regard him as such.

[Sevo]

"Fuck off. You are trying to excuse an attempt to take the Capitol building, and overthrow American democracy, by force."

Propaganda when assholes like this have nothing else.
Stuff it up your ass, so your TDS has some company.

[Sevo]

"...You are trying to excuse an attempt to take the Capitol building,.."

The stupid is deep here!

[Fat Mike's Drug Habit]

Which is why none of the protestors had guns, even though they all definitely own them. Because they wanted to overthrow democracy by force.

[OneSimpleLesson]

Yikes Yikes Yikes Yikes Yikes Yikes Yikes.

[OneSimpleLesson]

So you're saying... She was asking for it?

[Ken Shultz]

Hey, if you don't want to get shot for protesting against progressive policies on public property, don't protest against progressive policies on public policy!

They'll rationalize it away. Demonizing the victim is part of that, but mostly it's about staying out of the way of "progress".

That they rationalize shooting unarmed protesters as a defense of democracy shouldn't be surprising, but there's no good reason to believe that they care about the people they're claiming to be representing when they're shooting unarmed protesters.

When the military kills civilians, they claim it's unintentional. They weren't targeting civilians.

When the right defends a cop for shooting someone, they argue it was in self-defense--or they say it was a bad apple.

No, it wasn't unintentional like a bombing in Afghanistan, and no, it wasn't a bad apple on the force--because shooting that armed protester needed to be done! Only progressives justify shooting unarmed protesters in terms of the greater good. And it's sooooooo disgusting.

[Ken Shultz]

". . . shooting that armed [unarmed] protester needed to be done!"

You knew what I meant.

[Ken Shultz]

Shooting unarmed protesters is disgusting.

Defending the shooting of unarmed protesters is also disgusting.

Civil disobedience is still disobedience--bang bang?!

That's pathetic.

[Ken Shultz]

Progressivism is practically defined as using the coercive power of government to force people to make sacrifices for the common good as they see it, and, in all seriousness, there isn't anything about shooting anti-progressive protesters that is inconsistent with that definition.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

""to make sacrifices for the common good as they see it""

Including your own belief system.

[OneSimpleLesson]

To avoid accusations of hypocrisy, lets be clear. Just as in the case of any shooting, the details matter. Just as in any police involved shooting. Just because Breona Taylor was shot and killed by police, that doesn't mean all the police are guilty of murder.

I haven't watched the video, as I've heard it's disturbing, and I don't need that playing in my head.

Was this a legitimate use of lethal force? I don't think so.
But if taken to trial, could this police officer convince a jury that he was in fear of his life? Probably.

[Ken Shultz]

Absolutely the situation matters, but I don't see White Knight justifying the shooting in those terms.

I will defend a cop shooting someone in self-defense. White Knight isn't saying this is justified because the cop was shooting in self-defense.

I will call a cop a bad apple or blame him if the shooting was unjustified. White Knight isn't saying that the shooting was justified or saying that the cop was a bad apple that should be prosecuted.

Some people might say that the cop that shot Breonna Taylor shot her unintentionally. He was returning fire against someone that was shooting at him. That isn't what White Knight is saying in this case.

White Knight is saying that it was appropriate to shoot an unarmed protester--because she was trespassing.

Some people get so upset and partisan that they lose their minds. That's White Knight's best defense here. He hates President Trump so much, that he lost his mind and started defending the shooting of unarmed protesters because they were pro-Trump and trespassing. For all we know, he's going through a divorce or something.

[OneSimpleLesson]

Good points. I think this is wear most Libertarians would fall.

Was the Police officer's mindset that this woman was coming into the Capitol to overthrow the American Government?
Doubtful. But that seems to be why people aren't calling for his head.
I definitely think it's worth an inquiry though. Did any other police discharge their weapons during the riot? What made this guy justified in his use? Is WK really saying more rioters should have been shot? Would that make him feel better?

[Bill Godshall]

Police are trained to NOT shoot unarmed nonviolent people, and are trained to never pull or point their gun at someone unless they acting in self defense.

And yet, photos and videos have shown dozens of Capitol Police pointing their loaded guns as unarmed nonviolent protesters (and being praised for doing so by Democrats and their left wing media propagandists), and in the case of Ashli Babbitt shot her dead (which nobody has apologized for).

I still haven't seen/read any news stories naming the cop who shot Babbitt. But yet, the names of the Minneapolis cops who detained George Floyd were released within an hour of the event.

