…don’t all laugh at once…& I know it was mentioned in the NOT…but…I said I’d still find it funny…& I can’t say it isn’t good news?
In a rebuke, Twitter permanently suspends Trump’s account, his primary megaphone [WaPo]
…that’s right, folks…the @realdonaldtrump account is permanently suspended from twitter “due to the risk of further incitement of violence”…& I haven’t been on twitter following it…but I gather when he tried tweeting from @potus they suspended that (less permanently since it won’t be his account soon)…& then from his campaign account (@teamtrump) & they suspended that, too…& reddit shut down the unfortunately titled trump sub [NYT]
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” the company said in a tweet.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/twitter-permanently-bans-president-donald-trump
[…]
Twitter banned the president’s account after years of public pressure and several attempts to limit the reach of his account in recent days. Hundreds of Twitter employees recently signed a letter urging Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to ban the president for using the platform to incite violence in the wake of the Capitol siege. An employee at Twitter who has been pushing for the company to delete the president’s account this week told NBC News that “leadership took a beating” at a meeting with employees Friday morning, many of whom pleaded with executives to delete his account.
…sure, it’s about five fucking years too late to deserve any real credit…but the fact that it must have made those sweaty little orange fingers positively quiver with impotent rage is surely something to savour…& it wasn’t just the one asshole they got around to removing some privileges from, neither
Twitter on Friday removed the accounts of Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell and other high-profile supporters of President Donald Trump who promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory.
The permanent bans are among the highest profile that the company has instituted as part of its efforts to crack down on misinformation and calls for violence.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/twitter-bans-michael-flynn-sidney-powell-qanon-account-purge
[…]
“The accounts have been suspended in line with our policy on Coordinated Harmful Activity,” a Twitter spokesperson told NBC News. “We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm, and given the renewed potential for violence surrounding this type of behavior in the coming days, we will permanently suspend accounts that are solely dedicated to sharing QAnon content.”
…I mean…the “we’ve been clear” part is for shit, obviously…apparently twitter missed the memo about actions speaking louder than words & all…but that chunk of driftwood still looks pretty good when you’re drowning…still…let’s not fool ourselves into believing it was about anything but that bottom line
In the months to come, some Democrats now are promising to use their powerful new perches — and their control of the White House and Congress starting in a matter of days — to proffer the sort of tough new laws and other punishments that tech giants have successfully fended off for years. Their seething anger could result in major repercussions for the industry, opening the door for a wide array of policy changes that could hold Facebook, Google and Twitter newly liable for their missteps.
“They bear major responsibility for ignoring repeated red flags and demands for fixes,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who stands to play a key role leading a tech-focused congressional panel in the coming months. The lawmaker faulted Facebook, Google and Twitter for failing to act as the riots unfolded “until well after there was blood and glass in the halls of the Capitol.”
“They have done enduring damage to their own credibility,” Blumenthal added in an interview, “and these events will renew and refocus the need for Congress to reform big tech.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/01/08/facebook-twitter-congress-trump-riot/
…so the fact that google (& I believe apple) have removed parler from their app store is, again, not a bad thing but a long way from deserving much in the way of praise…but like I said at the top…better late than never?
Can Trump be tried in the Senate on impeachment charges even after he leaves office? Some experts say yes.
[…]
No president has ever been removed from office by the impeachment process, and no president has been impeached by the House more than once.
[…]
“The constitutional case for late impeachment has more strengths and fewer flaws than the case against it,” wrote Brian Kalt, a professor at the Michigan State University College of Law in a widely cited law review article on the subject.No president has ever been impeached after leaving office, but there is one legal precedent that may be important.
In 1876, Secretary of War William Belknap was investigated by the House for corruption. Just minutes before the House was set to vote on his impeachment, he raced to the White House and handed his resignation to President Ulysses Grant.
