Octopus Overlords

@elisethoma5 wrote:For me, the striking thing about so many of these images of rioters in the Capitol is that what they're doing - all of them - is creating content for social media.

At least in their minds, the true seat of power is not actually in that building. It's online.

@Bencjacobs wrote:This may be the lasting image of today

Politics is always performative, but the nature of the performance has changed dramatically in just a few years. What we saw today was the sudden, violent disruption of one performance, the certification of electoral college votes, for another, wilder show.

They could have done anything in that building today. What they did, by and large, was take selfies and create social media content. That was what really mattered to them. Whatever higher motives they might claim, their actions suggest that was the real motive for many of them.

It's no coincidence that the star and driving animus of this show is a man who has built his whole life and business around delivering compelling performances on broadcast and digital media.

Jaymann wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 2:58 pm What, do they allow iPhones in federal prison now?

hepcat wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 3:01 pm

Jaymann wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 2:58 pm What, do they allow iPhones in federal prison now?

If it will fit, sure.

hepcat wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 3:08 pm I wonder if Jared Kushner's expression changed at any point during yesterday's riots?

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 2:55 pm Courtesy of freelance journalist and OSINT analyst at ISD Global, @elisethoma5:

@elisethoma5 wrote:For me, the striking thing about so many of these images of rioters in the Capitol is that what they're doing - all of them - is creating content for social media.

At least in their minds, the true seat of power is not actually in that building. It's online.

@Bencjacobs wrote:This may be the lasting image of today

Politics is always performative, but the nature of the performance has changed dramatically in just a few years. What we saw today was the sudden, violent disruption of one performance, the certification of electoral college votes, for another, wilder show.

They could have done anything in that building today. What they did, by and large, was take selfies and create social media content. That was what really mattered to them. Whatever higher motives they might claim, their actions suggest that was the real motive for many of them.

It's no coincidence that the star and driving animus of this show is a man who has built his whole life and business around delivering compelling performances on broadcast and digital media.

hepcat wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 3:44 pm There's a meme going around showing the buffalo hat guy at a BLM protest alongside an image from yesterday's riot, and the theory is he's antifa because of that. My god people, do you think counter protests don't exist???? How friggin' stupid are you people. Numerous fact checking sites even have a freakin' interview from the guy during the BLM protest where he explicitly states he IS there to counter protest.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 4:25 pm

hepcat wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 3:44 pm There's a meme going around showing the buffalo hat guy at a BLM protest alongside an image from yesterday's riot, and the theory is he's antifa because of that. My god people, do you think counter protests don't exist???? How friggin' stupid are you people. Numerous fact checking sites even have a freakin' interview from the guy during the BLM protest where he explicitly states he IS there to counter protest.

The guy known far-and-wide as the "QAnon Shaman."

hepcat wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 4:37 pm I wanna see Techno Viking John Fetterman beat his ass down.

Jaymann wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 5:21 pm viola, a pre-made gang of hard core loyalists.

gameoverman wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 3:50 pm I don't know that this is new. "I was there man" goes back a long way. When George Washington was leading the crossing of the Mississippi river you can believe that most of his men would have been taking selfies if they had cellphones back then.

Kraken wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 5:47 pm

gameoverman wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 3:50 pm I don't know that this is new. "I was there man" goes back a long way. When George Washington was leading the crossing of the Mississippi river you can believe that most of his men would have been taking selfies if they had cellphones back then.

That time the Continental Army invaded Iowa? You bet they would've documented that!

Kraken wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 5:47 pm

gameoverman wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 3:50 pm I don't know that this is new. "I was there man" goes back a long way. When George Washington was leading the crossing of the Mississippi river you can believe that most of his men would have been taking selfies if they had cellphones back then.

That time the Continental Army invaded Iowa? You bet they would've documented that!

LawBeefaroni wrote:There were dozens of cameras and the two guys next her at the door were live streaming. Not 20 feet behind were officers armed with rifles hanging back. It's like everyone agreed that this was performance. Unfortunately the cop on the other side of the door wasn't informed.

