US capital building occupied by Americans. Police shoot one. Politicians hiding.

[Guy F.]

For President supporters- what would it take to convince you that you made a mistake by supporting President President?

<Jeff Foxworthy voice>

If you can't think of an answer, you might be in a cult.

 

Edited January 7, 2021 by Guy F.

[baronapart]

[Snowy79]

[Mike J]

Big question.  Where in the hell was the security.  Barricades, doors, windows, offices ransacked, all breached with little resistance.  At least one security officer was shown taking a "selfie" with the people breaking in.   It is not like this whole thing was a surprise.

https://news.yahoo.com/anger-incredulity-police-failure-defend-180045465.html

Spoiler

 

Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, is demanding that the chief of the Capitol police stand down, the day after pro-President rioters easily invaded the US Capitol in Washington, disrupting and endangering members of Congress.

On Thursday, Pelosi said she was seeking the resignation of the chief, Steven Sund.

The California Democrat also said Thursday that the House of Representatives sergeant-at-arms Paul Irving, another key security official, had already submitted his resignation. He reports directly to Pelosi, while Sund answers to both the House and Senate.

And the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, said he will fire the Senate sergeant-at-arms, Mike Stenger, if he has not stepped down by the time the Democrats take control of government with Joe Biden’s inauguration on 20 January and Schumer becomes the Senate majority leader.

The storming of the US Capitol by a pro-Donald President mob on Wednesday has provoked incredulity among US politicians and former law enforcement officials over how police allowed the stunning invasion to occur.

Related: America shaken after pro-President mob storms US Capitol building

As members of Congress and Mike Pence sought to certify the votes of the presidential election inside, a large group of pro-President rioters, encouraged by the president, marched on the Capitol.

But moments later, many scaled flimsy fences, brushed past police and made their way into the seat of American legislative democracy as the vice-president, political leaders and staff fled to secure rooms, some wearing gas masks and some elderly members of Congress needing assistance while evacuating.

The mob then ransacked offices and posed for pictures on the Senate dais. Four people died amid the chaos, including a woman who was shot by a law enforcement officer, police said.

The incredible breach has drawn sharp criticism of the US Capitol police, a 2,000-officer force dedicated to the protection of the domed building.

Videos showed officers standing by as rioters rushed past them, with one officer even posing for pictures with the invaders inside the building. The mob was later allowed to leave the Capitol largely unhindered, with one elderly President supporter helped down the steps by a police officer.

Capitol police evacuate journalists and House press staff members from the Capitol.
Capitol police evacuate journalists and House press staff members from the Capitol. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Such scenes were a vivid contrast with anti-racism protests across the US last summer, where largely peaceful protesters were subjected to teargas, rubber bullets, beatings with batons and mass arrests.

Mondaire Jones, a newly elected congressman, called for a full investigation of the security breach on Wednesday and said that if the rioters “had been Black, they would have been gunned down before they got inside the Capitol”.

“My feelings about this are bolstered by the footage of law enforcement agents taking selfies with these domestic terrorists who had breached security, and of security removing metal barricades in order to allow the mob to get closer to the Capitol,” Jones, a New York Democrat, said on Thursday.

Tim Ryan, a fellow Democrat who chairs a committee that oversees the Capitol police’s $460m annual budget, said he was dismayed that the mob even got close to the building’s exterior, let alone inside and into the very heart of the seat of power.

“Those were illegal acts, and those people should have been immediately arrested,” Ryan said.

Supporters of Donald President push past Capitol police officers outside the Senate Chamber on Wednesday.
Supporters of Donald President brush past Capitol police officers outside the Senate Chamber on Wednesday. Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
This surprise was shared by former law enforcement officials familiar with the Capitol.

“It’s like watching a real-life horror movie. I mean, we train and plan and budget every day, basically, to have this not happen,” Kim Dine, who was chief of the Capitol police from 2012 to 2016, told the Washington Post. “How it happened, I can’t figure that out.”

Dine said he was surprised that the mob was allowed to gather near the Capitol and then allowed to enter without large numbers of arrests.

The Capitol police were apparently not prepared for the attack, with the force outnumbered and not wearing any sort of riot gear.

Assistance was provided by the Metropolitan police department, Washington DC’s city force, but it was not until an hour after the hordes roared through the perimeter that national guard troops were called upon by Washington’s mayor.

This left police unable to protect the approach to the Capitol and the many doors and windows of a building originally completed in 1800.

“Once they lost the steps, they lost the doors and windows,” said Terrance Gainer, who served as Capitol police chief and later as the US Senate’s sergeant-at-arms.

“I truly had to suspend my disbelief because I didn’t think you could breach the Capitol,” said Gainer, the former Capitol police chief. “I have great confidence in the men and women who protect Congress, but there will need to be a full accounting. We’re going to have to have a deep dive into what went wrong.”

A pro-President rioter sits with a police shield outside the Senate chambers after breaching Capitol security.
A pro-President rioter sits with a police shield outside the Senate chambers after breaching Capitol security. Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA
The US Capitol police was formally created by Congress in 1828 after a son of John Quincy Adams, the sixth US president, was attacked in the Capitol’s Rotunda, the central domed atrium.

Answerable to Congress, rather than the president, the force is responsible for the protection of the Capitol and members of Congress.

Such protection usually involves intelligence work on specific threats but the police appear to have been caught shorthanded, despite weeks-long planning of the invasion by rightwing extremists on social media platforms such as Parler.