The House went ahead and impeached him anyway, and the Senate proceeded to have a trial. A majority voted to convict […] scholars […] point to this example to bolster their argument that even after leaving office, a president could be convicted and barred from holding future federal office.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/can-trump-be-tried-senate-impeachment-charges-even-after-he-leaves-office
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/rep-clark-says-house-democrats-looking-impeachment-vote-next-week-rep-clark-says
How to Ensure This Never Happens Again [NYT]
Running Out the Clock on Trump Is Cowardly and Dangerous [NYT]
…anyway…I was going to go predictably long on the seemingly endless list of links I’ve collected in the last couple of days to articles about just how not-fucking-ok the shit that went down at the capitol building was
From Charlottesville to the Capitol: how rightwing impunity fueled the pro-Trump mob [Guardian]
The Trump cult has obliterated the line between citizenship and fandom, with deadly results [WaPo]
…or for that matter the shit that went down while that shit was going down
…& the other similarly endless list of ones about erstwhile “responsible parties” [WaPo] trying to make out they can wash their hands [WaPo], point some fingers & act all innocent
The pro-Trump media world peddled the lies that fueled the Capitol mob. Fox News led the way. [WaPo]
…or how “unexpected” or “unforeseeable” the whole thing was
We should have been ready for it, yet the spectacle at the Capitol came as a shock [Guardian]
Inside Trump supporters’ online echo chambers, the chaos of Jan. 6 could be seen coming. People posted their plans to come to Washington — and showed the weapons they would carry.
‘Be There. Will Be Wild!’: Trump All but Circled the Date [NYT]
…& a good helping of ones about just how fucking stupid you have to be to storm the seat of legislative power in the belief that interrupting a largely clerical procedure might somehow alter the foregone conclusion that your chosen effigy of political power is due to be unceremoniusly pitched on the trash heap of history in a few days…& not expect there to be consequences
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/01/08/capitol-rioters-fired-doxed-online
Authorities looking to prosecute the mob of Trump supporters who overran the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday stand to get powerful help from cellphone records, facial recognition tools and other technologies to assist in the identification of anyone who was there that day.
The Capitol, more than most buildings, has a vast cellular and wireless data infrastructure of its own to make communications efficient in a building made largely of stone and that extends deep underground and has pockets of shielded areas. Such infrastructure, such as individual cell towers, can turn any connected phone into its own tracking device.
Phone records make determining the owners of these devices trivially easy. Congressional investigators and federal prosecutors can also identify devices and users who may have connected wittingly or automatically to Congressional guest WiFi networks — unless rioters made a point of deactivating their devices or leaving them behind during the takeover.
The countless hours of video — much of it taken by the rioters themselves and uploaded to social media — also offers an ideal set for facial recognition. Many scenes were captured from multiple angles, with good lighting, over several minutes. Few people wore masks. While facial recognition technology often struggles to reliably identify people with dark skin, the large majority of the Trump supporters who entered the Capitol on Wednesday appeared to be White.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/01/08/trump-mob-tech-arrests
…because…well…there’s been kind of an abundance of that sort of thing so they haven’t exactly been hard to come by
Allowing physical access to a location can have serious cybersecurity ramifications. Rioters could have bugged congressional offices, exfiltrated data from unlocked computers, or installed malware on exposed devices. In the rush to evacuate the Capitol, some computers were left unlocked and remained accessible by the time rioters arrived. And at least some equipment was stolen; Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon said in a video late Wednesday that intruders took one of his office’s laptops off a conference table.
The House of Representatives and Senate each have a Sergeant-at-Arms office that oversees security. On the Senate side this body also supervises cybersecurity, whereas in the House that responsibility lies with the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer. On Thursday, speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi said that sergeant at arms Paul Irving would resign over Wednesday’s breach of the Capitol. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said he would remove that chamber’s sergeant at arms, Mike Stenger, if he does not resign.
https://www.wired.com/story/capitol-riot-security-congress-trump-mob-clean-up/
[…to be honest I’m not a big fan of wired…but @loveshaq already left us a link that mentioned a guy they needed a russian interpreter to speak to only to get the oh-so-russian-response “I don’t know what unlawful entry you are referring to” so I guess you could argue the above is kind of a placeholder alternative?]
