This Darkness Got to Give

[lbpesq]

As I sit here dumbfoundedly watching the actual invasion of the United States Capitol and the suspension of Congress certifying the election,  I wonder at what point does discussion leave the realm of political opinion speech and enter the realm of acknowledging an attempted coup?    Is “I support democracy and the U.S.Constitution” an opinion that is too controversial to express?  I wonder how our brothers and sisters outside the U.S. view this unprecedented turn in U.S. history?


Mods:  I apologize if this is over the line, but I can’t silently watch this without doing my part to support democracy.  And if it’s over the line, it shouldn’t be.


This Darkness Got to Give!


Bill, tgo

[BeenDown139]

agreed

makes me feel like i'm living in a banana republic.  a shameful chapter in our nation's history.

[cozmik_cowboy]

I, for one, am willing to face the censure of the mods if it's too political to say that armed insurrection in the halls of Congress is a bad thing, and should have met with considerably more force.

Peter

[jacko]

Bill.
Over our side of the pond, I believe the vast majority of us share your views (at least that's how it appears on social media). I was appalled last night when I saw images of armed, MAGA emblazoned idiots inside the Capitol. Luckily they've followed your leader's advice not to wear facemasks so it should be pretty easy for the authorities to identify them (if they don't contract covid first). I know we shouldn't discuss politics chez Alembic BUT until last night we've never really needed to. In this case I feel it's appropriate to express our shock at recent events. 

Graeme

[pauldo]

Profoundly sad.

The Darkness of yesterday’s events feels surreal.... the Whiteness is the problem and that is what needs to be stopped.
I am sure there would have been a lot more resistance if the “protestors” were not so white.

I am so sad.

[paulman]

During the Civil war they never made it to the Capital.  Its a sad turn and disappointing.


However they still held session and completed the task.  This is good!


We will get there.  The Grateful Dead taught us Form always comes after Chaos, and we get shown the light in the strangest of places if we look at it right.

[gearhed289]

I, for one, am willing to face the censure of the mods if it's too political to say that armed insurrection in the halls of Congress is a bad thing, and should have met with considerably more force.

Peter

I agree 100%

However they still held session and completed the task.  This is good!

VERY good! The ultimate middle finger to those idiots in my opinion.

[FC Bass]

I am sure there would have been a lot more resistance if the “protestors” were not so white.

We saw that last summer... Difference in response shows (among many other things) how ugly the mindset of 45 is. -sickening-

Hoping we get Pence 46 soon and can't wait for 47 (or 46 if this insanity continues)

Plz never do this again US of A, you have plenty of nice people you can vote for on both sides.

[StephenR]

Darkness isn't going anywhere... House of Representatives has been adjourned until after the inauguration. No culpability for what happened yesterday! Our democracy is essentially over and done with, all that remains is window dressing.

[lbpesq]

I’m not quite there yet.  But I am very worried.

We watched C-Span all night and early morning until the final vote.   What was really frightening was the debate on objections to some of the states’ electoral votes.  Many of the republican objectors just parroted the administration’s blatantly false claims.  For example, numerous objectors first noted, correctly, that the Constitution provides that state legislatures shall make the state’s rules for picking the electors.  They then complained that Pennsylvania added non-cause mail-in ballots for the first time this election and the switch was unconstitutionally done by the courts.   In actuality, the switch was done by the Pennsylvania legislature in 2019 as part of “Act 77”.    Either these people are:

1. in good faith (non-critically) believing everything Trump tells them;

2. in bad faith putting political expediency ahead of the Constitution; or

3. they are just too dumb to be in Congress (see No. 1, above).

There is no other reasonable alternative explanation.  I am very worried about how January 20th will play out.

Bill, tgo

[mica]

This place is supposed to be a respite from storms of all natures. There are countless places on the internet to have any discussion you care to. When we gather at the Alembic Club, we keep politics, sexism, racism, religion and personal attacks off of these pages.

My sadness over the divisions in our nation is now increased as I watch my group of friends here knowingly disregard our very simple posting guidelines. We've kept this a friendly forum since 2002. I'm locking this thread without further comment.