How little we know about what actually happened on January 6
And not just the larger picture, but some very basic facts. Now, perhaps they’ve been established and I’ve missed them. I certainly don’t read everything that’s written, and there’s been a sea of verbiage on this. But most of it has been of the opinion and assumption variety.
There’s also the very basic and ubiquitous question of whose reporting is trustworthy.
I have the following questions:
(1) How large was the crowd outside the Capitol?
(2) How large was the crowd inside the Capitol?
(3) How many people were actually doing anything violent?
(4) What did the violence consist of?
(5) How many were armed, and with what?
(6) How many have been arrested for violations greater than trespassing, and what were those violations?
(7) Of those arrested, what were their politics, and their motives and goals once inside?
(8) How many (or what percentage) of the people who got into the Capitol were let in by the guards, and how many forced their way in?
(9) Given that it was known that various groups were talking online in ways that indicated some sort of violence or incursion might occur, and given the enormous size of the rally and the fact that there were bound to be a least a small number of opportunistic fringe groups from both right and left in attendance and looking for trouble, why was there not more security ordered in the first place?
Things I believe we do know, and about which I’ve already written: Trump’s speech explicitly called for a peaceful protest rather than violence, the incursion began before his speech was even finished, some protestors were let in by the guards, the huge main rally was very peaceful, whatever happened in the Capitol was at the hands of a relatively small group, the only person we know for certain was killed in the encounter was a Trump supporter shot by a member of the Capitol Police, one officer died as well but we have no official word on his cause of death (which occurred later, in an office) or the sequence of events that led to it, and at least one person arrested was apparently a leftist agitator.
I don’t expect all the questions I listed here to already have been answered just two weeks after the event. But for the most part, the MSM and the Democrats and the GOPe wing of the Republican Party are acting as though we already know the answers and they are giving out the message that a very large number of violent Trump supporters forced their way into the Capitol intent on an insurrection. That conclusion assumes an awful lot of facts not in evidence – but hey, they’re not going to let that stop them, when such a golden opportunity to blame and demonize all Trump supporters presents itself.
In all likelihood, there will never be any definitive answers to these important questions (especially concerning the exact circumstances of Sicknick’s unfortunate death and the exact identity of the policeman who shamefully murdered Ashli Babbitt), because there will be no appetite in the MSM to do any real investigative reporting on these or on countless other stories (such as Hunter and the corruption of the entire Biden family). In fact, from the perspective of the media, and of all the centers of power in this country (without exception, all now in the hands of leftists, including the Pentagon), anyone even daring to ask these questions is possibly guilty of sedition, or of sympathy with “domestic terrorists”, or of being the left’s favorite imaginary enemy, the “white supremacist”, now defined as anyone (even Candace Owens or Andy Ngo) who opposes the “progressive” totalitarian agenda.
Nine questions that must not be asked let alone answered. You have no standing to ask and besides laches.
None the less we do need answers to all of them, if only there was a fourth estate, a meme-ia?
It is now a standard joke on the right that America’s fourth estate is, in fact, America’s fifth column.
To paraphrase the Mexican bandit’s memorable line from “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”… “Facts? We don’t need no stinkin’ facts!”
The graveyard of good questions is overflowing.
I fear that the episode of 1/6 is just a preview of the next four years.
You know the old joke about mushrooms. We are arguably a banana republic with a population of mushrooms.
I think I know what happened which is probably more factual than any of the reports given out by the media. My perception is that some recognized paid for their work with expenses covered young strange looking instigators passed themselves off as Pro Trump MAGA guys and they put on a masterful flash mob scene with non-violent MAGA folks who were invited in along with the camera men to be extras and watch the show. The media shift from calling this past years rioters to the current shift of the MAGA protest by actual concerned conservatives with them being the destructive, overturn the government riot people is unbelievable yet here we are. We are replaying a new and improved version of the culture shift of the 60’s and 70’s with media on self righteous steroids.
OldTexan goes “We are replaying…” You left out by our globalist corporatists fascist Masters who, like Mitch, demand We kneel to them and their retinue.
AFAIK, no autopsy on Ofc. Sicknick has been made public.
AFAIK no video has surfaced of Officer Sicknick’s day at the Capitol incident either.
As best I can tell there is one semi-official answer to questions 1-9: “Violent white supremacist insurrection!!!” Apparently that’s all we need to know.
Info for question #9 – https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/01/capitol-hill-riot-was-pelosis-fault-not-trumps-daniel-greenfield/
FTA – “The Capitol Police have over 2,000 sworn officers. A police force dedicated to protecting Capitol Hill has more personnel in its service than the police forces of most of the country.
Congress’ private cops are the 19th largest police force in the country. It’s a larger force than the police forces of Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver, or Milwaukee with a massive $460 million budget.
It’s the only legislative federal force in the country that is answerable exclusively to Congress.
While Democrats advocated defunding the police, their private police force budget shot up from $375 million in 2016 to $460 million in 2020.”…
Sen. Mitch McConnell just knows what happened at the Cap Hill riots. The mob was fed lies — like that there was election fraud, one presumes? Newsmax continues:
“They were provoked by the president and other powerful people,” McConnell said of the attack that delayed certification of Democrat Joe Biden as the next president by several hours, forcing lawmakers to seek safety, and resulted in the death of five people, including a Capitol Police officer.
“They tried to use fear and violence to stop” the vote certification, McConnell said. “But we pressed on. We stood together and said an angry mob would not get veto power over the rule of law in our nation, not even for one night.”
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/mcconnell-capitol-riot-lies/2021/01/19/id/1006243/
A treason party leader wraps himself in law about the undjudicated fraud and calls it Just.
Real people know he lies and know it was a complete fraud, the greatest stolen election in history, and the ugliest stain upon “lawmakers” ever.
GOPe: DEAD PARTY ZOMBIES.
GOPe the truly stupid, e = extinct.
Lots of the flags carried seem so NEW. It’s like they were bought for costumes/props.
https://twitter.com/kylenabecker/status/1350962215382364163
“HERE are the security guards! Standing around in the lobby watching the buffoonish LARPers clown the “sacredest place” in the Capitol, allowing it all to go down without a peep in protest.
Then the crowd outside yells, “Fuck the Blue!” ?
This is scripted nonsense. Period. 3/3″
It’s just simply BLOOD LIBEL. You know, like Jews drinking the blood of Christian children at Passover. We all know where blood libel leads…
The 20th Century version should be called The Protocols of the Elders of Xion.
Roger Kimball witfully faces the end of the Republic as we face our Oligarchic Overlords defended by the soldiers of PanEm.
https://amgreatness.com/2021/01/16/a-party-of-faction-and-fantasy/
But Tony_Petroski disagrees that a genuine riot broke out because so little destruction that characterises a real riot occurred:
Is a gaslit fire that didn’t burn really any riot at all? Wood falls in the forest, was it a bird or a plane if…?
(10) How many of the rioters attended the rally?
bof:
Excellent addition.
I think you’re right, Neo, to be asking these questions. Usually, within a few days, lots of things become clear. Not this time. It’s almost as if the leftist propaganda outlets were deliberately suppressing news …
Fake News won’t ask any of those questions.
We will never get the answers.
And why did Pelosi turn down requests for more security?
If Pelosi had requested more security, the events would not have transpired, and that would not have been in accordance with her agenda. I suspect she, and other Democratic leaders, were well aware of what was going to happen.
Hard to disagree with Greenwald on his main points in this post, although I certainly don’t agree with him on everything.
There was a reason why Democrats in Congress and elsewhere facilitated the “riot” — and Tony_Petroski is very correct in his analysis that it fails any reasonable definition of the term, and also of insurrection, sedition, treason, or terrorism.
As AesopSpouse observed, it looked a lot more like the seventies’ sit-ins than the Mostly Peaceful Protests of the Left (not just this summer but for decades).
To be the Devil’s Advocate (and I mean that quite literally), since Democrats who say “peaceful” do mean “loot, burn, kill” — judging by their listeners’ responses, and even omitting the occasions when they specifically advocate and urge violence — they just KNOW that when Trump says “peaceful” he means exactly the same thing.
The only people who hear dog whistles are the dogs.
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-new-domestic-war-on-terror-is
(h/t PowerLIneBlog)
The Capital building has to have a ton of surveillance cameras installed. I would love to see the footage they recorded.
Almost too ironic to be true, but Pelosi and Hillary are calling for a 9/11 type commission to investigate the capitol “insurrection.” And, uh, Putin’s involvement. You knew it was about RUSSIA, right? You cannot make this stuff up. Apparently, all the right people believe that an investigation would finally expose the vast right wing conspiracy that Hillary has been warning us about all these years. I say, bring it. 🙂
https://nypost.com/2021/01/19/clinton-pelosi-call-for-9-11-style-commission-into-capitol-riot-putin-involvement/
Have you seen this detailed account of the peaceful side of the Jan 6 events? It doesn’t answer most of the questions, but some like- were the rioters at the rally? Are answered as unlikely.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/01/heres_what_really_happened_before_the_incursion_into_the_capitol.html
Anyone heard of the narrative that conspiracy movement/group(?) QAnon sparked the Capitol siege?
Well, it looks like the left has started to admit that Trump had nothing to do with the riots.
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2021/01/20/now-the-washington-post-admits-trump-did-not-incite-the-capitol-riot-n1398722
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2021/01/20/now-the-washington-post-admits-trump-did-not-incite-the-capitol-riot-n1398722
Maybe the impeachment was a little premature. As was McConnell and other RINOS abandoning him as they have. Oh well, lets just hurry up and have a trial in the senate and convict him before any other facts come out.
Allied:
I don’t think they’re admitting that. They are saying that militias planned a real insurrection and a real coup. That’s part of justifying a huge crackdown on the right. And as far as Trump goes, I believe they will continue to say he incited those militias – just maybe not that very day, but by his allegations of election fraud. They will also say that there were people joining the insurrection who did not plan ahead and who were inspired by Trump that day.
In a recent rant, someone claimed the rioters stole computers from the Capitol with intent to sell them (and presumably the information they carry) to the Russians. So maybe question 11 is, were any computers actually missing after the “riot”?