What’s happening in Washington is terrifying

“Statement by President George W. Bush on Insurrection at the Capital

Laura and I are watching the scenes of mayhem unfolding in our Nation’s government in disbelief and dismay. It is a sickening and heartbreaking sight. This is how election results are disputed in a banana republic — not our democratic republic. I am appalled by the reckless behavior of some political leaders since the election and by the lack of respect shown today for our institutions, our traditions, and our law enforcement. The violent assault on the Capital — and disruption of a Constitutionally-mandated meeting of Congress — was undertaken by people whose passions have been inflamed by falsehoods and false hopes. Insurrection could do grave damage to our Nation and reputation. In the United States of America, it is the fundamental responsibility of every patriotic citizen to support the rule of law. To those who are disappointed in the results of the election: Our country is more important than the politics of the moment. Let the officials elected by the people fulfill their duties and represent our voices in peace and safety. May God continue to bless the United States of America.”

32 thoughts on “What’s happening in Washington is terrifying”

  4. 3 hr 48 min ago
    First wave of National Guard arriving at US Capitol will be unarmed
    From CNN’s Oren Liebermann

    The first 150 DC Guardsmen are expected to arrive at the US Capitol at any moment, according to a senior Defense official.

    These guardsmen are part of the new Guard forces activated today.

    These Guardsmen are wearing protective gear and carrying riot equipment, but they have no lethal or non-lethal weapons, the source said.

    Their sole purpose right now is to back up Capitol police and to help re-establish a perimeter around the Capitol. They will stay as long as is needed, based on the conditions on the street. They are not doing any law enforcement activities – and that will also be true of the remaining Guardsmen as they are ready to head for the Capitol.

    There are no plans to bring in active duty troops at this point, the official said.

    https://www.cnn.com/webview/politics/live-news/congress-electoral-college-vote-count-2021/h_9c90b7d55c9f143cc475068e691f9682

  5. 3 hr 10 min ago
    US Secret Service bringing in every available agent to White House and Naval Observatory
    From CNN’s Betsy Klein
    The US Secret Service is significantly ramping up coverage and bringing additional agents from the region to the White House, Naval Observatory, and USSS headquarters after today’s unrest, a source familiar with the situation said.

    https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/congress-electoral-college-vote-count-2021/h_a6424357b240cda40166f9983b2e2169

  6. The violence at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday was unprecedented in modern U.S. history — but some pro-Trump extremists are promising it was just a taste of things to come.

    “Many of Us will return on January 19, 2021, carrying Our weapons, in support of Our nation’s resolve, towhich [sic] the world will never forget!!!” one person wrote on Parler, a site friendly to right-wing extremists. “We will come in numbers that no standing army or police agency can match.”

    That post was one of dozens spotted by the Alethea Group, which tracks online threats and disinformation. Various virtual fliers circulating on social media promise an “armed march” on Capitol Hill and in every state capital a few days before the inauguration. Other posts promise violence on Inauguration Day itself. One post encourages supporters to meet in D.C. specifically to prevent President-elect Joe Biden from entering the White House.

    https://www.npr.org/sections/congress-electoral-college-tally-live-updates/2021/01/09/955289141/as-inauguration-nears-concern-grows-of-more-violence-to-come

  7. The attack on the U.S. Capitol may have been set the stage for more violence to come, U.S. intelligence agencies are warning in a new advisory. The joint bulletin distributed by the National Counterterrorism Center and the Justice and Homeland Security Departments — and first reported by the New York Times — suggests violent extremists, emboldened by the last week’s riots, “may exploit the aftermath of the Capitol breach by conducting attacks to destabilize and force a climactic conflict in the United States.”
    Specifically, the advisory singles out the Boogaloo — a movement fomented online with the explicit goal of murdering members of law enforcement in the hopes of sparking a second civil war — as a serious threat. The memo tracks with dispatches from corners of the internet where Boogaloo dwell. The Intercept, monitoring a Telegram channel called “Boogaloo Intel Drop,” reports that the channel’s more than 6,000 subscribers “have called for the murder of police officers with increased fervor and elevated Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran killed by Capitol Police during the riot, to the status of a martyr.”

    The Daily Beast detailed a similar advisory distributed by the Secret Service warning of multiple events planned in D.C. by Boogaloos and an affiliated group, both encouraging attendees to bring weapons. Those advisories appear to be separate from another distributed by the FBI and reported by ABC on Monday alerting law enforcement of armed protests being planned “at all 50 state capitols” beginning January 16th through January 20th — “at least.” Meanwhile, the Capitol Police have briefed members of Congress on at least three new specific threats to the U.S. Capitol itself.

    https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/boogaloo-inauguration-attack-warning-1111665/

  8. McConnell believes impeachment push will help rid Trump from the GOP, but has not said if he will vote to convict – CNNPolitics

    https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/12/politics/mcconnell-impeachment-trump-capitol-riot/index.html

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    Washington Post: FBI warned of violent ‘war’ at Capitol in internal report issued day before deadly riot – CNNPolitics

    https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/12/politics/fbi-report-warning-capitol-riot/index.html

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    Parler Is Gone, But Hackers Say They Downloaded Everything First

    https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgqbex/parler-is-gone-but-hackers-say-they-downloaded-everything-first

  9. Donald Trump fans cry betrayal as he rebukes Capitol violence | US Capitol breach | The Guardian

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    MEGATHREAD: Archiving the Capitol Hill Riots: DataHoarder

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    Archivists Are Preserving Capitol Hill Riot Livestreams Before They’re Deleted

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    Neo-Nazis Boast About Participation In Capitol Hill Invasion

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    The MAGA Insurrection Will Inspire Imitators for Years to Come, German Experts Warn

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    Facebook, Instagram block Trump’s accounts ‘indefinitely’ | Donald Trump News | Al Jazeera

  10. A few quick thoughts:

    1) This was a coordinated, nationwide effort (see the break-ins & protests at various state houses ).
    2) This was a massive recruiting success for fascists in the US. They don’t see themselves as defeated. This was to them a charivari, a rehearsal. 1/

    3) The international dimension of the rise of the fascists was on display with all the international flags being flown in the protests. 2/

    And most alarmingly,

    4) The police stood aside, let them in, didn’t arrest but a dozen people. They helped them by inaction. Next time they will help with coordinated action.