But MN AG Keith Ellison refused to release the video showing 15 minutes of police trying to detain Floyd earlier until Labor Day (that exonerated and justified the subsequent actions by police), which incited the violent race riots by BLM (which morphed into defund the police riots) in dozens of US cities all summer long.

[DarrenM]

I watched the video. There were people in front of locked doors. Two or three of them were banking on the glass. The doors appears to be shaking a bit. I'm pretty sure that if they had wanted to, they could have easily broken through the doors. The windows had cracked. The one on the right finally broke entirely. Ashli Babbitt hopped up to squat on the sill. At that point, the shooter came from the left and shot her. He was about 6 to 8 feet away at the time of the shot. I have trouble believing he was really in fear for his life, but who can say what his mindset was at the time. If he was really in fear, he should not have that job.

[Truth Moderator]

Some or all of the comment shared is disputed and may be misleading about elections, politics, human nature, and/or reality in general.

[Zeb]

How the fuck was anyone gong to "take the capitol building"? Seriously? What evidence is there that there was any attempt to take over or force anything? This is just fucking absurd. It was an unruly protest that got out of hand. The stated intent was to try to get the house not to certify the electoral vote. And I didn't see any actions that tried to go beyond that. There have been tons of protests that disrupted legislative sessions. This is not new or a unique danger to anything. It sucks that people got hurt but that's the worst of it.

[perlhaqr]

No, he meant they were going to *take* the Capitol Building. Like, *away*. On a big truck.

That dome has to be worth *something*, man.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Not going to happen Ken, see Boston Massacre. British troops were in their legal right to fire on the crowd then just as the Capitol police were now. Dems should look to that as well. British arrogance in their governance of the colonies didn't work out for them.

[Mother's Lament]

"photographed in the Capitol building making an obscene gesture in front of the John Stark statue."

Sure they didn't vandalize or tear the statue down like their moral and social betters spent the summer doing, but posing is the new insurrection. Right White Knight?

Besides, they were trespassing something, something (even though the video shows security removing the barriers opening the doors and ushering people in https://twitter.com/midlifewomanon1/status/1346938214867738625 ).

Of course that's all different because shut up, Russian bot.

[raspberrydinners]

I mean, if you weren't a complete idiot you could see that two wrongs do not make a right. That and tumbling down a statue is quite different than fomenting insurrection at the Capitol.

But hey- you're the victim. Always. Maybe try personal responsibility at some point whenever you decide to put on your big boy pants.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

tumbling down a statue is quite different than fomenting insurrection at the Capitol

Gaslight or parody, that is some slick shit you are peddling there. Like we are supposed to forget the attack on Rand Paul or the Guard troops lining the steps when the Capitol Mall was being targeted for attack.

It is exactly the fucking same you outrageous cunt.

[Mother's Lament]

Go fuck yourself fascist.
Right here on Reason you endorsed looting and rioting in the first instance, and now you're going to pretend it's a wrong?
Fuck you. You don't have the right.

And you still haven't said what makes your Reichstag fire an "insurrection" when all the other (worse) instances last year weren't.
You're just a fifty-center and your arguments are worth used used toilet paper until you start becoming honest.

[The White Knight]

Link to where raspberrydinners “ endorsed looting and rioting in the first instance”.

You cannot. You’re just making shit up.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

tumbling down a statue is quite different than fomenting insurrection at the Capitol

There you go. The continual attempts to rationalize events that took place during the summer riots as less of an offense against the Republic is evidence of a de facto endorsement of the rioting. Previous comments about businesses having insurance are evidence of a de facto endorsement of the looting.

You are out of your depth and flailing these days, WK.

[Mother's Lament]

Hold on.
I'll give you one of yours too, fucking Mouth of Sauron wannabes.

[Ken Shultz]

DFTT

[The White Knight]

And if he weren’t a disingenuous prick who never argues in good faith he wouldn’t be attaching my name to an argument I have never made.

[JesseAz]

Were you talking to a mirror for that comment? Honest question.

[Mother's Lament]

The White Knight
July.1.2020 at 7:50 pm
This doesn’t disprove Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf’s point. (Which is my point, too.) If someone is just there protesting, and not trespassing and not handing out guns, then they are just there protesting. There isn’t some kind of collective group guilt by association that attaches to an innocent protestor.

We libertarians, who ascribe to individualism, aren’t supposed to engage in guilt by association.

