Every time I see a congressional hearing on tv, I am appalled by oh so many of our congresspersons.
Every time I see a congressional hearing on tv, I am appalled by oh so many of our congresspersons. Otoh, I was actually impressed by the people being questioned. For the record, I am not in favor of the secret service just blowing everybody away and asking questions later. In spite of the fact that apparently the current trend is that we should change the laws so that they can do exactly that. I like that they are highly trained to recognize a level of threat and use their discretion to do everything other than lethal force until and unless the threat level is clearly one that warrants that response. I get that the agency has some problems, but suggesting shoot first as a solution (or a grab at media attention) just reflects poorly on the people advocating that.
Setting aside that, yes, it really is quite disturbing that a...disturbed...individual was apparently able to make it to the second floor of the White House, near the private quarters, before being tackled, I thought Josh Marshall had a good point today in response to the frothing congressional posturing about how we should expect a "shoot to kill and let the good lord sort it out" response as soon as any intruder touched the WH lawn, and that was that, no, actually, we (for values of "we" that include me) are glad that the default rules of engagement aren't just open fire and let a hail of bullets solve the problem. Sometimes that will regrettably be the necessary response. But kudos for not making it the first indiscriminate response.
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