U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests • Hacker News Board

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

#731

Post by IfOnlyYouKnew » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 11:56 PM UTC

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?

Only one chunk is living in one reality.

The other is “living” in their little Jim Crow fantasyland.

What’s happing today is the result of reality intruding on their fantasy. It’s the same mechanism that causes earthquakes, or psychotic breaks when people can no longer keep up the appearance of being that up-and-coming Hollywood screenwriter.

Even Pence, McConnell, and Mattis are calling this what it is: a fascist insurrection, led by a failed President. So congratulations on the audacity to both-side this.

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

#732

Post by worik » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 11:57 PM UTC

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?

Being a member of the "liberal elite" (I think I am) I think it is our fault.

We lost our mojo. We forgot that leadership is not leaving anybody behind.

We left a lot of people behind, then we blamed them for not keeping up.

Sorry, on behalf of my class, I really am sorry. The consequences, when we face ecological catastrophe, could be very serious indeed.

Stay safe, people, and be kind

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

#733

Post by Animats » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 11:58 PM UTC

_RPL5_ wrote: post #638

Animats wrote: post #597

The riot is winding down. The Capitol Police cleared the building hours ago, and many of the crowd just hanging around have left. More cops from Virginia and DC have arrived, and are slowly pushing the remaining crowd back. Tomorrow, Congress will finish counting the electoral votes. I suspect that some, if not all, of the planned objections will not be made.

I sure hope so. There were dudes inside Congress waving rebel flags. Trump and friends probably didn't count on that when they were posturing on Twitter. Hopefully, that scares them straight and cools some heads. And not just Trump, but the entire political class who've been playing loose with divisive/identity politics for the last decade.

There were dudes inside Congress waving rebel flags. Trump and friends probably didn't count on that when they were posturing on Twitter.

Twitter has finally had it with Trump. His last two tweets were removed for TOS violations.

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

#734

Post by cryptica » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 11:59 PM UTC

I'm surprised by how many people are happy with Twitter censoring the president. Censorship is not OK. It's totally disproportionate.

The freedom and well being of 320+ million people is far more important than a few buildings and a semblance of law and order. The system is harming people's mental health and the system needs to be reformed to fix this. Suppression and censorship is not going to solve anything.

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

#735

Post by cosmiccatnap » Thu, Jan 07, 2021, 12:00 AM UTC

valuearb wrote: post #536

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?

Lincoln lived most of his life as a Whig but aligned with the new Republican Party in the 1850s during a transitional era in American politics. Northern opinion was turning against slavery, and enslaved people’s efforts to resist and escape bondage kept the issue center stage. Rather than accede to the changing political landscape, Southern Democrats maligned the new Republican Party as an existential threat because…

Instead of being curious about this reply, just read the post above me one more time to really let it sink in.

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

#736

Post by tartoran » Thu, Jan 07, 2021, 12:03 AM UTC

JosephHatfield wrote: post #625

Capital Police opened the security line, encouraged the "protesters" inside, and were even shown having selfies taken with them. What other conclusion can you reach than that this was supported if not organized by someone with authority over the security forces sworn to protect the Capital? If true, this is Sedition.

I can confirm this, I saw a video on twitter showing the guards opening up the barricades and letting people get in. But they most likely were acting on an order to do so.

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

#737

Post by disown » Thu, Jan 07, 2021, 12:06 AM UTC

brightball wrote: post #479

coryfklein wrote: post #353

It's the practical erosion of Free Speech. Liberal (small "l" liberal) democracy and liberal science thrives on members: 1. Being willing to admit they may be wrong 2. Having access to a diverse information diet But the past two decades have shown erosion of not only legal Free Speech, but practical free speech: * Whereas previously they were just ignored (or even rebutted), today employees, students, and professors…

The biggest thing that I’ve seen in the news haven’t come from lies but from removal of context. Anything can be made more inflammatory if you remove key details while still remaining factually correct. - Tim punched Bob - Bob punched Tim - Bob and Tim shake hands Reported as... - Bob punched Tim Factually correct but lacking context. Unless the reader knows the entire story be putting it together from multiple repor…

> The biggest thing that I’ve seen in the news haven’t come from lies but from removal of context.

Also, it will be interesting is which "news" outlets label this as riots and which label it as protests.

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

#738

Post by w0de0 » Thu, Jan 07, 2021, 12:06 AM UTC

meragrin_ wrote: post #647

samch wrote: post #528

I think, for the safety of all involved, it may be time to enact section 4 of the 25th Amendment. Amendment 25 - Section 4: Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the Pr…

Congratulations! You have just escalated the conflict!

Fine. Escalation is sometimes necessary - otherwise one can be intimidated.

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

#739

Post by lovecg » Thu, Jan 07, 2021, 12:06 AM UTC

dcolkitt wrote: post #586

bryanlarsen wrote: post #112

"Democracy is a system in which parties lose elections" - Przeworski In other words, the core concept of democracy isn't the elections or any of the other trappings, it's the fact that it's possible for one group to lose power, transition to another group and retain the possibility to transition back in a subsequent election to the original group.

It's an interesting point. One thing I've noticed is that both sides increasingly believe that each election poses an existential risk to their side. Currently you see many conservatives repeating the meme that losing the Senate means a Republican will never win the White House again. The belief being that Democrats will change voting laws, open borders and amnesty to Dem-leaning immigrants, and possibly even pack th…

> and add DC and Puerto Rico as new states

Is there a good argument against this? Apart from “but my side will lose power”.

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

#740

Post by ehsankia » Thu, Jan 07, 2021, 12:07 AM UTC

slumdev wrote: post #468

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…

Fraud occurred. That much is tautological. A single instance of a dead person voting proves the statement true. To say, "fraud didn't occur," is an outright lie. The debate is over (1) how much fraud occurred and (2) whether it affected the results. Someone else posted the "Here is the Evidence" link. Too many videos of (R) election judges being denied access to counts done in secret, organizers paying for votes, pos…

Yes, when people say "There was no election fraud", it's shorthand for "no large scale election fraud". I agree that people should be more careful with their words, but it is a bit of a strawman to try to attack people who are claiming this election was safe on such a silly technicality.

I consider anything below 0.0001% to be for all intents and purposes insignificant. It sure is a lot lower than the COVID mortality rate his supporters love to pretend is so low.