2021 questions (6/365)

[nanila]

January 6
What is distracting you?

Currently: USian politics. Brexit and associated fallout. Pokemon Go.

Persistently: Trying to keep up with e-mail as well as get work done. It's like a continuous game of whack-a-mole.

Comments

[omnipotent]

Sadly things have significantly worsened on the US political front since the posting of this. It's a sad, shameful day for America.

[nanila]

An attempted coup by armed terrorists. I genuinely had faith I would never see that in the USA.

[omnipotent]

I wish I could be so optimistic. My only surprise is that it didn't happen sooner. But I think today was chosen because today was the day the runoff results from Georgia were announced.

[semianonymous]

Today was chosen because it was the day the Electoral College certifies. They actually interrupted the counting

[semianonymous]

Oh, and for the Europeans who are unfamiliar with such things, a good rule of thumb is if you see an unfamiliar procedure with regards to US elections, you can safely assume that it is something anti-democratic with a racist backstory. You generally won't go wrong.

[omnipotent]

I doubt they are intelligent enough to know that today is the day of electoral college certification, so I disagree with your statement. This entire past year and election has shown that an overwhelming amount of Americans do not understand nor care how our government works. Many state capitol buildings were also raided today.

[semianonymous]

Uh, Ok. From 1/4/21:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/01/04/january-6-dc-protests-against-election-certification-could-violent/4132441001/

"The rallies are planned to coincide with the official congressional vote to certify the Electoral College votes from the November presidential election and declare President-elect Joe Biden the winner. "

Politico, also from 1/4/21: (https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/04/maga-marchers-trump-last-stand-454382):

"WildProtest, a subgroup of Stop the Steal, is asking attendees to gather by the north entrance of the Capitol Building, where Pence is expected to arrive on Jan. 6.

And MAGA world’s A-list names are also slated to speak, including Stone, QAnon-boosters and freshly elected Reps. Marjorie Taylor-Greene and Lauren Boebert and Joe Flynn, brother of Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

“Our presence in Washington D.C. will let Members of Congress know that we stand with Rep. Mo Brooks and his colleagues in the House of Representatives who will bravely object to the certification of the Electoral College,” the WildProtest website proclaims."

Generally, when the people protesting tell you why they're protesting you should believe them.

[omnipotent]

I didn't know that they had stated that that was their objective. I only knew that they were planning to go to the capitol today. A link in your first comment would have been helpful, but thank you for providing it now.

Regardless of their objective, this was the Beer Hall Putsch and I'm sure the next attempt will be successful.

ps. There's no need to be condescending, thank you.

[semianonymous]

Sorry, not trying to be a jerk. But like Nanila, I am a scientist. I try hard to ensure that the information I present is as factually based as I can make it. I do this, in part, because I'll feel really bad if I provide misinformation. So when I present a fact and the response is "I disagree", which is really ONLY interpretable as "I think you're incorrect", it's possible I might get a bit snarky.

I'm happy to be challenged on statements if you think I'm wrong (and I certainly have been known to be). If you had asked for a source or something to back up my statement, I would have been happy to provide it. And, in that case, if I'm snippy with you for simply asking for more information, you would certainly be right to call me out on it.

Anyway, not that I think anyone has to be particularly concerned with that, as I'm not much of a commenter. This is probably about my 10th lifetime comment on the internet.

[omnipotent]

It's all good. Thank you again for the link; I really do appreciate it.

Now I'm just worried about the next attempt, as failed coups are often succeeded by successful ones. Biden and Harris better be literally physically wrapped in Secret Service protection on January 20. I'm also concerned for the safety of their families.

Also, these people are not going to go away quietly. This administration has emboldened them, so I'm worried about what will happen when they're a.) better planned and organized and b.) have a unified objective (i.e., today we're going to storm the National Archives Building and rip up the Declaration of Independence, or something--today seemed to be the "let's do it and see if we can" test run).

[silveradept]

Oof. Today was a bad day for bad distractions. Hopefully there were some good distractions as well.

[nanila]

I don't know if this counts as good but there was some quite nice Japanese whisky around midnight which at least enabled a few hours of sleep!