…but it’s the weekend, damn it…& I think we all deserve a fucking break so I might just leave it at that for now…there’s always next week…& I’m pretty sure we aren’t done with that particular aftermath?
In the wake of Wednesday’s riot at the Capitol, Trump supporters with extremist views feel emboldened and are vowing to return to Washington for the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on January 20, using online platforms to rally each other.
“Many of Us will return on January 19, 2021, carrying Our weapons, in support of Our nation’s resolve, towhich [sic] the world will never forget!!! We will come in numbers that no standing army or police agency can match,” wrote a popular Parler user who frequently posts about QAnon, and is being tracked by the Anti-Defamation League.
Parler, Telegram chat rooms and the platform TheDonald.win were all used to plan and coordinate the Jan. 6 rally that turned into a riot. Posters explicitly stated their intentions to “occupy” the Capitol. QAnon conspiracy theorists and people associated with militia groups had a visible presence in Wednesday’s crowd.
“Round 2 on January 20th. This time no mercy. I don’t even care about keeping Trump in power. I care about war,” an anonymous person posted on the platform TheDonald.win, which is filled with comments posted by people who lauded those who rioted Wednesday as “heroes.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/right-wing-extremists-vow-return-washington-joe-biden-s-inauguration
ah….to be a fly on the wall in the white house today….i bet the meltdown is epic
probably not a good day for anyone near little donny today
wonder what he’ll try to do now?
Surely he still has access to @potus (for the next 11 days at least.) He should have been using it all along as an official communications channel. I think by law/statute/custom that can’t be suspended, so the records can be retained.
…twitter (or so I gather) has removed tweets he posted in the @potus account in addition to removing several associated accounts entirely (like the @teamtrump campaign account & the one belonging to the campaign head of digital who tried to change the screen name of his own account to donald trump as a workaround…so they seem to be keeping up
…but in terms of records I’m more-or-less certain that all his tweets (even the deleted ones) remain intact in twitter’s database…they just aren’t visible any more through the user interface?
My dad was a pretty good winter driver (driving in the rural Ontario snowbelt gives you that kind of experience) but the one time he was shit scared was when a country bumpkin in a pickup truck decided to tailgate the family station wagon for over 100km from Muskoka. At first he thought the driver was going to pass and gave him that chance. Nope, he remained glued to my dad’s bumper, trying to scare the shit out of him (and us) making it some kind of crazy sadistic game. We were all scared/tense cause this guy followed my dad no matter where he turned. After following us almost 100km, my dad realized this fucker was crazy and wanted to hurt us. We got some luck in the form of a patch of black ice.
Dad managed to recover (never oversteer while sliding) without putting us in a ditch (which is what I think Psycho Mcfuckface wanted to do to us). Being in the back of the wagon, I watched Psycho McFuckface as he went all bug eyed in fear/panic as his pickup started to spin and spin and spin right into a 2m high wall of snow and disappeared into a cloud of snow.
My mom wanted to be nice and help him. My dad growled at my mom and said “No, he doesn’t deserve it.” and zoomed off. I don’t know if he froze or was hurt nor do I care. I do remember that it happened on an isolated country road and the nearest town was 10km or so away. Either way, it was going to be a miserable day for Pyscho McFuckface.
Now why do I bring this up? These shitheads tried to overthrow the Democratic process. I feel the same way about them as my dad did for Psycho McFuckface. If it makes me a horrible heartless person then so be it. If they worked within the law then I get it, but they didn’t. Some asshole (I see you David Brooks) will point to Antifa or BLM as some kind of equivalent and that’s bullshit. They didn’t organize and protest for MORE VIOLENCE and DEATH. They wanted to have Nazi and/or police thugs to stop killing/hurting/penalizing THEM. One thing I gleaned from reading about human history/misery is that the only difference between a “good” guy and a “bad” guy is intent as the methodology is usually similar.
