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Notes -
That one:
Now, granted, this might be a uncharitable summary, WP is unlikely to be very sympathetic to J6 rioters.
I think that the difference of Babbitt and Good was that it was apparent that the former was in the middle of a breaking and entering mission. She was not climbing through that window because she was panicking and trying to flee, she was clearly looking for trouble.
Sure, it would have been better if a squad of cops in riot gear were in that hallway so they could stop the rioters with less than lethal methods. Or if they had stopped them well outside any federal buildings, for that matter. And if you want to argue that someone intended for that fuckup to happen, I have little to argue against that.
But I thought if anyone would be sympathetic towards a stand your ground approach, it would be Republicans.
I will not argue that Good was innocent. She had likely violated traffic rules with the intent to frustrate ICE's objectives. But from the way she steered her car, as well as her demographic group, it seems very likely that what she was thinking was not "finally a chance to kill one of these Gestapo fucks" but rather "oh my god, they are arresting me, Trump will send me to an El Salvador megaprison, I am about to get disappeared".
Which is delusional when in fact she would have gotten away with a fine and community service, but it is not an intrinsically aggressive delusion -- unlike thinking that you are meant to stop the steal, for example.
I think the maximal charitable case for Babbitt (which is probably about as charitable as plenty of takes for Good, but far more charitable than I'm typically inclined to be) is "unarmed American veteran shot by the State while attempting to petition elected representatives about a political issue", which is AFAIK factually correct (if missing a bunch of context) in ways that really do make the government's J6 response sound pretty tyrannical.
That said, I'm more inclined to "tragic, if predictable, on all accounts" framing in both situations.
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So was Renee Good - the whole reason why she was there was to block ICE from performing their duties. It's not like she was randomly stopped on the way to a grocery store and it escalated - she specifically went there to engage ICE and impede them. That is very much "looking for trouble" and while it is sadly tolerated way too much in and by itself it is already a crime. Not a deadly threat yet, of course, but definitely looking for trouble is there.
The difference is whether there was an imminent deadly threat. A tiny woman breaking a window and trying to fit through it is hardly one - Byrd could have subdued Babbitt with his right hand tied behind his back (if he weren't a massive coward of course). There's no way ICE officer could have subdued an SUV driving towards him, unless he's Jack Reacher, who as we know is a fictional character.
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The counterpoint is that there were other armed officers nearby, and the only one who thought Babbit deserved a new hole was a known fuck-up retard who should have been off the force years ago. Guy was actually already famous for the "Capitol police officer left his gun on a urinal" story. He's actually in the news again as of a few days ago because his side gig is a government-subsidized daycare.
L.M.A.O.
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