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Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide

reuters.com

391–400 of 747 posts

Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide

#391
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firing on a mob is risky as hell and not morally clear. I can't blame Capitol Police--at least for the actions after it already got out of hand. If federal security at Court House shoots BLM protestors who are entering a federal court house, those security people would probably get charged with murder. It's unreasonable to expect Capitol Police to make that sort of moral choice in the moment. And if you give cops the…

>That said, they may (probably?) screwed up containing the crowd contained in the first place. Certainly with the benefit of hindsight, there should have been a much stronger show of force/barricades/etc. Should that have been obvious even without hindsight? Don't know. That said, once the Capitol Police were outnumbered and things were getting out of hand, I'm pretty sure the best outcome if they had used deadly for…

And the real damage was to our rule of law. That was already accomplished when the supposed President directed a mob against congress.

The actual level of violence done by the mob is relatively tame. Shooting a bunch of people in the halls of Congress isn't going to stop the damage to the rule of law. And it would have what? Prevented a few laptops from being stolen, a couple doors from being broken down, etc. It's not like they torched the place.

I personally don't think violence by a mob is acceptable. But it seems most people do--as long as they are sympathetic to the cause.

Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide

#392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've traveled to countries before whose offices of government are behind very large fences, protected by unfriendly looking men standing behind heavy machine guns in armored vehicles – and the guide books are very clear that you are not to take photos of them. I much prefer the approach taken in the USA, where our offices of government are accessible to the people that the government serves. It's very good that I can…

As a huge democrat (lower case d) I totally agree. Locking down the Capitol is antithetical to the notion of open democracy. Lawmakers and the law making process needs to be physically accessible by the People. This was what the Founders intended. Of course there is some risk here and Jefferson himself noted this. That’s the price we pay for living in an open and transparent society. While I don’t condone or support…

I think that's nonsense. Access to a lawmaker or representative in a village may work like that. When you represent a state of 20 million, access means making an appointment and going through security clearance. There is a voting mechanism, a free press and various other mechanisms to back me up if I am consistently deterred from speaking to my public representative. But I'm in no way expecting to just walk in there, unannounced, without security clearance, at any time of the day, to demand attention.

Might as well argue that you should be able to just walk into the white house and speak to the top public representative.

Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide

#393
post #300

How was every person leaving the building not searched by police as a condition of exit? The kettling and taking of details of (even peaceful) protesters in the UK is pretty standard now (I don't like it, but it is what seems to happen) - so why did they just let these people leave unchecked?

Presumably the same reason police moved barricades, waved them in, and took selfies with them.

I’m sorry but if you’re a couple of police officers in a room full of literal terrorists, of course you’re going to try to be as restrained and friendly as possible. You’re horribly outnumbered.

They would be murdered if they tried to take on the crowd. They needed to wait for reinforcements to arrive, and meanwhile do their best to keep the crowd from going fully insane.

They managed the situation with very few people getting hurt, and protected the politicians. Which is pretty good considering how few police there were.

The main issue is why were there so few police there to begin with, so this could’ve been prevented in the first place.

Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide

#394

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would it be of the interest of any US citizen for elected officials to have any "secret" ? Full transparency should be paramount.

I suppose then that you'd be happy to make any and all conversations you've had in private during recent years public for all to see.

That observation makes as much sense in context as when people compare the national debt to household debt. If the problem is that we might get to know what porn Pelosi likes or whether she has hemorrhoids, the theft of this laptop is trivial.

Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide

#396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was at least one person near her in the video of that women getting shot who was clearly armed with an assault rifle. She may have been unarmed but was storming the chamber with other armed people. The security on the other side had good reason to believe she was a dangerous threat.

There is no such thing as an 'assault rifle'. It is a made up term.

If you're going to operate at the intersection of gun nuttery and prescriptive English usage, it would help you to be right. The US Army "Small Arms Identification Guide" defined the term at least 50 years ago.

https://web.archive.org/web/20190904213732/http://031d26d.na...

Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide

#398

Cool, hopefully it is loaded with damaging emails. She needs to go. I bet if it is there's loads of discussion denigrating the American people and planning to sacrifice their lives and their finances pointlessly during the pandemic. Obviously, the coupists believe even worse things, but what do I care if my political opponents destroy each other?

Even if such e-mails existed, by stealing the laptop they've tainted it as evidence except against themselves.

i.e., You and the thief are similarly short sighted.

Re: Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during storming of U.S. Capitol, says aide

#399
post #231
post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a real testament to the effectiveness of the BLM protests that the police took a good hard look at themselves and decided to use a light touch from here on out.

Armed terrorists in MI invaded the state Capitol in May, before the murder of George Floyd. Police there took a similar hands off strategy. Are you being facetious?

Yes, of course I am.
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