These Nazis have no such ideals and basically pro-malice, misery, pain and death wrapped in some bullshit flag waving. Only those willing to show mercy/genuine remorse should get it and I don’t see it.
Too late, Brooks. Craven political opportunist Marco Rubio already staked out that territory. He’s getting ratioed to hell, too.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/politics/os-ne-rubio-capitol-video-20210108-t3hxc2qzyndbxnjgfqeyfk43gu-story.html
That is a great analogy! The story about being able to track all the devices that were there give me some hope that these idiots will face real charges. Many of these guys have never actually had to face consequences from playing soldier and may have a real “come to Jesus” moment when they are sitting in a cell and have lost their jobs. I hope they do come back for the inauguration but this time they are ready for it and put them all down once and for all. What better way to start of the new administration than purge all these fuckers.
Actually, I’m very concerned about the inauguration. The same people who were in charge of ordering the security presence for the insurrection are still in charge of ordering security for the inauguration. The same Trump loyalists are in the Pentagon and the Pentagon still answers to Trump. I have no confidence that the DC National Guard will be put in place–or even put in place in sufficient numbers with sufficient gear. Mrs. Butcher said this morning that the inauguration itself will be a virtual affair, but just because these knuckle draggers won’t be able to physically disrupt the inauguration won’t stop them from trying to burn the city down in their rage. This is not over by a long shot.
How about the nutty Congresswoman from Illinois (R, naturally) who quoted Hitler at a “Moms for America” rally, no less, the day before the riots? It’s not every US Congressperson who’s this familiar with the wit and wisdom of A. Hitler.
https://nypost.com/2021/01/07/rep-mary-miller-says-hitler-was-right-on-one-thing-during-washington-dc-rally/
By the way, I’m pretty sure Hitler came up with this in “Mein Kampf” and later repeated it at different rallies, including no doubt the famous ones at Nuremberg.
I don’t know. This whole early 21st century version of the Republican Party seems like something best avoided, no?
So her kids will write the best seller, “Nazi Dearest: Mommy Made Me a Trump Jugend!”
I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to wonder if the Republican Party has our best interests at heart.
I’m worried about the inauguration, I hope they get a bulletproof pope mobile for Biden and Harris. Biden is going to have so much work to do with the pandemic and now he has to root out all the nazis cheeto has installed in every branch?
…I think the inauguration stuff is a legitimate concern…but equally I’d hope that after what happened it should have vastly better & more effective preparation & deployment on the law enforcement/crowd control side of things
…I’d still see running the whole thing as a remote/virtual thing as being fine under the circumstances but I get that to some that might be giving too much ground to people who don’t deserve it so I can also see how even in a pandemic maybe that’s not a precedent they’d want to set?
Yes, if it wasn’t for the pandemic I’d suggest everyone go to, at the very least, show cheeto what a real crowd looks like. But law enforcement involvement in all of this is very troubling. I hear Biden is against defunding the police but surely major police reform is necessary and now that this has hit home to the legislature it might actually get done.
and a Q for Mike Pence: How the fuck do you go to work knowing that your boss has incited a mob to try to kill you?
…that’s a damn good question re:pence
…& the degree to which the background enabling of wednesday’s shitshow seems to have gone higher & deeper than it had any business getting is one of the most chilling things about it all to my mind
…law enforcement has some root&branch housecleaning to do & no mistake…so yeah, I’d sincerely hope that those purse strings get tightened as part of that & some serious reform ends up being a consequence of all of this
Pence is apparently NOT going to work. He’s hiding somewhere. Now I think Pence is despicable, but in this matter, I do not blame him. These people were serious, and among the utter idiots, there were apparently some trained and armed militia:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/1/8/2007302/-Insurrectionists-didn-t-just-come-to-invade-the-Capitol-some-were-planning-to-take-hostages
We shouldn’t get distracted by the buffoons with buffalo masks and the low-IQ patsies. There was serious shit going on here. There’s also growing evidence that Trump toadies hindered the National Guard response, and were deliberately placed to facilitate a military coup. We are DAMN lucky the military didn’t go along with that orange shitstain.