The mob was incited further by President, who in a rally shortly near the White House before the riot repeated false claims that the election was stolen from him, calling for his supporters to “take back our country”.

 

 

Edited January 7, 2021 by Mike J
Added news article

[earthdome]

16 hours ago, Mike J said:

Which Americans?  Source?

Same as every nation?  Source?

Democrats won the fight against?  Source?

Won because of it?  Source?

Many claims to "massive" voter fraud, but so far none has been found.  

https://www.cisa.gov/news/2020/11/12/joint-statement-elections-infrastructure-government-coordinating-council-election

  Hide contents

 

WASHINGTON – The members of Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council (GCC) Executive Committee – Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Assistant Director Bob Kolasky, U.S. Election Assistance Commission Chair Benjamin Hovland, National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) President Maggie Toulouse Oliver, National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) President Lori Augino, and Escambia County (Florida) Supervisor of Elections David Stafford – and the members of the Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Council (SCC) – Chair Brian Hancock (Unisyn Voting Solutions), Vice Chair Sam Derheimer (Hart InterCivic), Chris Wlaschin (Election Systems & Software), Ericka Haas (Electronic Registration Information Center), and Maria Bianchi (Democracy Works) - released the following statement:

“The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history. Right now, across the country, election officials are reviewing and double checking the entire election process prior to finalizing the result. 

“When states have close elections, many will recount ballots. All of the states with close results in the 2020 presidential race have paper records of each vote, allowing the ability to go back and count each ballot if necessary. This is an added benefit for security and resilience. This process allows for the identification and correction of any mistakes or errors. There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.

“Other security measures like pre-election testing, state certification of voting equipment, and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s (EAC) certification of voting equipment help to build additional confidence in the voting systems used in 2020.

“While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too. When you have questions, turn to elections officials as trusted voices as they administer elections.”

 

 

What the hell does a federal cybersecurity group  know about how local officials stuff ballot boxes and harvest mail in ballots? President does not claim that votes were changed over the internet in election computers by some hackers. I listened to his long list of election fraud claims in his speech yesterday. Many of them are credible but there is no way to identify which votes are fraudulent once they cross the line into the counted pile.The only way to fix the problem would be to do the election again but with very tight controls on how the vote is conducted. FYI, I am not a Donald supporter and have not voted for him.

[Mike J]

56 minutes ago, earthdome said:

What the hell does a federal cybersecurity group  know about how local officials stuff ballot boxes and harvest mail in ballots?

Some claim that the voting computers, designed by Cesar Chavez, were changing votes from President to Biden.  So yes cybersecurity has a voice in the dog fight.  The FBI as well as local officials have investigated these "creditable" claims and have found zero evidence of "massive fraud" and certainly none which was capable of swaying the election.  The US Attorney General, appointed by the president, has stated no evidence fraud was found following investigations.  As far as I am aware no evidence of stuffing ballot boxes and/or harvesting of mail in ballots has been presented in court despite some 50 lawsuits being filed.  

You don't fix something that is not broken.  The "problem" was fixed yesterday when congress came together, counted the certified results from each state, had a debate, voted on the objections and then declared Biden to be the president elect.

 

[scott h]

4 minutes ago, Mike J said:

You don't fix something that is not broken.

Lets be honest, at least in my opinion. The reason the vote came out like it did was mail in voting. All the couch potato's that could not be bothered to stand in line voted from home. 

 

[Snowy79]

I'm puzzled why when I flew into the states they could record my fingerprints and scan my retina in a few seconds just to spend a few weeks on holiday there yet you need the bare minimum ID to vote in one of the most powerful persons in the World.  The same should be done in every country with the technology in my opinion as even the UK has issues. 

[scott h]

4 minutes ago, Snowy79 said:

record my fingerprints and scan my retina

Immigration is a federal responsibility. Voting, even for federal offices is still up to the states. That is why there was a hodge poge of voting laws

[Heeb]

I found out a navy buddy I was stationed with here in the P.I and Guam is living close by in Barrio Barretto, at first because of the lockdown we only texted back and forth, he almost immediately started in on the deep state conspiracy stuff so I told him I don’t discuss politics because nowadays it can ruin friendships. Well he would stop for a day or two and then go on these nonsensical rants, sending me easily refutable stories and then claim my verified responses to be fake news and started calling me a snowflake, even though really I’m a middle roader. Despite this, my desire to connect with and old squadron mate and having someone to talk to from my own culture, I was driving out to barrio barretto to pick him up and bring him back to barrio so we could bike and jog together in Cubi Pt even though the traffic can be bad. This week I’ve been helping him to get his passport renewed because he’s close to going tnt, he has no bank account and can’t get a US dollar draft at BDO so I was trying to do it for him and was willing to take him to Manila if needed. Last night he started spewing his venom at me out of the blue via text messages all night even though I was getting up early a second day to make another attempt with my bank book to get a draft for him, so I told him to piss off I’m done with you in more colorful language, and I meant it. Truth is his life is kind of a mess and he probably needed someone in his corner, he’s been banned from most of the bars, beat up, incarcerated, hit by a car, and tried to hit on my 14 year old niece at the beach, he’s addicted to something called Kratom, which actually sounds like something that would be fun to try but he’s 24/7 on the stuff. This is the sad state of politics in America right now that we can’t even have civil discourse anymore.