[Mother's Lament]

The White Knight
July.1.2020 at 6:33 pm
As I’ve said before, as a libertarian, I judge people as individuals. There is no “the protestors” and “the rioters”; when you talk about groups of individuals with such a broad brush you are referencing granfalloons that exist only in your mind.

[Mother's Lament]

The White Knight
July.1.2020 at 7:52 pm
B.S. If you are hanging around, and not engaging in looting yourself, you are not doing anything wrong.

[Mother's Lament]

The White Knight
July.1.2020 at 6:44 pm
Every single one, eh? You’ve reviewed the actions of each and every protestor?

[Mother's Lament]

The White Knight
September.17.2020 at 12:15 am
“They”. We don’t charge “they”‘s with crimes. We charge individuals, for what that individual person did.

[Mother's Lament]

The White Knight
September.17.2020 at 12:17 am
You just described two crimes, vandalism and arson, that carry appropriate sentences if someone is convicted. You did not just describe sedition, which is a different crime.

[Mother's Lament]

The White Knight
September.17.2020 at 12:18 am
How is this not the right-wing equivalent of piling on “hate” charges on top of charges for the actual crime committed.

[Mother's Lament]

The White Knight
September.17.2020 at 12:21 am
But even if BLM has the goal of bringing down capitalism, bringing down capitalism is not sedition against the government of the United States, which is only kinda sorta capitalist anyhow.

[Mother's Lament]

The White Knight
September.17.2020 at 12:24 am
Perhaps some of the rioting. A lot of it is spontaneous and not organized by anyone. It doesn’t take that much organization to get disaffected people to riot.

[Mother's Lament]

The White Knight
September.21.2020 at 10:11 pm
Not really. Poorly governed, yes, but not fitting the definition of anarchy at all. Especially, if we are taking about the anarchy classification being used for official Federal government purposes.

[Mother's Lament]

The White Knight
September.22.2020 at 5:51 pm
If they are enforcing things such as mask laws and distancing mandates, then they are enforcing something and it is by definition not an anarchy. Portland is being governed poorly, but that is not anarchy. Words mean something.

Words like "Insurrection" you fascist fuck?</b

[JesseAz]

*Stand-up Applause*

[perlhaqr]

Jesus Christ, when you crucify someone you break out the full-auto nail gun, doncha?

Well done.

[billy yum-yum two-by-two]

holy shit, that was impressive. nice work

[Dean Kolus]

"he wouldn’t be attaching my name to an argument I have never made"

smells like sarcasmic

[JesseAz]

The only side that has called out the two wrong consistently is not the Democratic side.

[DarrenM]

You forgot about the tanks rolling through the streets and all the bombs going off. I'm really impressed what a couple hundred unarmed Trump supporters can do. Imagine if all 250,000 were also in on it and armed. They would easily take over the entire United States.

[The White Knight]

Why would antifa or other left-wing trespass and rioting, which is immoral and illegal, be an excuse for right-wing trespass and rioting?

[JesseAz]

It isn't. The GOP immediately denounced the capitol riots, they didn't fund raise it and support it and defend it like the left did.

I'm sure you can link one of your old denunciations of the BLM riot violence as well.

[Fat Mike's Drug Habit]

Because they got away with it and were encouraged by those in power to keep doing it?

Are you daft? The message for the last year is that if you've got something to say you say it with a molotov. The pearl-clutching by the media once right-wingers figured that out is hilarious.

[Gray_Jay]

"The message for the last year is that if you’ve got something to say you say it with a molotov. The pearl-clutching by the media once right-wingers figured that out is hilarious."

It's especially hilarious since the Right still hasn't figured it out, and media/Congress still flipped out. If the Right ever did start to apply violence, these people would completely lose their minds.

I've said it before here: you will know the Far Right has gotten serious about fighting back when you read of politicians, judges, media and tech executives that have been complicit in this takeover, getting killed on their way to work. Not getting into fights with cops. Shooting the Archers, not the Arrows.

It will be a world tragedy when that happens, and it isn't anything to look forward to.

[Gray_Jay]

Ken's statement about large scale protests against the three main policy goals of the Biden Administration, is far, far preferable to the Right figuring out that violence works.

[Fat Mike's Drug Habit]

Yes, what happened at the Capitol was tame compared to what could've gone down. None of those people brought guns with them even though they certainly could've, had they intended for real violence to occur they'd have been heavily armed.

