The Countdown begins

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  • Teargas has been employed in the Senate chamber. Senators remaining were told to lie down and put on the gas masks which are (unbeknownst to me!) under their chairs.
  • Ah joy! Georgia and Kansas capitol buildings have also been stormed by rioters.
  • The Red Hat Brown Shirt Insurrection has begun ...
  • Commentator on TV just posited the theory that Trump's private army of hooligans don't understand about mail-in votes. I wonder if he was trying to indicate that they're illiterate?
  • mousethief wrote: »
    Teargas has been employed in the Senate chamber. Senators remaining were told to lie down and put on the gas masks which are (unbeknownst to me!) under their chairs.

    Wow. Who knew?

    I can’t help wondering who does the annual testing and if Senators get practice drills.

  • DC emergency services reporting one person shot and in a critical condition.
  • D.C. Must be made a state.
  • Bill_Noble wrote: »
    mousethief wrote: »
    Teargas has been employed in the Senate chamber. Senators remaining were told to lie down and put on the gas masks which are (unbeknownst to me!) under their chairs.

    Wow. Who knew?

    I can’t help wondering who does the annual testing and if Senators get practice drills.

    Good questions!
  • Perhaps they'll learn to read whilst they're in jail?

    Latest news is that members of the National Guard are being deployed, so perhaps the insurrection will soon be put down.
  • CrœsosCrœsos Shipmate
    Would now be a good time to invoke the Act to remove trump?
    AIUI, some cabinet members plus VP support are needed but as Pence has been dissed by trump there may be enough to get the bastard out and restore some order.

    You can't count on Trump's inner circle to turn on him. Trump should be impeached (again) on the single count of encouraging a violent insurrection against the United States. Let Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley and all those other smarmy assholes be on record as voting against it, if they dare.
  • Gramps49Gramps49 Shipmate
    CNN is reporting the National Guard of Maryland and Virginia are being activated and are on their way. Also, several thousand DC guards are responding.
  • They have to rely on the knuckledraggers turning out for them at the next elections or they lose their seats. Leastways, that's the only way I can explain their extraordinary conduct.

    Even with the help of the knuckledraggers, voter suppression and other election offences they lost, badly and they can't believe how much further they'd have to go to win.

    They think the Democrats must have cheated even worse to have beaten them - that's the only thing that make sense of them claiming it was stolen while being unable to show any evidence.

    So the Republican party needs to return to acting as a decent, fair, honest party if they can't win with threats, violence and cheating.

    It may be a long game but they should start ASAP by dumping Donald 'BadLoser' Trump and his thugs now.

    I agree with your assessment of what they should be doing entirely. What they are in fact doing is utterly cynical and very damaging to American democracy. In fact, it discredits democracy in all places where it is under threat.

    What I am attempting is a rational explanation of their bad behaviour. The only one I can think of is that they want to hold on to their Congressional seats. For example, if you are a Republican senator and won your seat by a 51/49 margin, you do need the knuckledraggers to turn out for you, on the basis that other Republican supporters won't desert you. Or imagine if you were a Republican senator in a deep red state and were afraid of getting replaced at the next primary.

  • Gramps49Gramps49 Shipmate
    The Senate chamber has been cleared. The House chambers are still being occupied.
  • DafydDafyd Shipmate
    Can you impeach someone after they've been turfed out of office by the usual means?
  • The Red Hat Brown Shirt Insurrection has begun ...

    Red with Brown?

    Come on, people. The first rule of any insurrection is coordination!

  • Presumably impeachment could pass the Senate vote. Would Pence still have the casting vote? Now he's told trump to get lost as he'll honour the constitution, he might support it and have a short presidency.

    (PS I thought the masks drop down - the life jackets are under the seats.)
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited January 6
    With all due respect, it's Not Funny.
    :grimace:

    With violence occurring, and the National Guard being deployed, it's possible that lives may be lost.
  • CrœsosCrœsos Shipmate
    C-SPAN broke away from their coverage of the Capitol to Biden making an address. It was originally supposed to be about economic policy. As you can guess, he's talking about something else now.
  • Wesley JWesley J Shipmate
    edited January 6
    Good, reasonable stuff said by Biden, but in my (humble) opinion he is going on for much too long!
  • CrœsosCrœsos Shipmate
    I don't think a president-elect has used the word "sedition" in a public address since 1861.
  • RuthRuth Shipmate
    Dafyd wrote: »
    Can you impeach someone after they've been turfed out of office by the usual means?

    Yes, because he's still president till Jan 20. They could impeach and convict him and make Pence president for two weeks.
  • CrœsosCrœsos Shipmate
    Presumably impeachment could pass the Senate vote. Would Pence still have the casting vote?