Fretmute wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 9:37 pm

LawBeefaroni wrote:There were dozens of cameras and the two guys next her at the door were live streaming. Not 20 feet behind were officers armed with rifles hanging back. It's like everyone agreed that this was performance. Unfortunately the cop on the other side of the door wasn't informed.

I tried to avoid that video, but it managed to auto play for me on Tapatalk.

I can not imagine a world in which security officers that are actually working for the same team are on both sides of that door.

[edit] - And now I keep watching it, completely nonplussed. What the fuck where those cops in the hallway doing at all? I mean, I guess they could be seditionists in cop gear, but I feel that rifles are pretty severely frowned upon on in the capital.

Alefroth wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 10:03 pm

Fretmute wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 9:37 pm

LawBeefaroni wrote:There were dozens of cameras and the two guys next her at the door were live streaming. Not 20 feet behind were officers armed with rifles hanging back. It's like everyone agreed that this was performance. Unfortunately the cop on the other side of the door wasn't informed.

I tried to avoid that video, but it managed to auto play for me on Tapatalk.

I can not imagine a world in which security officers that are actually working for the same team are on both sides of that door.

[edit] - And now I keep watching it, completely nonplussed. What the fuck where those cops in the hallway doing at all? I mean, I guess they could be seditionists in cop gear, but I feel that rifles are pretty severely frowned upon on in the capital.

I was thinking the same thing about them. They had absolutely no control over the situation while letting a bunch of yahoos mill around with their phones recording.

Ben Domenech wrote:Capitol Police are fine people. They’re nice and generally accommodating. But they’re also the TSA of Capitol Hill — mostly used to telling people to go back and get their badge, not deal with a security issue. They rarely train. Most of them would fail a basic fitness test. But that’s understandable because what’s typically required of them is not a major security conflagration, but removing some loud Code Pink lady from a hearing, or grabbing a jumper from the Gallery. The norms of politics prevent them from having to be more aggressive.

On the eve of the protests yesterday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who gives all the evidence of having a brain mostly composed of pudding, demurred on offers of extra law enforcement, saying they were unnecessary and would cause confusion. The result was a group of Capitol Police who seemed woefully unprepared for the crush of the massive crowd that showed up, without riot gear or moveable barriers or the equipment necessary to peacefully quell a potentially violent gathering.

The breach yesterday has been long in the making. Even as a young staffer I was shocked at how unsecure the Capitol was — there are numerous gaps in their security that you will easily witness if you spend any time there. It’s only the intimidating columns, the confusion about which door you can use, and the institutions and norms that keep people at bay. And those, alas, are now gone. They are dead, they are in the ground, and they are not coming back.

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 10:53 pm Ben Domenech, a former staffer at the Capitol, clarifies part of problem in the commentary he wrote for the Federalist about the consequences of the assault:

gilraen wrote: ↑Fri Jan 08, 2021 2:03 am

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 10:53 pm Ben Domenech, a former staffer at the Capitol, clarifies part of problem in the commentary he wrote for the Federalist about the consequences of the assault:

Or maybe I won't be getting my information from some random right-wing staffer and instead read actual news, that made it very clear that National Guard was deployed to Washington DC with a very limited directive to NOT engage with any political protesting. So essentially they were only allowed to manage crowds and traffic several blocks away from the Capitol until the DoD finally approved their "change of mission".

Alefroth wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 10:53 pmHe's no random staffer. He co-founded The Federalist and RedState.

What will happen next is obvious: A total crushing, anti-free speech effort that treats Trump-supporting groups like Branch Davidians. An effort to restore the fundamentally unserious neocons as the voice of reason in the room. A hardening of the bounds of the People’s House to keep people away from politicians. A use of any levers of government power — including audits, regulation, and lawfare — to harass conservatives now categorized as seditionists and terrorists by the incoming president who falsely claims to want to unite the country. And above all, a doubling down on all the policies and efforts put in place to crush exactly the type of people who showed up at the Capitol yesterday in a foolish, desperate attempt to make themselves heard.

malchior wrote: ↑Fri Jan 08, 2021 7:52 am

Alefroth wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 10:53 pmHe's no random staffer. He co-founded The Federalist and RedState.

Yeah. That's the problem. From the original article.

What will happen next is obvious: A total crushing, anti-free speech effort that treats Trump-supporting groups like Branch Davidians. An effort to restore the fundamentally unserious neocons as the voice of reason in the room. A hardening of the bounds of the People’s House to keep people away from politicians. A use of any levers of government power — including audits, regulation, and lawfare — to harass conservatives now categorized as seditionists and terrorists by the incoming president who falsely claims to want to unite the country. And above all, a doubling down on all the policies and efforts put in place to crush exactly the type of people who showed up at the Capitol yesterday in a foolish, desperate attempt to make themselves heard.

There is some truth in their for sure about how policy has created these people but his disgust is pointed in the wrong direction. Far-right economic policy that people like him espouse are a direct cause of this. That he thinks it is "audits, regulation, and lawfare" is the usual cry of the Conservative and is just precious now. Instead, we have tons of evidence that reverse robin hood economics policy over the last 40 years is a significant factor that impoverished these people and pushed them to the brink. It was only a matter of time before it finally turned into a real problem.

malchior wrote: ↑Fri Jan 08, 2021 7:52 am

What will happen next is obvious: A total crushing, anti-free speech effort that treats Trump-supporting groups like Branch Davidians. An effort to restore the fundamentally unserious neocons as the voice of reason in the room. A hardening of the bounds of the People’s House to keep people away from politicians. A use of any levers of government power — including audits, regulation, and lawfare — to harass conservatives now categorized as seditionists and terrorists by the incoming president who falsely claims to want to unite the country. And above all, a doubling down on all the policies and efforts put in place to crush exactly the type of people who showed up at the Capitol yesterday in a foolish, desperate attempt to make themselves heard.

Holman wrote: ↑Fri Jan 08, 2021 10:21 am

malchior wrote: ↑Fri Jan 08, 2021 7:52 am

What will happen next is obvious: A total crushing, anti-free speech effort that treats Trump-supporting groups like Branch Davidians. An effort to restore the fundamentally unserious neocons as the voice of reason in the room. A hardening of the bounds of the People’s House to keep people away from politicians. A use of any levers of government power — including audits, regulation, and lawfare — to harass conservatives now categorized as seditionists and terrorists by the incoming president who falsely claims to want to unite the country. And above all, a doubling down on all the policies and efforts put in place to crush exactly the type of people who showed up at the Capitol yesterday in a foolish, desperate attempt to make themselves heard.

I wonder if he wrote this tenderly about BLM protesters.

Paingod wrote: ↑Fri Jan 08, 2021 10:22 am With all of these goons in the Capital Building, wouldn't it be woefully easy for the FBI to run a little phone triangulation to see which phones in the area were in that building and who they belonged to? Wouldn't cell data show a lot of dots outside that surge inside - and they could isolate those?

malchior wrote: ↑Fri Jan 08, 2021 10:46 am

Paingod wrote: ↑Fri Jan 08, 2021 10:22 am With all of these goons in the Capital Building, wouldn't it be woefully easy for the FBI to run a little phone triangulation to see which phones in the area were in that building and who they belonged to? Wouldn't cell data show a lot of dots outside that surge inside - and they could isolate those?

GPS data is that accurate. Cell data isn't. Depends on what they can get.

Holman wrote: ↑Fri Jan 08, 2021 10:50 amThat's why I think the danger of a blanket presidential pardon is real.

Brian wrote: ↑Fri Jan 08, 2021 10:48 am

malchior wrote: ↑Fri Jan 08, 2021 10:46 am

Paingod wrote: ↑Fri Jan 08, 2021 10:22 am With all of these goons in the Capital Building, wouldn't it be woefully easy for the FBI to run a little phone triangulation to see which phones in the area were in that building and who they belonged to? Wouldn't cell data show a lot of dots outside that surge inside - and they could isolate those?

GPS data is that accurate. Cell data isn't. Depends on what they can get.

But what if we zoom and enhance?