I agree that it is tragic and not something to root for. I hope the left is smart enough to just stop antagonizing the right, there's nothing to gain and you're just increasing the likelihood of violence. You won all the offices you needed to win to completely ignore the right, that's what you should do. They have no desire to leave anyone alone though, so I suspect this gets worse before it gets better.

[Nardz]

But will it be a greater tragedy than losing the republic to totalitarian leftism because one doesn't want to rock the status quo?

[Gray_Jay]

Ask a Venezuelan? Since we're adopting the rest of Latin American culture---including now boarding the military in the Capitol to safeguard the change of leadership ceremony---I guess we're adopting death squads and caudillos too.

[DarrenM]

The aftermath of civil war has never been pretty, so people need to be damn sure there is no other option.

[Roberta]

No, you'll know it when you look up statistics and find an anomalous number of such persons have been dying of natural causes, or when the rumors are heard about their having not been seen in a long time.

[Gray_Jay]

Like Jack Ma? Has anyone seen him lately, after he decided to give a less than laudatory speech about the CCP and Xi?

[Square = Circle]

Word is he's "voluntarily laying low."

[TrickyVic (old school)]

It's not. But there is a question of equal protection under law. Or the unequal application of law. If we want to start charging people with sedition, then those who were part of the Seattle autonomous zone should be arrested too.

In communist land, those who support the party can get away with things non-supporters cannot.

[The White Knight]

You seem to be implying that I have said it was OK for left-wingers to trespass and destroy. I never have said such a thing.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland]

Okay I say what you said. Supporting trump is an idea, and ideas can't stom buildings and riots

[Mother's Lament]

He definitely implied it, see all the posts of his I just reposted above. I've since found at least 100 more. Many particularly damning, but I'm not sure how many I should post before I become a spammer.

I can hardly wait until he makes the claim again.

[JesseAz]

Nor did you ever denounce it. You did a lot of "you can't prove they were political actors in said violence" though.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

I've heard from the left that if you don't denounce it, you are part of it.

One set of rules for thee, another for me.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

What happen to riots are the voice of the unheard?

[raspberrydinners]

Imagine being so dumb you do this as a cop and then leave it up on social media.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

Lucky bastard, you don't have to imagine it.

[Sevo]

Imagine assuming being at a protest was legal!

[The White Knight]

It wasn’t illegal until they trespassed on the Capitol building by force. Then it was. Apparently, you need such a simple thing explained to you.

[Ken Shultz]

Since when does trespassing justify shooting unarmed protesters?

Have you no ethics whatsoever?

[Lord of Strazele]

They were wild animals screaming for blood trying to break down doors. Its lucky more weren't killed. I blame the mfers who lied to this women and filled her head with poison.

[Ken Shultz]

Can't tell if this comment is meant to be so stupid it's funny, or whether it's really just that stupid.

[Lord of Strazele]

It's all on video Ken. It will live in infamy. The Republican lying and gaslighting will also live in infamy.

[Mother's Lament]

No, none of what you wrote is on video.

Show me a clip showing what you wrote you fascist mouthpiece.

[Sevo]

Go with "stupid".

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

They were wild animals screaming for blood trying to break down doors.

Nice try Goebbels. If you tried this dehumanization shit on black protestors, you would be deplatformed faster than you could blink.

It doesn't work both ways, you National-Socialist wannbe.

[Dean Kolus]

"They were wild animals screaming for blood "

"Wilding" I think it's called.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

They were wild animals screaming for blood

Uh, if that was the case, don't you think the body count would have been a lot higher than a cop who got clopped in the bean with a fire extinguisher outside the building?

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

The trespass of some doesn't make the right for all others to assemble and protest illegal. That is where the great lie that is being promoted in the narrative falls down. The fact that so many in the media are clamoring to make Trump responsible for the actions based on what he said should scare the shit out of you, not anger you. If you are not right, you're next.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

""The trespass of some doesn’t make the right for all others to assemble and protest illegal. ""

Depends on your fealty to the party. This is true if you are a party member. But if you are not, then it's guilt by association.

[JesseAz]

The protest remained legal for the 95% of people there. Unlike BLM which you defended all last year, the outside crowd never stopped the cops from acting nor tried to allow people fleeing the cops to blend in.

[Mother's Lament]

What about the five other times protesters trespassed at the Capitol and the White House in 2020, Mr. Totalitarian Mouthpiece.

[Ken Shultz]

"It wasn’t illegal until they trespassed on the Capitol building by force. Then it was. Apparently, you need such a simple thing explained to you."