    Good night. /fin

  16. In the end, the authors are still embracing a counterinsurgency framework: The recommendation above is in line with doctrine developed by U.S. military strategists such as David Petraeus. But talking about U.S. efforts at counterinsurgency overseas in a domestic context can be misleading. Even when these efforts have had some success, as in the war against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, they’ve revolved around arming indigenous forces to kill the enemy and airstrikes. The entire discussion is also centered on a fallacy. It assumes a U.S. government endowed with hegemonic power seeking to enforce its will in weaker countries. What we’re really talking about with domestic political violence, however, is an America beginning to turn on itself at home. To me, the most relevant way to consider the forever wars here is to grapple with the ways they’ve helped to make Americans more militant and infused the terms and zero-sum mindset of those conflicts into our politics.

    https://theintercept.com/2021/04/25/capitol-riot-militant-right-counterterrorism/

  21. It Gets Better (political science edition)
    July 21, 2020 2:54 PM

    Tell me about times in modern history that a country has faced the sort of threats to democracy or rule-of-law that the US is currently facing, but has managed to get its shit at least partway back together.

    I’d love to hear “Whatchamacallistan peaked at our current badness level and made it back down to zero badness.”

    But maybe more realistically I’d also love to hear “Foobaritania hung out at our current badness level for a while, and then dialed it back a notch or two and seems to be staying put.”

    If you think it’s impossible for a country to do this, don’t worry, I already understand your point of view very, very well, and and am very familiar with the arguments for it. I don’t really need to hear more.

  22. In response, Milley took extraordinary action, and called a secret meeting in his Pentagon office on January 8 to review the process for military action, including launching nuclear weapons. Speaking to senior military officials in charge of the National Military Command Center, the Pentagon’s war room, Milley instructed them not to take orders from anyone unless he was involved.

    “No matter what you are told, you do the procedure. You do the process. And I’m part of that procedure,” Milley told the officers, according to the book. He then went around the room, looked each officer in the eye, and asked them to verbally confirm they understood.

    https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/14/politics/woodward-book-trump-nuclear/index.html

  23. If the end comes, it will come through democracy itself. Here’s one way I imagine it could happen: In 2024, disputed election results in several states lead to tangled proceedings in courtrooms and legislatures. The Republican Party’s long campaign of undermining faith in elections leaves voters on both sides deeply skeptical of any outcome they don’t like. When the next president is finally chosen by the Supreme Court or Congress, half the country explodes in rage. Protests soon turn violent, and the crowds are met with lethal force by the state, while instigators firebomb government buildings. Neighborhoods organize self-defense groups, and law-enforcement officers take sides or go home. Predominantly red or blue counties turn on political minorities. A family with a biden-harris sign has to abandon home on a rural road and flee to the nearest town. A blue militia sacks Trump National Golf Club Bedminster; a red militia storms Oberlin College. The new president takes power in a state of siege.

    https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/01/imagine-death-american-democracy-trump-insurrection/620841/

  24. Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers around the country have spent the year stacking state election offices with partisans who can be counted on to do Trump’s bidding next time. State legislatures have tried, in many cases successfully, to pass laws that will make it easier to manipulate or overturn election results and intimidate nonpartisan officials by criminalizing minor infractions. In state after state, Republicans have tried to make it harder for Americans, especially Democratic constituencies, to vote. This tireless campaign of legislation and disinformation has set in motion an irreversible process of electoral sabotage.

  25. Retired generals warn U.S. military deeply divided and future coup attempt possible

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/us-politics/article-us-retired-generals-warn-of-divided-military-and-possible-civil-war-in/

    The United States could be subject to a military coup after the next presidential election unless it acts now to tamp down signs of insurrection within the ranks, three retired generals are warning.

    In a Washington Post op-ed, retired brigadier-general Steven Anderson and retired major-generals Paul Eaton and Antonio Taguba contend that, if former president Donald Trump or a similar candidate loses again in 2024, renegade military units might overthrow the election winner and install Mr. Trump in the White House.

  26. It is possible that the military will break into pro- and anti-Trump camps, leading to civil war, the generals argue. Enemy countries might take advantage of this chaos to launch attacks.

    “In a contested election, with loyalties split, some might follow orders from the rightful commander-in-chief, while others might follow the Trumpian loser. Arms might not be secured depending on who was overseeing them. Under such a scenario, it is not outlandish to say a military breakdown could lead to civil war,” they write. “In this context, with our military hobbled and divided, U.S. security would be crippled. Any one of our enemies could take advantage by launching an all-out assault on our assets or our allies.”

    The generals call for several actions to blunt the possibility of a coup. One is for political leaders and law enforcement officials to hold to account the politicians who stoked the falsehood that Mr. Trump actually won the 2020 election. Another is for the military to perform a review of the chain of command with service members, to ensure they would not follow illegal orders. A third is for the military to ferret out mutineers and guard against insurrectionists disseminating propaganda within the ranks.

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