Kimstu
December 20, 2022, 11:04pm
850
And speaking of people it would be interesting to hear from about whether they’ve subsequently altered their views on the seriousness of the Jan. 6 events:
Sam_Stone in March 2021:
Despite the immediate story of Jan 6 being a ‘right wing extremist armed insurrection’ where a cop was clubbed to death woth a fire extinguisher, it actually turns out that the only person killed was an unarmed woman shot by Capitol police.
And it also turns out that the group was not a bunch of organized right wing extremists. Only about 10% were affiliated with the Proud Boys. The rest had no ties to extremist groups, and most were normal people pushed to the edge by financial trouble. Many were small business owners.
Oh, and it’s a strange ‘armed insurrection’ where not one single weapons charge was filed against anyone. And just recently the DOJ or FBI said they can find no credible threats against the government from the right, going all the way back to before the election.
That hasn’t stopped Democrats from putting a standing army in Washington and surrounding themselves with fences and razor wire. Either they are engaging in a cynical attempt to paint the right as dangerous, or they’ve lost their freaking minds. […]
[…] they weren’t some right-wing militia rabble being caught up in an ‘insurrection’. They were just normal people hit hard by the times, angry and frustrated. You know, like pretty much any other protest-turned-riot.
Given that there is still a standing army in Washington over two minths later with no known threats, I believe this is all just theater to smear Republicans in general to justify more surveillance, IRS shenanigans, ‘Operation Chokepoint’ style nonsense, etc.
Sam_Stone in July 2021:
Those yahoos in the Capital had no plan. They weren’t trying to start an insurrection - they were just a bunch of angry people trying to ‘have their voices heard’. Once they broke into the actual Senate chambers they basically just milled around acting like tourists, taking selfies, sitting in the speaker’s chair, etc. None of them were armed with firearms. Enough of them were old and out of shape that several deaths occurred just because of exertion and stress - including the capitol pooice officer who died of natural causes.
The idea that you came close to having government toppled is absolutely ridiculous. Real insurrectionists don’t show up unarmed wearing cosplay gear and taking selfies while committing felonies. […]
No self-respecting insurrection can be carried out with Viking helmets and selfie sticks.