Incidentally, shooting unarmed shoplifters is also unacceptable.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

China's overall surplus for the year hit a record $535 billion, up 27% from 2019. Exports, meanwhile, rose to an all-time high.

"Amid all the noises on de-coupling and de-globalization, somewhat unexpectedly, the pandemic has deepened the ties between China and the rest of the world," wrote Larry Hu, chief China economist for Macquarie Capital, in a research report.

Somewhat unexpectedly? Not promoting a conspiracy theory here, but between their economic windfall due to their ability to lockdown their population at will and maintain production and the damage the pandemic did to Trump, China is the big winner in Wuhan-virus sweepstakes. Who could not have predicted that?

[Moonrocks]

It doesn't prove that the wuflu was intentionally released, but I'll be damned if an intentional release of the wuflu wouldn't look exactly like this.

[Ken Shultz]

For what it's worth

1) China's exports soaring in November is probably a function of the U.S. economy swinging back to life as the lockdowns started easing.

They're an export economy, and as the U.S. and European consumers start spending again, they're the first ones in the cycle to enjoy it. This is a snapshot of one point in time. This isn't the new normal.

2) The Chinese are imposing lockdowns again to contain new outbreaks.

"This flareup, concentrated in the northeast, which is now seeing its worst wave yet, coincides with the arrival of the World Health Organization-led team of experts in Wuhan, where the disease first emerged in late 2019. The team will spend around a month, including two weeks of quarantine, for their investigation into the origins of the pandemic.

Hebei accounted for 81 of the 124 local infections, while Heilongjiang reported 43 such cases a day after it declared a state of emergency. More than 28 million people are already in lockdown as the two provinces try to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The exact origin of this new outbreak is unclear.

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-china-cases-idUKKBN29I069

[Gray_Jay]

"...coincides with the arrival of the World Health Organization-led team of experts in Wuhan, where the disease first emerged in late 2019. The team will spend around a month, including two weeks of quarantine, for their investigation into the origins of the pandemic..."

Gee, I wonder what the WHO's findings will be, LOL.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland]

They will find it is the US and can ands fault for letting the Chinese steal so many pathogens

[Gray_Jay]

NIH did bankroll the first rounds of Shi's work doing gain of function testing on bat coronaviruses at institutions like UNC. Right up until Congress said, 'You're doing what!?', and amazingly the BSL-IV lab in Wuhan came into public existence a short time later.

Part of this shit is our fault. I blame the initial hysteria---of which i was completely guilty of helping---from seeing the Chinese going full retard trying to contain this thing. That, and i doubt it will ever be proven, I'm guessing came from the Chinese version of the OIG going into that lab, examining their access protocols, material controls/inventories, and general recordkeeping, and concluding they had no idea just what in the fuck could have gotten out of that thing. They assumed the worst. (I'm mildly surprised their wasn't an accidental nuclear detonation there in an attempt at curettage. Guess it wasn't that bad.)

They certainly manipulated the crisis magnificently.

[Dean Kolus]

"For what it’s worth"

Nothing. It's worth nothing.

[Gray_Jay]

They need to get through the next six to nine months. Not because of WuFlu, but because they've suffered staggering losses in their agricultural sector, from a variety of catastrophes. Massive flooding of the Yangtze---I wonder just how close they came to having the Three Gorges breached---and a bunch of swine and avian flus have crushed domestic food production. Belt and Road farms, plus their large purchases of US agribusinesses in the last decade, are going to stave off the worst, I think, but they're in deep shit right now if someone screws with their shipping. They know it.

There's always WuFlu 2.0, of course. Many of our state governors are addicted to the stuff.

[Moonrocks]

Fortunately for Whinnie the Pooh, he now has very flexible partners ruling the US.

[DarrenM]

China will recover. Long term, it's more how the CCP manages (or mismanages) the country.

[Nardz]

Damn, they're starting earlier than even i thought

https://twitter.com/SaraCarterDC/status/1349710357904846849?s=19

#TheSaraCarterShow

BREAKING @TheAtilisGym tells me the government went into its bank account and wiped them clean for defying COVID lockdowns

[Gray_Jay]

"That's not how this works."

Seriously, I'm very curious at how .Gov is able to empty a bank account versus temporarily freezing it after a court order.

[Fat Mike's Drug Habit]

Civil asset forfeiture. He's using his money to keep his business open against the Emperor's orders, so all those proceeds are related to an ongoing criminal enterprise and can be seized without so much as formal charges being filed.

