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U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests

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Re: U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests

#251

Post by Merman_Mike »

pluto9 wrote: post #189
Merman_Mike wrote: post #111

Where are the police? Is the police force and now the national guard not controlled by the DC Mayor's office? I don't understand how they weather 1000 protests a year in the capitol and weren't prepared for this.

> Is the police force and now the national guard not controlled by the DC Mayor's office? No. National Guard units are normally controlled by state governors, but since DC is not a state and has no governor, the DC National Guard is the only guard unit that reports directly to the president [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_National_...

I'm not sure that's correct. See this AP article [1] talking about the national guard troops that were approved and are already in the capitol now.

> Because D.C. does not have a governor, the designated commander of the city’s National Guard is Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy. Any D.C. requests for Guard deployments have to be approved by him.

[1] https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-politics-e...

In any event, where are the Capitol Police? How were they not prepared for this?

Re: U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests

#252

Post by diogenescynic »

umvi wrote: post #72

How did we arrive to this point where a huge chunk of the population is in one reality and another huge chunk of the population is in another reality? Segregation of information sources? Politicization of media outlets? Self-reinforcing social bubbles? A combination of all of them and more?

All goes back to Reagan's repeal of the Fairness Doctrine which gave rise to biased political based news coverage a la Fox News. Since then, political polarization has increased each year until we got to the point we're at where both sides see the other as dangerous and lacking legitimacy. It's a lose-lose downward spiral.

Re: U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests

#253

Post by titzer »

umvi wrote: post #72

How did we arrive to this point where a huge chunk of the population is in one reality and another huge chunk of the population is in another reality? Segregation of information sources? Politicization of media outlets? Self-reinforcing social bubbles? A combination of all of them and more?

I would suggest watching Adam Curtis' Hypernormalisation (British spelling). It's mostly about Putin/Gaddafi-style mass confusion as a means to power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUiqaFIONPQ

Re: U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests

#254

Post by razius »

TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #219
dhruvkar wrote: post #47

Are there people here on HN that believe the election was stolen? I haven't seen any evidence, most of the lawsuits haven't borne fruit either. However, I also recognize that there may be blindspots/biases. I'd really like to hear from anyone who believes this, to present a cogent argument. I promise not to attack. I want to hear the argument from the other side. I also beseech the rest of HN to please refrain from a…

Put simply, I don't know what to believe. As an IT security worker, I have absolutely no faith in the election since voting required the use of hackable electronic voting machines. We need to restore trust in the system. An idiot needs to be able to understand and audit it. Until that happens, there will always be people who think it's rigged, and politicians will always exploit that.

Two issues that raised red flags for me:

- All logs deleted from the machines - Machines are connected to the internet

Re: U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests

#255

Post by xyst »

umvi wrote: post #72

How did we arrive to this point where a huge chunk of the population is in one reality and another huge chunk of the population is in another reality? Segregation of information sources? Politicization of media outlets? Self-reinforcing social bubbles? A combination of all of them and more?

It starts with the deregulation of cable news in the 1990s, and creation of mainstream media networks like Fox and CNN. The explosive use of the internet and later social media in the mid to late 2000s only amplified an existing problem of polarization.

Re: U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests

#256

Post by bcheung »

dhruvkar wrote: post #47

Are there people here on HN that believe the election was stolen? I haven't seen any evidence, most of the lawsuits haven't borne fruit either. However, I also recognize that there may be blindspots/biases. I'd really like to hear from anyone who believes this, to present a cogent argument. I promise not to attack. I want to hear the argument from the other side. I also beseech the rest of HN to please refrain from a…

Is there any source that has a bunch of the claims and refutations to it?

Just saying fraud doesn't exist doesn't help calm the outrage of those who believe it was stolen. Also based on how partisan the impeachment was it is likely people don't trust the government to have any sense of accuracy and merely attribute it to partisan lines.

The strategy of acknowledging what someone says and then responding to it often calms down difficult interpersonal conflicts. I think the same applies here.

We understand you believe "A", we do not believe that because of proof "B".

Instead the approach taken is largely ad hominem's which only escalate things further.

Re: U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests

#259

Post by titzer »

A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote: post #176

Tocqville observed that US elections are a time of extraordinary stress on the system that nonetheless eventually subsides. This last ditch effort is a little more than this. Yes, the ones currently storming the capitol are, likely, deluded they are fighting the good fight, but their stand at this point is little more than symbolic at this point. My beef, though not a surprised beef, is with the commander in chief, w…

I've heard this every single day since November 3.

Re: U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests

#260

Post by hertzrat »

Trump is a bad and scary man, but one of the only good things he's done is post this tweet:

"I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order – respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!"

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