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Airbnb says it will try to ban Capitol rioters from inauguration stays
Some hotels will be closed, too.
Airbnb says it will review all Washington-area reservations, and anyone associated with a hate group will have their reservation canceled and be banned from Airbnb. The company also said it’s taking action against individuals involved in criminal activity at the Capitol, including permanently banning them from the platform.
Airbnb did not say what action would be taken outside of bans.
Airbnb’s steps may not prevent a person with violent intentions from staying in one of its properties. The names of every person involved in the Capitol riots are not known, making it difficult to issue a comprehensive ban. Airbnb said it’s cross-referencing a January 6 arrest log from the DC police department. It’s also looking at US Attorney press releases listings arrests and charges.
Plus there are at least 3 folks running sites where folks who have sussed out who folks in riot photos are can post, and the site shares info with the FBI.
I guess their lawyers never told them that if you’re going to crime, don’t livestream it!
I think Biden should move the oath taking ceremony into the House Chamber with a very limited in person audience. In addition to security concerns there’s a pandemic with a new more contagious strain. And this whole sad affair may be a superspreader event.
In addition, more businesses are making it clear that they want nothing to do with Trumpist insurrection. They are moving faster and more effectively than our government to restore sanity.
I flew from Chicago to Washington Dulles on Saturday. When I arrived at the gate there were 7 TSA agents in the boarding area. They checked everyone’s ID and boarding pass and pulled random passengers from the line for an explosives screening. I think this is the new norm for D.C. bound flights for the next couple of weeks.
Many hundreds of the rioters had their trips paid for (see Charlie Kirk, Genni Thomas). They always project. All those claims that “George Soros funds left wing marches” go unconfirmed. Meanwhile, on the right, the guilty ones brag about aiding the insurrection. It’s only after it fails that they delete posts and feign ignorance. Anyway, without funding and with increased security and scrutiny, I expect turnout for the next assault to be lower.
Here’s a development: Airbnb users in my area (DC metro) have organized and are sending local hosts inquiries requesting they not allow bookings Jan 16-21.
I just got one of these inquiries; I explained I have already blocked dates for the same concerns they have, and suggested they edit their message to ask hosts to block, not decline, which can get hosts dinged.
Their message got flagged by Airbnb as possible spam, I’m guessing because of words such as “violence,” “nationalist,” etc., so I also suggested they be more generic in their terminology.
A friend of mine is a TSA agent here in California and he says a bunch of the were recruited to go to DC airports. He’s not exactly looking forward to it !
As I’ve posted in other threads they’s now announced they are canceling all reservations for the week and blocking new ones. Most interesting from a hosting point of view is that they say they are paying all the hosts.
That is interesting about payment coming from Air to hosts after stay is cancelled. I wonder what an actual inauguration vetted) guest will do, they will have limited options and may have to book the PO Trump hotel. I bet they are not closed…
I don’t know what the inaugural is going to look like. I wish it would be much, much smaller, indoors with no spectators anywhere near. People don’t need to be gathering at this time due to the pandemic, never mind the violence on top.
There’s a mindset of “shutting down Biden’s inaugural is what they want, don’t let the terrorists win” but I think this can be an exception. We can have celebrations later.
I doubt that there are all that many invited inauguration guests who have booked Airbnbs. I read that for one thing, they have majorly limited the amount of tickets available compared to the past, and I would imagine that anyone who was planning to come because they support Biden would be wanting to cancel anyway to avoid putting themselves in danger.
I’m on the side of being impressed with AirBNB taking proactive action to prevent further conflict or retribution:
“It was a question of, ‘Do you poke the bear, or do you not poke the bear?’” he said. “It’s not like an Uber where when they drive away, you’ll likely never see that person again. With Airbnb, they know where you live.”
… Quote from NYMag article (posted on a different topic).