What a grand country.

[JesseAz]

This is the new normal that many here cheer.

[Nardz]

They'll eventually start coming after individual accounts too.

I don't like it when my predictions come true, but here we are.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Eventually, these fucks are going to do this to someone who won't have anything else to lose. When that happens, the results are typically not ideal.

[Mickey Rat]

"The paper "compared the percentage of all demonstrations organized by leftwing and rightwing groups that resulted in the use of force by law enforcement. For leftwing demonstrations, that was about 4.7% of protests, while for rightwing demonstrations, it was about 1.4%, meaning law enforcement was about three times more likely to use force against leftwing versus rightwing protests."

What was difference between the violence on the part of the right-wing protestors compared to the left wing protestors? That is kind of a important piece of data. Also that means that police did not use force for 95.3% of left wing protests versus 98.6% of right wing protests.

[creech]

So that's really evidence of "mostly peaceful." It would be interesting to see, however, the "tons of trash left behind" statistics for each kind of rally.

[OneSimpleLesson]

The attached study first states that the difference is regardless of whether the protests are violent or not, but close to the end they state: "Overall, 94% of the leftwing demonstrations in the past ten months were peaceful, compared with 96% of the rightwing demonstrations, according to ACLED’s most recently updated data."

They follow by saying these results may not be reliable, which is probably true. But lets try stating them in the same way they stated the headline figure:
For leftwing demonstrations, about 6 % of protests were violent, while rightwing demonstrations, about 4% were violent, meaning Left wing demonstrations were 33% more likely to be violent versus rightwing protests.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/13/us-police-use-of-force-protests-black-lives-matter-far-right

[JesseAz]

And the follow on, how many of the non violent protests were only non violent due to a show of police presence?

[Ron]

how much of the violence at rightwing protest were actually started by leftwingers attaching rightwingers? probably 99%

[Ron]

attacking not attaching

[Brandybuck]

Masks were never a stopgap measure. We are supposed to wear them voluntarily for the duration of the pandemic. I live in a heavily Asian area, and many were wearing masks hears after the SARS pandemic on Asia over a decade ago.

Masks should NOT be a lifestyle, as Asia has made them. But at the same time we should continue to wear them as the pandemic rages (mostly through government incompetence at all levels).

That people have chosen to make "mask freedom" there live-or-die issue is pathetic. You have the right to be an idiot, you do not have the right to inflict your idiocy on others.

[Claptrap]

It's a dumb hill to die on, but those people are necessary or mask panic will become de rigueur every flu season. They're also a minimal slice of the population (mask compliance is apparently near 90% according to polls).

[JesseAz]

The people that buy rocks to keep tigers away are bigger idiots, people like yourself.

There is zero correlation between mask policy and infection rates. Seen at county, state, and international levels.

[OneSimpleLesson]

The article is saying that COTTON MASKS were a stop gap measure until better, medical grade masks were widely available.

[7.62]

Princeton researchers looking at U.S. protests say American cops were three times more likely to use force against left-leaning than right-leaning protesters. The U.S. Crisis Monitor—"a database created this spring by researchers at Princeton and the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project (ACLED), a nonprofit that has previously monitored civil unrest in the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America"—found that law enforcement authorities used "teargas, rubber bullets, beatings with batons, and other force against demonstrators at 511 leftwing protests and 33 rightwing protests since April,"

Uhhh, maybe because the left riots more? The whole premise is misleading.

[Ken Shultz]

The left uses black blocs, one of the intended purposes of which is to antagonize the police into using violence against protesters (so it can be caught on camera to delegitimize the police in the minds of the public). It shouldn't be surprising if the left's attempts to provoke the police into violence are more successful--since they are trying to provoke the police. Should we be surprised to hear that mountain climbing accidents happen to mountain climbers disproportionately?

[Mickey Rat]

Twitter emphasizes the importance of Twiitter for free elections.

"Ahead of the Ugandan election, we're hearing reports that Internet service providers are being ordered to block social media and messaging apps," it began. "We strongly condemn internet shutdowns – they are hugely harmful, violate basic human rights and the principles of the #OpenInternet."

According to the thread, Twitter had suspended accounts of "state-backed actors" who were "targeting the election in Uganda," though the company did not relate specifics.

"Access to information and freedom of expression, including the public conversation on Twitter, is never more important than during democratic processes, particularly elections," Twitter declared.