https://www.businessinsider.com/pentagon-hindered-dc-national-guard-response-to-insurrection-attempt-report-2021-1
Forewarned is forearmed. At this point, I’d ring the entire city with National Guard and make the inauguration invitation-only. No invitation, you get turned back. No exceptions. I’d attempt to vet every member of the Guard (might not have time) and I’d absolutely shuffle duty assignments so that you’re only working with people you don’t know and are preferably not from your state or region. No exceptions.
I know that isn’t very democratic, but as I posted below, there are some serious militia goons that are part of this insurrection. It’s damn tough to stop a trained operative who is determined to reach an objective and doesn’t care what happens afterward.
But, how do we get around the fact that the Pentagon is still in charge of deciding what happens with the National Guard? I have no confidence that the Guard will be put in place.
…realistically I’m not sure…but if I understood some of the stuff I read in the last few days it took someone from the DoD &/or Pence to get them to pull their thumb out of their ass & get the national guard deployed on wednesday…which (as I understand it) is not the traditional chain of command where DC & the national guard are concerned…it seems to be one of the things that’s got people talking seriously about trying to get statehood for DC, even
…so I guess I’m hoping that saner heads will prevail & give suitably short shrift to the pretexts on which that ball was dropped on the 6th in order to make sure it doesn’t happen again…but I doubt I’ll breathe easier about it until the whole thing is over & we all wake up in a world where biden is the duly-sworn president & citizen donald is (I fervently hope) just some asshole staring down a world of legal strife?
Good point. Looks like it’s actually the President who commands the National Guard in DC, though it’s usually delegated to the Commanding General of the DC National Guard. So Trump’s in charge until Jan. 20. Congress can declare a state of emergency, but I don’t think that affects chain of command. The Secret Service would be the head agency in charge of coordinating security with state and local forces, but “state and local forces” are extremely suspect at this particular point. I *think* the Secret Service assigned to Biden has been vetted and declared Trump-free, but I’m not sure ALL of them are currently trustworthy. Honestly this is an excellent reason to 25th that goddamn orange asshole, but it’s not gonna happen. I’m not sure what the steps are at this point.
My God, this is a surreal discussion. Never in my wildest imaginings did I think it would come to this. It’s been said before, but if Trump weren’t a complete fucking idiot, we’d all be in a fascist dictatorship right now.
i came across this
i suspect the trolls are going to have a field day here
…I haven’t got a decent link to hand but it seems that at least one of the services the trump campaign used to manage their mailing list has cut them off…so they can’t mass mail people with begging emails…& may possibly have actually lost access to their most valuable address book
…which potentially hits the witless wonder where it really hurts…as well as being a reason the likes of M-T-head there would be begging for deets?
oh man….this is a highly entertaining way to start the weekend
(which is not to say im not worried about what all of these asshats including the one still in charge currently are going to do in the coming days….just that for now im laughing at them)
…it’s probably a smaller effect than I’d like but it does seem to at least be true…this guy is a correspondent for the financial times & they don’t generally bullshit about factual stuff?
If Google Play and Apple remove Parler from their App stores does that mean new people cannot create accounts, or that that Apple and Google devices will no longer support the app?
far as im aware it just means it wont be available to download at the store
…as it stands farscythe is right that it just means new people couldn’t install the app from those sources
…but unless you’ve jailbroken/rooted the device I believe both platforms have the ability to remotely remove the app from devices…iirc google has done it with apps they belatedly caught trying to smuggle malicious code…not 100% sure if apple has done the same but fairly certain the functionality is part of their walled-garden approach to software
Thank you @farscythe and @SplinterRip It seems like another case of doing as little as possible.
