Excuse #832 for the insurrection at the Capitol:

[PCIntern]

Background: the lady who proffered this to me yesterday comes from northeastern Pennsylvania business money. Her family owned a chain of now-defunct department stores so you get the idea.

I must admit I have not heard this one before and was so amused by it that I could not retort:

“So you see, the FBI is spending enormous amounts of time manpower and effort into finding these people who really should not have done what they did but the manpower and money would be better spent looking for people who perpetrated or even would perpetrate gun and even knife violence in this country and locking them away. Imagine if the FBI always worked this hard and could get rid of the real criminals in the society instead of these people who may have had a lapse of judgment for an afternoon.”



I must admit that this was so incredibly stupid coming from someone who is educated that I started to laugh. She asked me which part of this was so funny, and I referred her to Orwell’s 1984. She did not appreciate the reference to thought-crimes. I quietly said to her that invading the Nation’s Capitol is not a lapse of judgement but an attempt to violently overthrow a duly elected government which has serious personal implications including capital punishment and/or life in prison.

[underpants]

1. That is funny. "Hey look Judge, it was just my first gas station robbery"

Judge: “Oh. Okay then. I’m sure you learned your lesson”

“Oh yes sir”

[gratuitous]

4. Is the judge in your example Susan Collins, by any chance?

She was pretty sure that the former guy had learned his lesson after the first impeachment. Which led to the attempted violent overthrow of the government, which led to the second impeachment, and a safe vote to convict knowing that it wouldn't matter from Senator Concerned.

[catbyte]

2. It's fascinating in a horrifying sort of way to watch the shapes these people twist themselves into

when trying to justify the unjustifiable. You certainly do have some interesting patients!

[UpInArms]

3. The guy who now hates

Being in jail, away from his family ... such a good man

[Jay25]

5. Thanks for setting her straight.

[AllaN01Bear]

6. im sick of them using this as terror against us . i read the book and saw the movie

1984 in high school . it read like fiction to me . still does . and agree , yet another excuse for their actions. hope this clarifies this post .

[RVN VET71]

9. Which book? What movie?

Clarify, please.

[PJMcK]

12. 1984? (n/t)

[AllaN01Bear]

13. 1984 the book and the movie . of course . :)

:yawn:

[bullwinkle428]

7. "Real criminals in society" - that's a train whistle, not a dog whistle!!

[JohnnyRingo]

8. This is what happens when people try to repeat what they hear...

...on Hannity.
Sean Hannity has a gift. He can say the most absurd and unbelievable thing in a way that seems to make sense, at least at first. His nonsense falls apart with even the slightest hint of debate, but he doesn't allow that on the show.

When amateurs repeat it, it just sounds ridiculous.

[AndyS]

10. This is a logical fallacy. Nothing is a binary choice, either this or that not both.

You run into it all the time when you talk to gunners. 'Don't spend your time on gun restrictions, Medicare for all will help more people.' Like we can't walk and chew gum.

[bucolic_frolic]

11. With thinking like that it's no wonder the department stores are defunct

No need to guess when the karma is magnifique!

[Chakaconcarne]

14. Was that wrong? Was I not supposed to do that?

George Costanza

[Wednesdays]

17. "Oh, I FORGOT it was against the law to rob a bank!"

-- Steve Martin

[KPN]

20. Lol! Well, uh, you know ... but not that there's anything wrong with that!

[griloco]

15. Ask her for her photos from her lapsing-in-the-Capitol vacation...

[wnylib]

16. 60,000 magats simultaneously had a bad day.

[appleannie1]

18. I laughed out loud so you are not alone.

That would not be a Boscov's heir would it? I shop at Boscov's all the time so they are not defunct.

[PCIntern]

24. No. And I think they're still Dems

But I could be wrong...

[KPN]

19. Nice retort! Especially the laugh. Good for you. "Lapse of judgement" ...

if that isn't a total lack of good judgement. What is it with these people?

[Warpy]

21. They will simply never recognize the fact that a crowd of bellowing assholes

who happened to look like them turned into a violent mob that committed serious crimes, "our sort" just don't do that sort of thing, you know. It's a ridiculously tribal mindset that gives a false sense of safety, an automatic reliance on predictable behavior patterns in people who physically resemble you and an automatic mistrust of people who don't.

This twit is on the steep end of a very high learning curve and is going to need the obvious pointed out to her frequently.

(Oh, and the FBI does always work this hard, this is just the first time they've worked this hard going after the violent far right instead of the slightly left of center, peaceful groups like Raging Grannies or the Quakers and no, I am not making this up)

[BobTheSubgenius]

22. "Yes, lady. That must have been simply 'a lapse in judgement' on their part."

"You could tell there was no criminal intent - look at the crowd and see how many of them were POC. Most of the people looked and acted just like you."

[hvn_nbr_2]

23. "In a momentary lapse of judgment, they travelled 1000 miles, stayed in a hotel,...

"In a momentary lapse of judgment, they (momentarily) traveled 1000 miles, stayed in a hotel for a couple days (momentarily), met up (momentarily) with the crowd that they planned for weeks to meet up with, walked (momentarily) down to the Capitol, and (momentarily, for a few hours) bear sprayed cops and beat them up with Blue Lives Matter flags (but only momentarily, for hours) and tried to murder the vice president and speaker of the House. It was just a momentary lapse of judgment."

[PCIntern]

25. Excellent

[Vinca]

26. You should have asked her if Officer Sicknick's demise was a "lapse in judgment."

And if she thought it just fine the mob had a lapse in judgment so severe it trampled one of its own to death.