I agree with that, but there’s still room for criticism. Sure, even angry protesters don’t usually go on to be insurrectionists, but if they’re the ones just outside, who have been pushing violent rhetoric, it would make far more sense for them to be the cause. The whole reason why a foreign power might attack is because everyone would assume it was the protestors who did it.
I thus still see some of the ol’ “white people wouldn’t actually do that” logic. And I think that’s an assumption we as a people need to be adjusting, since our homegrown white terrorism is showing itself to be a bigger existential threat.
How can these people be smart enough to stick food in their mouth and crap in the toilet with getting mixed up? They are dumb dumbasses, dumber than rocks. Which is part of the problem
Republicans, being so dumb that labeling them sentient beings is a questionable call, made a series of really dumb mistakes. As a result of those mistakes, they found themselves held hostage by the most extreme members of their party, who want use a brainwashed zombie army to start a Civil War to forcibly install a theocratic white Christian extremist government.
This scares Republicans, but they are dumb. They are not scared for the right reasons. They are not scared because they are being held hostage by a group of extremists who are trying to use a brainwashed zombie army to forcibly install a theorcratic white Christian government.
They are scared of the most extreme members of the Democratic caucus, because they don’t realize that Democrats are smart. Democrats would never make a series of dumb mistakes that would result in them being held hostage by the most extreme members of their party. They would never elect an insane malignant narcissist to the presidency and allow him to brainwash a zombie army to attack Congress, for example. It takes incredibly stupidity to pull that off, and Democrats are smart.
So here we are. Seriously. In a story line I never thought I’d see outside of a comic book, a megalomaniacal narcissist is holding these incredibly stupid people hostage by threatening to turn an army of brainwashed zombies against them if they don’t comply and there biggest fear is …
That the Democrats will make the same dumbass mistakes that they did and become hostages to the most extreme wing of their caucus who will drag them into a civil war to turn America into a socialist country…
And they can’t understand that won’t happen because
Republicans dumb
Democrats smart
Facebook is not my “ally.” They are a multi-billion dollar corporation looking out for their own interests. I’m not even sure that what they are doing now is, in fact “the right thing.” And even if it is, it’s taken them so long to do it that any damage they might have mitigated has pretty much already happened.
No, by 1/4 mile. Greg Stanton’s my guy. I’ll be writing him today or tomorrow to advocate refusing to seat the 134 representatives who signed on to the American Coup. Four of the five Republican Reps in Arizona, including Biggs, did so. I waited a week so I could send a measured message, but with every new revelation I’m getting angrier.
I basically agree that it’s probably most effective to encourage more good behavior from FB, Twitter, and others, rather than being vindictive about what they’ve done or not done in the past.
But what’s really important is getting these media companies to acknowledge their role in widening the divisions in our society. It’s not that they created them - they didn’t. But their inaction has amplified them in ways that have done tremendous damage. And for that reason, they have to accept that there are going to have to be major changes that will necessarily involve some degree o regulatory oversight.
I say that fully aware of the fact that Republicans want to regulate FB for entirely different reasons, but be that as it may, we’re locked in an ideological struggle for establishing a set of shared values in our society. I would tell FB that they are going to be eventually regulated either way, so they can be on the side that regulates the platform so that it basically does what it has always done but in ways that protect our community from abusive speech, or we can all lose this ideological battle and they can be regulated by people who want to use the power of law to turn all social media into Parler.
…
[Secretary of State Mike ] Pompeo had appeared at the U.S. government-owned international broadcaster’s headquarters in Washington on Monday to make an address. He did not address last week’s assault on Congress by a mob filled with President Trump’s avowed supporters in his remarks, nor was he asked about it in a congenial question-and-answer session by VOA’s new director, Robert R. Reilly. To date, Pompeo, a steadfast Trump ally, has not substantively addressed the attack on the U.S. Capitol at all.
As Pompeo walked out of the VOA building, giving a thumbs up to a man with whom he exchanged remarks in the crowded foyer, Voice of America White House reporter Patsy Widakuswara lobbed several questions. She asked what he was doing to repair the reputation of the U.S. around the world. She finally asked: “Mr. Secretary, do you regret saying there will be a second Trump administration?” Pompeo did not acknowledge the questions.
She tweeted out videotaped footage of that exchange, which showed a throng of people around. Contemporaneous audio obtained by NPR shows she then turned to press Reilly: “Mr. Director, why did you not ask any of the questions that we wanted to know about?”
He asked who she was, and Widakuswara identified herself as a Voice of America White House reporter. An irate Reilly can be heard saying, “You obviously don’t know how to behave,” adding, she wasn’t “authorized” to be there to ask questions.
Widakuswara: “I know, but I am a journalist, and I am paid to ask questions.”
The nation’s top diplomat @SecPompeo ignoring my questions about what he is doing to restore US reputation and whether he regrets saying there will be a second Trump administration. pic.twitter.com/8pcP9lRQ5a
I am angry that after I spent months carefully isolating myself, a single chaotic day likely got me sick. I am angry that several of our nation’s leaders were unwilling to deal with the small annoyance of a mask for a few hours. I am angry that the attack on the Capitol and my subsequent illness have the same cause: my Republican colleagues’ inability to accept facts.