So is Parler being treated like 4Chan now? It should be. Isn’t this owned by the Mercer family? The only way you get the GOP to stop being a terrorist organization is to take away their funding. A few businesses are finally seeing they need to embrace the Biden administration or get ready for a rough 4 years but many more will not. Stop shopping at Walmart, don’t buy any products owned by these asshats, divest your stock/401Ks from these companies. We all need to make these people even MORE accountable for this than our representatives because we know they represent these businesses and not us individuals. Make it so these people can’t leave their mansions without being shouted down and maybe they will change. That is about all I learned from this event but for elephants, they have very short memories so you need to get them to act right away.
…pretty sure the mercers have helped funded parler at some level but I don’t think they outright own it?
…not sure…& obviously there’s always the shell-game when it comes to owners/beneficiaries & such…but I think the likes of the remaining koch brother are already putting the pressure on their political “friends” to get enough distance between themselves & pro-trump stuff other-than-indirectly in a predictable effort to keep their profits away from potential liabilities…so that sort of funding might shuffle the deck a bit but I think it’s a safe bet it aims to keep it as stacked as it can?
…their priorities haven’t changed & their interests are still vested in all the same places, after all…it’d be nice to think that somehow or other our actions at an individual level could impact their pocketbook but the more cynical part of me tends to the view that they’ve been financially well-insulated enough to have got used to being able to pay anyone that looks like a potential piper for a fair while without worrying about the write-off for the ones that don’t pan out…& without noticably losing out on a net basis…I don’t want to sound like I don’t believe progress is possible or anything but at some level ultimately things looking up from a woefully low bar isn’t the same as the underlying problems getting fixed in the longer term…so while some people get to be richer than most states & some countries it seems likely that deep pockets will still hold sway in the background one way or another until we figure out how to stop the poor getting poorer while the rich get richer
…the legend of the level playing field has a lot of appeal but I’m not sure I expect to see it happen in my lifetime…which is not to say that I don’t think there’s a lot that could be done to rein in the influence of money in politics…& “dark” money in particular…& you’re certainly right that the only way those people shut off the money tap is if it starts to look like keeping it open is going to cost them more than it benefits them
I’d like to take a moment to express my thanks and gratitude to Rip, Meg and the users of this site who contribute informative links and tweets that keep the rest of the plebs, i.e. me, well informed. This site has become my most reliable corner of the internet for true information. All in one easy-to-open thread. Today’s DOT was another fine example of stellar work. Dozens of links and tweets that were eye opening and left me agape.
You all are truly doing the Lord’s work, and I am in your debt.
Thank You.
…I confess that I generally feel like a rank amateur compared to the likes of the stuff I used to read courtesy of roo & folks like her in the days before kinja killed that sort of thing off…but in all sincerity, I do thank you for the kind words…even if the flip side of this place is that it’s kind of nice for me to have a place to spill out all the crap I read that makes me wonder if it’s me that’s nuts…so I’d like to thank the rest of you folks for helping me out by reminding me that it remains possible that it might in fact be the world instead?
Thanks Yellowbird! Appreciate the kind words.
Live stream of Trump at the White House today.
It’s kind of sad that our time to celebrate what happened in Georgia was taken away from us. Then I read this which just makes me want to celebrate the victory even more…
https://www.gregpalast.com/why-did-the-georgia-gop-team-with-a-riot-instigator/
I know almost nothing of Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), but I’m pretty sure I’d vote for him if he ran for President.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-capitol-mob-desecrated-a-historical-workplace–and-left-behind-some-disturbing-artifacts/2021/01/08/e67b3c88-51d1-11eb-83e3-322644d82356_story.html
Mr. Kim is my representative in Congress. Mrs. Yellowbird and I faithfully cast our votes for him in 2018, and I felt truly proud reading the stories of his actions after the insurgency.
If you need a feel good story, just read about his bio.
Dammit, RIP, you made me laugh again today: