Insurrectionists have breached the Capitol

[Scooter]

Some have made their way inside the building, but still outside the Senate and House Chambers.

The crowd outside is out of control. Business has come to a stop and the chambers are being evacuated.

Time to put down this attempted coup by mowing them down with machine gun fire. This assault on democracy cannot go unanswered.

[Scooter]

[Big RR]

As a veteran of a number of protests (against the Vietnam war and pro civil rights), I am not so blithe to say the protestors should be machine gunned. Much as I disagree with them and their aims, they do have a right to assemble and protest and force those in power to hear their voice, just as I did some 50 odd years ago. However, they have no right to storm the capitol (anymore than we did of university and government buildings that we stormed and occupied), and they should be repelled and arrested, but I cannot say they should be mowed down by machine gun fire.

It's things like this that eventually convinced me not to participate in protests--mobs are ugly things.

[Scooter]

At the very least they could have used tear gas. You know, like they use on Black protestors doing nothing illegal in order to clear a path for the Orange Man's photo op.

[Big RR]

Tear gas? Sure? But from what I heard they have used it. Same for use of reasonable force to repel them. Just not wholesale slaughter.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Treason and insurrection deserve nothing less than violent suppression. And fast.

[Joe Guy]

I just heard the National Guard is on the way. What? Are they mounting their horses? Did they just get the news that our nation's Capitol has been breached?

Trump needs to be locked up now.

[Big RR]

Treason and insurrection deserve nothing less than violent suppression. And fast.

That's exactly what they said of the civil rights and anti war protests. They are criminals and should be treated as such.

[Sue U]

I just heard the National Guard is on the way. What? Are they mounting their horses? Did they just get the news that our nation's Capitol has been breached?

"No one could have seen this coming."

[Big RR]

I just heard the National Guard is on the way. What? Are they mounting their horses? Did they just get the news that our nation's Capitol has been breached?

I heard that the DC National Guard is mobilized and present, and Maryland and Virginia Guard members are "on the way". From what I heard, the DC mayor did what was necessary to mobilize the DC guard last night.

[Scooter]

I just heard the National Guard is on the way. What? Are they mounting their horses? Did they just get the news that our nation's Capitol has been breached.

What I heard earlier was that because this was going to be a major change of their mission, that it needed to go right up the chain of command through the DoD in order to authorize them to do what would be necessary.

"No one could have seen this coming."

I suspect there are going to be a lot of questions asked after the fact about how they could have been caught so woefully unprepared, to the point of ceding control of the Capitol to terrorists.

[Sue U]

Treason and insurrection deserve nothing less than violent suppression. And fast.

That's exactly what they said of the civil rights and anti war protests. They are criminals and should be treated as such.

There is an explicit difference here, though. Civil rights and anti-war protests were assemblies seeking redress from government and protected by the First Amendment. This is a mob expressly intent on overthrowing the government, overturning a bona fide election and trashing the institutions of democracy. This is not protest, it is sedition.

[Econoline]

This is not protest, it is sedition.

[Sue U]

FFS, they're even carrying the goddamn treason flag.

[BoSoxGal]

I have just been weeping all afternoon. I didn’t sleep at all for the joy of watching Georgia unfold overnight, and then this. I have walked those halls so very many times, sat in those chambers with staffer friends and advocacy groups. Adored that place entirely since I watched the Watergate hearings as a preschooler with my SAHM.

I am literally sick to my stomach and weeping.

How utterly he has rent the fabric of our democracy. The mending will be full of pain.

[eddieq]

I had talked to friends and family about how my biggest concern with Trump losing will be his "scorched earth" on the way out. I hate being right.

[Big RR]

Treason and insurrection deserve nothing less than violent suppression. And fast.

That's exactly what they said of the civil rights and anti war protests. They are criminals and should be treated as such.

There is an explicit difference here, though. Civil rights and anti-war protests were assemblies seeking redress from government and protected by the First Amendment. This is a mob expressly intent on overthrowing the government, overturning a bona fide election and trashing the institutions of democracy. This is not protest, it is sedition.

I have to disagree; the initial protest ppears to have been mounted to seek the same sort of redress and have their voices heard. And is the occupation of the capitol all that much different from occupation of government and university buildings by protestors? I disagree that they are seeking to overthrow the government, but they do want to influence it. I am not defending their aims, but I do not think it amounts to insurrection; face it, a handful of yahoos cannot take over the US government. They are seeking to be heard, but are doing it horrendously.

That being said, they are criminals and rioters and deserve to be arrested, just as we did (and often were) when we occupied buildings.

Remember, once we allow the government to declare protestors, even violent one, as treasonous, we lose any right to seek redress from government for alternative views. By all means, punish them for their criminal actions; but letting the government ban protests as treason scares me more than they do.

[ex-khobar Andy]

In the meantime the count in Georgia continued. CNN is now projecting Ossoff as winning ==> Senate effective majority to the Dems. Just checked FoxNews - same there.

[Sue U]

I have to disagree; the initial protest ppears to have been mounted to seek the same sort of redress and have their voices heard. And is the occupation of the capitol all that much different from occupation of government and university buildings by protestors? I disagree that they are seeking to overthrow the government, but they do want to influence it. I am not defending their aims, but I do not think it amounts to insurrection; face it, a handful of yahoos cannot take over the US government. They are seeking to be heard, but are doing it horrendously.

That being said, they are criminals and rioters and deserve to be arrested, just as we did (and often were) when we occupied buildings.

Remember, once we allow the government to declare protestors, even violent one, as treasonous, we lose any right to seek redress from government for alternative views. By all means, punish them for their criminal actions; but letting the government ban protests as treason scares me more than they do.

If their sad Loserpalooza had remained on the streets and in public areas they could have protested their stupid heads off all they wanted. But they didn't just want to be heard. They violently broke into the Capitol building expressly to halt the process of the orderly transfer of power and install their preferred leader over the democratically elected choice of the American people. And they did so with the intent of sparking an insurrection among like-minded pin-heads.

If they (or anyone else) want to have a revolution, they should be prepared for the consequences of losing that revolution. But these people are play-acting cowards egged on by a megalomaniac and given cover by GOP leadership. It's gross and an insult to the memories of genuine revolutionaries.

[Beer Sponge]

There are terrorists in the Capitol building, shoot on sight is the only response. Fuck them.