Note on comparisons betw/ the Capitol insurrection and previous Antifa riots. It's entirely possible to acknowlege the political importance and unprecedentedness of this event WITHOUT minimizing the loss of life and limb in the riots. It was not a just "a few trashed Starbucks".

In the Antifa riots, CHOP, etc, many serious assaults took place and in a few cases, people were killed. People were criminally threatened in their own homes. And this is *in addition to* widespread property damage. Acknowleging that would be the beginning of serious conversation

If I wanted to play this same baby game with the insurrection, I could say - "Oh, the Capitol building got vandalized, Congress had to take a recess for a few hours, and, yeah, some people died, but they were all insurrectionists anyway."

Of course, I'm not going to do that, because attacking the US Congress in an attempt to shut down the finalization of an election, with the implicit encouragement of the POTUS no less, has a political importance beyond just the immediate damage to persons and property.

But I also expect that, just maybe, serious violence against ordinary people trying to go about their lives might count for something too, however poitically 'unimportant'. And maybe that folks that encouraged it for political ends might want to rethink that.

And to head off the response I'm sure I'll get: "The demonstrations were for ordinary Black lives. Don't those count?" Yes, and that's why the BLM *protests* needed to happen. What I don't concede is that riots and street violence did a damned thing to help black lives.