    In impeachment trials the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presides. Apparently it's considered too much of a conflict of interest for the vice president to do so. Conviction by the Senate requires a super-majority of at least two-thirds of the votes cast, so as long as 34 Senators support Trump he could whether the effort. Still, it would be good to get those assholes on record about whether they support insurrection or not.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited January 6
    I caught the last part of Mr Biden's speech (YouTube seems rather busy at the moment!). He sounded calm, but O so sad at what is happening.

    And he even apologised gracefully for taking up so much time!

    @Ruth - if Trump were arrested today, would there be enough time to get him into jail before the 20th?
  • EutychusEutychus Shipmate
    BBC says networks have just called Georgia runoff for the two Democrats. I wonder if Biden waited for that news before making his statement.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited January 6
    Well, he's a canny old bird...and I say that with much respect.

    Where's Trump at the moment?
  • Crœsos: ah, thanks; Chief Justice makes sense.

    A 2/3 majority is a lot but surely Republican Senators must (mostly) want to put trump behind them and start afresh with someone competent and sane ready for a future where even with significant cheating they can't win and changing demographics make thing progressively more difficult.
  • Wesley JWesley J Shipmate
    Trump in a video message on CNN! Says, go home, but says: election was stolen etc!!
  • Ruth wrote: »
    Dafyd wrote: »
    Can you impeach someone after they've been turfed out of office by the usual means?

    Yes, because he's still president till Jan 20. They could impeach and convict him and make Pence president for two weeks.

    Or impeach Pence, too--resulting in President Nancy Pelosi for two weeks. I could live with that.
  • Pence seems to be trying to distance himself from Trump's insanity, though it might be a bit late for that.
  • Marvin the MartianMarvin the Martian Admin Emeritus
    Whatever he may have done or supported over the last four years, Pence is not guilty of inciting this coup attempt. He’s one of its targets.
  • Asshole. Trump, not you, @Wesley J !
  • Yes, that's clear from Trump's tweets earlier today...
  • Wesley JWesley J Shipmate
    edited January 6
    What? He mentioned me? (Just kiddin'.)
  • Autenrieth RoadAutenrieth Road Shipmate
    edited January 6
    Oh God, TV is re-showing T’s speech. Talk about pouring oil on burning oil. He is un-fucking-believably nuts.
  • CrœsosCrœsos Shipmate
    Trump has released a video calling for calm. Being Trump, naturally it was released on Twitter and he spends about 75% of it complaining about how the election was stolen and how life in general is unfair to him, but he did tell everyone to go home. Let's see if his followers listen to the text or subtext.
  • Wesley JWesley J Shipmate
    Quite, AR.
  • Yes, Wesley. You're *that* special to him. Isn't that fun?
    ;)
  • A thought that would make anyone sane want to run, and hide in a very deep cave...
  • With all due respect, it's Not Funny.
    :grimace:

    With violence occurring, and the National Guard being deployed, it's possible that lives may be lost.

    I hear you, BF. Not intending to be callous. Just trying to find an alternative to stressing over an appalling situation I am unable to change.
  • EutychusEutychus Shipmate
    Is there a procedural method to remove Trump immediately (not the 25th Amendment)? E.g. vote of the House and the Senate?
  • Yes, which is why I said *with all due respect*...I sort of saw what you meant.
    :wink:
  • 😁
  • Crœsos wrote: »
    I don't think a president-elect has used the word "sedition" in a public address since 1861.

    Possibly because no president-elect has faced sedition on the part of his principal since then.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited January 6
    Crœsos wrote: »
    Trump has released a video calling for calm. Being Trump, naturally it was released on Twitter and he spends about 75% of it complaining about how the election was stolen and how life in general is unfair to him, but he did tell everyone to go home. Let's see if his followers listen to the text or subtext.

    Twitter have, apparently, made it impossible to share, like, or respond to the latest infamous *tweets*, owing to a risk of violence.

    Not before time, one feels. I wonder whether they'll suspend his account?
  • Perhaps they'll learn to read whilst they're in jail?

    Latest news is that members of the National Guard are being deployed, so perhaps the insurrection will soon be put down.

    The Emperor openly pointedly INVITED his Brown Shirts to come to D.C. for the day ... and now he has ordered them, "Now it's time to go home ..."
  • Maybe, but have they gone home?
  • Eutychus wrote: »
    Is there a procedural method to remove Trump immediately (not the 25th Amendment)? E.g. vote of the House and the Senate?

    No ...

  • RuthRuth Shipmate
    Eutychus wrote: »
    Is there a procedural method to remove Trump immediately (not the 25th Amendment)? E.g. vote of the House and the Senate?

    Yes, the House could vote to impeach and the Senate could vote to convict. Seth Moulton, a Democratic Congressman from Maine, has already publicly called for this. I called my Congressman's local office and spoke in favor of it.
  • Just heard: re: National Guard, acting Sec of Defence Christopher Miller announced in contact with Pelosi and Pence... no mention of Trump. Meaningful omission, I think.
This discussion has been closed.