[throwacct]

I'm independent, and the $2.7 billion (which is a crazy amount of money) was basically to pay to procecute +1000 rioters.

That is vastly different from burning cities, etc...

Now, I've seen what antifa militants do almost every time they protest, and to be honest, they should have been declared domestic terrorists sooner rather than later. You can protest without having to vandalize/burning buildings, etc.

[defrost]

From the GAO report:

   Over the course of about 7 hours, more than 2,000 protesters entered the U.S. Capitol on January 6, disrupting the peaceful transfer of power and threatening the safety of the Vice President and

members of Congress.

  The attack resulted in assaults on at least 174 police officers, including 114 Capitol Police and 60 D.C. Metropolitan Police Department officers.

  These events led to at least seven deaths and caused about $2.7 billion in estimated costs.

The footnote on the cost estimate reads:

  This amount reflects, among other things, damage to the Capitol building and grounds, estimated costs borne by the Capitol Police, the District of Columbia, and federal agencies, and estimated costs to address security needs and investigations as described in budget and funding requests, appropriations, agency estimates, and other publicly available information.

~ https://www.gao.gov/assets/d23106625.pdf

[throwacct]

> These events led to at least seven deaths

Context is everything:

$2.7 billion, where a big part went to:

U.S. Capitol Police (USCP)

Costs: Over $620 million (as reported by GAO).

- Overtime pay for officers during and after the attack. - Mental health services and trauma support for affected personnel. - Recruitment and training of new officers to address staffing shortages. - Enhanced security infrastructure (e.g., fencing, surveillance, communication systems).

Judicial and Prosecution Costs

- Total DOJ Expenditures: Estimated at $100–150 million. - Salaries and overtime for prosecutors, FBI agents, and support staff. - Court operations, including hearings, trials, and detention. - Legal representation for defendants unable to afford counsel.

And if you keep digging, the amount of money spent was basically on human labor and overtime pay.

Now, tell me again how this compares to $2 billion in actual damages to businesses (arson, looting, and vandalism, etc.), with this event being considered the costliest insured civil disorder event in U.S. history?

[defrost]

I'm unable to tell you again given I've not yet made any comparison between the two, merely quoted the relevant passages from the GAO report.

I do note that the damages number you cite has risen from between 1 & 2 to definitely 2 and these damages are associated with a multitude of legitimate peaceful protests that became a magnet for others to stir trouble, loot and riot on a pretext, start gunfights, etc.

It's a clear false equivalence to compare the single Jan 6th event of faction aligned protesters who invaded and damaged a building disrupting a democratic transition to a multitude of other events and locations across a lengthier time frame that involved many factions across the political spectrum including apolitical criminals of opportunity.

[Smeevy]

I thought it was 1-2 billion dollars.... Are we just sticking with 2 billion now?

Do I hear 3? Anybody?

[Smeevy]

>I'm independent

That's great and I totally believe you. Thumbs up emoji and all that.

>I've seen what antifa militants do almost every time they protest,

Oh my gosh, you were serious. Can you point out the "Antifa militants" to me? How would someone go about training to join the Antifa Elite Guard?

I see there's a whole process to get into the Proud Boys and all sorts of other right wing extremist groups on Facebook, but I'm not quite seeing the path to membership for Antifa. Is it because they're so well organized and funded by billionaires?

[throwacct]

This is interesting since I'm from a minority group, don't even know who the Proud Boys are, and even though I told you I'm an independent, you assumed right from the get-go my political affiliation. If antifa is not a group but a rabble of misfits, then this classification won't amount to much, would it?

[Smeevy]

The road to authoritarianism is apparently paved with people telling me I'm overreacting.

This classification, just like every other action taken by this administration, is a means to inflict damage on their ever-expanding list of enemies. The great thing about vague nonsense like this Antifa EO is that they can control who is and isn’t defined as Antifa.

With regard to your political affiliation, I honestly do not care. If you want to gabble on about Antifa as if it's a real threat, you might as well just fly the Trump 2028 flag and drop the silly pretense.