[OneSimpleLesson]

They're acting liking a quasi-governmental entity.
Maybe they should be treated like a utility if that's true.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland]

Unless your republican

[Moonrocks]

I'm not the only one looking at this story and thinking that the current government of Uganda is the good one, am I? There's little chance the side that big tech is against is the bad side.

[creech]

It looks like Biden won't be tweeting about "biggliest inaugural crowds ever" (even if he counts the Natl Guard troops). But he still can pick a fight on day one with some C Level celebrity. Who will be his target?

[Serial Microaggressor]

"A Biden administration with a 50-50 Senate will seek unity and compromise wherever it can find it, and oppressing political dissidents will be the glue that holds together Biden's ability to govern."

You don't say.

(From a 2chili article) ...whose petulant refusal to accept his loss at the polls set the grounds for the violence that disrupted Congress’s count of Electoral College votes

This is the media line that justified the ending of any fraud investigation, plus all the political persecution. It’s all so transparent.

Meanwhile in China, some folks are all to familiar with this playbook.

Shen Yi, a professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs of Fudan University told the Global Times that the measure that Democrats and social media giants imposed on Trump and his supporters after the Capitol Hill riot is “a classic tactic for the US to overthrow a government overseas – using a conflict as an opportunity to incite the public by selectively spreading or muting specific information online,” to dominate the public opinion and create condition for a Color Revolution or a coup and eliminate a political force with made-up justification.
“The result has proven that the tactic is very effective. Trump and his supporters are doomed,” Shen said.

[Gray_Jay]

Global Times, so more than a little CCP wishcasting here. But Yi's main point is correct: this was a Red, White & Blue Color Revolution perpetrated against the American public over the last 10 months. And it worked.

[Unicorn Abattoir]

"I can't tell you the anger I feel at the thought of a police officer, and other police officers, thinking they get to go storm the Capitol," Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said at a Wednesday press conference.

It would be different if they had a warrant based on false information from a non-existent confidential informant, but we have to draw the line somewhere.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Off-duty police officers from around the country are turning up in photos and video footage from the January 6 Capitol riot.

See, we can hold officers accountable. They just need to be shouting "MAGA!" while they break the law.

[Ken Shultz]

"President-elect Joe Biden is expected later Thursday to unveil details on his proposed spending package to support households and businesses. Many investors are counting on additional stimulus to help the economy recoup wide-ranging losses stemming from the coronavirus pandemic and restrictions put in place to fight it."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-stock-markets-dow-update-01-14-2021-11610613656?

Fuck.

[Serial Microaggressor]

If you don't need Biden's handouts, then you ain't black.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland]

If you ain't been fasly imprisoned by Harris you ain't black

[Mr. Tibbs]

“ China is winning the trade war Trump started.“ Whoever wrote that is an economic idiot. When are we going to get the piece about Apple winning the trade war against US consumers?

[mad.casual]

After Donald Trump won and then lost a war that couldn't be won or lost, Chuck Norris reconsidered his position as the world's primary exporter of pain.

[I, Woodchipper]

Not only did the Virginia cops photograph themselves breaking the law, they also posted about it themselves on social media.

Serious question, is walking around inside the capital building "breaking the law"?

Did they film themselves vandalizing? (yes I'm making fun of WhiteKnight)

[BigGiveNotBigGov]

Trump's copsucking had a purpose beyond their mutual personal pleasure, building his own insurrectionist paramilitary.

Trump is a really old guy, and his life is a perfect mimic of the facade lives of those old closeted Hollywood stars.

As the Cold War Brits could recount, closeted homoerotic / homosexual relationships have not infrequently played a part in treason.

Cops, Trump, and all kinds of assorted homoerotic cosplay; maybe we should call Trump's: The Village Peoples' Insurrection.

[OneSimpleLesson]

Sqrsly? Is that you?

[Fat Mike's Drug Habit]

No one wants to read your homoerotic Trump fan fiction, although this is one of the funnier examples of projection I've seen in these parts.

[Sometimes Bad Is Bad]

Come out of the closet already. if you cannot be honest with yourself why would we take what you write seriously.

[Roberta]

You're calling it a riot, I'm calling it a sit-in...or maybe stand-in in this case...and I feel exactly the same as the cop in that Twit or Facebook or whatever it was. How are these the bad guys? Does ENB actually think anyone here would be sympathetic to what she's written?

