At that time I hoped I was being paranoid, but I underestimated the craziness. Protestors stormed the capitol in the first hour!
Do we still have a functioning democracy?

I've been listening to the joint session proceedings tonight and amazingly it seems that many Republicans who had previously gone along with Trump's madness have now reached a breaking point. In inciting a mob, Trump apparently crossed a line today. I had long given up that there was a line. Even Lindsey Graham has unequivocally endorsed Biden's and Harris' election. And Trump's twitter account has been suspended. What a crazy day!

Two weeks to go and PSfB will be gone. And President Biden will preside over a Democrat-controlled Senate and House. So, yes, I think we still have a functioning democracy!

The bellows will be pumping furiously over the next 4 years. I think we'll see a surge, like stopping antibiotics for a while.

I saw something about McConnell agreeing to the 2k per person, if we upended a law that made social media companies immune from their posters content. A few years back, I firmly agreed that they shouldn't be held accountable. They can't control how people use their platform. But now I'm thinking it might be necessary. Facebook should be held accountable to what it's users post. (I'm looking for a debate, maybe in another thread).

^ I'm not sure that's what the social media controversy is about. I think it's more like right wingers want to post the ugliest propaganda, not be blocked, and sue over any attempts to be silenced. Sounds like fun. Need to check further.

I think there are two issues here. 1) Should social media companies be held responsible for what is posted on their platforms? And do social media companies even have a right to censor the speech of others?

Regarding the first question, there's a 1996 law on the books (Section 230) that provides legal immunity from liability for internet services and users for content posted on the internet. Ironically, Trump has called for this law to be revoked because he feels that he is always being attacked on social media.

Regarding the second question, social media companies do in fact try to monitor content. For example, Twitter regularly flags Trump's fact-challenged tweets and Facebook has just taken the step of banning President Trump until he leaves office. I would say that is absolutely the company's right and responsibility to take such actions. If violence happens as a result of false information or incendiary words being propagated on its social media platform, the company would be perceived as partly responsible, and its bottom line might suffer accordingly. And since these are private companies, the first amendment doesn't really come into play, does it?

What seems especially weird to me is that we have a POTUS who uses social media almost exclusively to communicate with the American people. As such, he is required to adhere to those companies' policies regarding content. This is unprecedented territory, a good example of trying to adapt to new technology where there aren't always easy answers.

Pence won't initiate 25th amendment, not enough time for impeachment process and little chance for 2/3 of senators to agree even if there was. We're at his mercy for the next 13 days.

Nancy Pelosi's threat to impeach carries more weight now that Democrats have a majority in House and Senate. I'm not sure how it would play out since Trump will likely already be gone by the time the impeachment hearings wrap up. Except that it would probably put the nail in the coffin of Trump's political career. It would be far better I think if Trump resigned.

I don't want to see Trump pardoned, which would happen if he resigned. Trump wouldn't resign without an understanding from Pence that pardon goes along with it. He's more likely now to stay, I think, and that makes it important for the House to impeach on Monday. Then Trump might be constrained from continuing his crazed behavior, knowing there could be a possibility of conviction by the Senate--even after Biden's sworn in.

Impeachment may feel like a waste of time and energy at this point, however during that process Congress has the authority to disqualify Trump from future office. That must happen! If Trump resigns, is removed by the 25th Amendment, or is pardoned, he could run again. We cannot bank on Trump being unelectable in 2024, that must be precluded. Impeach, Disqualify, and Convict!

So Trump is out 1/20/2021 for sure. But wait! As I said when introducing the Jan 6 vote counting scenario - there is always another scam! The next thing to prepare for is Sunday January 17. Right wingers are planning armed protests in all 50 state capitols. See poster below. Will this peter out is it the beginning of something long forewarned yet unimaginable?

And of course there are threats on inauguration three days later.

I'm wrong about Democrats having majority in the Senate. The two newest Senators from Georgia will be sworn in later this month.

And besides, the Senate needs two-thirds majority to remove a president from office. So likely we'd have the same result as the last time Trump was impeached.

While we're waiting for another insurrection, on Biden's inauguration date perhaps, it will be interesting to see if Trump pardons any of the insurrectionists who are being charged. It wouldn't surprise me at all.

There is nothing in the constitution that says a president can or cannot be impeached after leaving office. It's never been challenged in court and until it is, we don't know how it will shake out. There is the belief that Congress can impeach a former present to prevent him from holding office again. But where do we draw the line? Idiots like Matt Gaetz want to impeach Obama. He said we can impeach a former president but there is nothing in the Constitution that backs him but also nothing that says he's wrong either. So, a time limit would have to be imposed. Say that a president can be impeached within 2 weeks of leaving office or a month. Going back and impeaching a president who left office years ago and is not seeking to run again or, as in Obama's case, cannot run again seems a time-waster but we'll need to have a provision for it so that morons like Gaetz don't try to abuse it.

Some whites turned away from Trump because he was trying to do away with their social security and healthcare insurance. Some suspected he was playing the race angle to take white people's minds off the sleight-of-hand he was pulling. As for black support, it's somewhat of a myth that blacks hate Trump. To many young blacks, Trump has ALWAYS represented hope to them in the sad, pathetic Tony Montana way. Trump touted this "lift yourself up from your bootstraps" idea of success rather than more welfare and that attracted blacks who didn't like being perceived as a bunch of pathetic welfare cases. That Trump had a bevy of famous rappers like 50 Cent, Lil Wayne, Kanye and the like stumping for him played a role (at least Snoop had enough sense to hate him). It was a macho thing just like it is among whites--real men like Trump and wussy men like Biden.

But if you take the racist appeal of Trump away, his support among whites utterly plummets. Both the whites and blacks that love Trump are, to me, stupid. Trump was born rich, he never lifted himself up by his bootstraps. He discriminated against blacks in his real estate but they're going to trust Trump to provide decent housing for them? He called for the lynching of the Central Park 5 even after they were proven innocent and blacks think Trump is about law and order and will make their communities safer? Does a great deal-maker call an Iranian bigwig to the bargaining table and then have him assassinated as he steps out of his limo??? Did these average blacks not understand that rappers supported him because they are rich and Trump made them promises that will NEVER help the average black?? But Trump has always had a mysteriously large black male following.

It wouldn't be a hard civics lesson to teach kids, looking at the Capitol riot: Lies have consequences.

Here's a fact check. Although Trump's vote increased among blacks slightly over 2016, they were still overwhelmingly against him in 2020. Disclaimer: too early to have extremely accurate results on the 2020 election.