[mamabug]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/13/us/politics/republicans-capitol-tours.html

Democrat Congressmen accusing their Republican colleagues of actually conspiring to help plan the breach of the Capitol without evidence. On Facebook. If this isn't an attempt to remove them from any power (even the power to object) I don't know what is. I no longer see how this ends well.

[I, Woodchipper]

And facebook has removed their accounts for spreading misinformation right?

[jcambro]

I'd love to hear them explain how they feel about the death of one cop and the 56 cops sent to the hospital. Really makes you wonder what kind of people support this President.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

I’d love to hear them explain how they feel about the death of one cop and the 56 cops sent to the hospital.

Broke: "All Cops Are Bastards"
Woke: "Back the Blue!"

[DarrenM]

"thinking they get to go storm the Capitol"

I guess they forgot to apply for the permits to storm the Capitol.

[Ghost on the Highway]

"The paper "compared the percentage of all demonstrations organized by leftwing and rightwing groups that resulted in the use of force by law enforcement. For leftwing demonstrations, that was about 4.7% of protests, while for rightwing demonstrations, it was about 1.4%, meaning law enforcement was about three times more likely to use force against leftwing versus rightwing protests."

Hmmm, a more interesting number would be how many left wing demonstrations were violent campared to right wing protests. I don't recall right wing protests setting fires, looting stores, pulling down statues, destroying property, trying to burn down federal court houses. Like 100 days of rioting in Portland and the nationwide BLM riots of 2020. If your protest is violent and destroying property and hurting people; the police are much more likely to take action. Duh.

[Tionico]

quote: "he Jan. 6 rally in support of President Trump that sparked a riot at the U.S. Capitol,""

The Trump raly DID NOT "spark" the invasioin/riot at the Capitol. If all 500,000 that were listening to Trum HAD moved quickly the one and a half miles to the Capitol and decided THEY WANT IN there was nothing there that couldhave stopepdthem.
Try=um ementioned the bunch peacefully and patriotically going over therre.... his address eneded Ffifteen minutes AFTER the breach had already happned. HOW coud Trumps words, or even the rally itself,m sark a ruiot a mile and a haf distant that started fifteen minutes BEFORE the rally ended? Then when some DID arrive over at the Cap buiding, the CapCops politely and kindly and calmly oened the barriers and waved them inside. How is THAT a "takeover" or an "occupatio" any more than a crowd of people walking into a WalMart dto do some shopping? Get it righ, folks. Trump DID NOTHING to incite any vioence."Further the vast majoryt of thse wo DID enter the Captiol builind, being waved in past the opened baricades, were NOT damagin,g stealing, breaking, firing, messing up.. they stayed inside the cordons, were calm, peaceabl,e did no harm. Meanwhile Antifa WERE in fact doing damage.. stealing things, laptops, damaging things, breaking a glass door, other stuff....

[Sevo]

Flag, refresh. Much better.

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

If the POTUS made the poultice it would be a polar police poultry POTUS poultice.
Say that 10 times

[MatthewSlyfield]

"That 10 times really fast."

Gee, that was easy.

[SQRLSY One]

Clutter-pig! How many times are you gonna clutter it all up for us, asshole? Go amuse yourself by abusing yourself, instead of abusing this forum! Please!

[tisofom753]

Get $192 hourly from Google!…Yes this is Authentic since I just got my first payout of $24413 and this was just of a single week…POIlkj I have also bought my Range Rover Velar right after this payout…It is really cool job I have ever had and you won’t forgive yourself if you do not check it.......Home Profit System

[kinejid751]

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[SQRLSY One]

Cool, thanks, you have out-done me!

[SQRLSY One]

Whoa there! If the POTUS did this while farting loudly on His Porcelain Throne, to the point of suffering, and some high-blown "artistic" poets wanted to artsy-fartsy-like commemorate His Farty-Suffering, we'd be looking at some...

polar police poultry POTUS poultice pooty-potty pity-party pretty pretentious poetry!

[Sevo]

Flag, refresh; steaming pile of shit disappears!

[JesseAz]

I find it amusing sarcasmic had gone all in on his sock.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

Shit, the Chinese know I know something. The intimidation has started.

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

You always have to work the poop angle into it, don't you...

That makes it
polar police poultry POTUS poultice pooty-pooty pity-party pretty proggy pretentious poop poetry!

[SQRLSY One]

Thanks! Shine on, you crazy diamond! Excellent, kudos!

[SQRLSY'S own words]

You said you want to eat shit.

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

And people say you are alliterate.

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