I think some people have said that the ones who moved the barricade did so because at that point it was hopeless. Barricades then provide impediment to retreat and also can cause more injury in a crush.
I hope the officer who was knocked down is OK. And I hope the protestor who helped picked her up went home and didn’t carry on. It’s like he had a moment of “oh shit, we hurt someone; how the hell did it come to this”.
That video the level of cops was less than you see at a kids concert of The Wiggles. That was barely crowd control for an event where you expect everyone to be happy and well behaved.
I am struggling with the narrative that the police were in on it. There are videos of cops looking terrified and their lives were literally on the line.
The organization of this security was incompetent to the extreme.
I am pretty pissed that there wasn’t more use of force to protect people. But I am glad that more people weren’t killed. As a POC I want less deadly force, not more of it to even the scales. That way leads madness and a dark place.
I agree- many officers looked terrified, so I will take back some of my “the police are in on it”.
I mean SOME clearly support them- they were taking freaking selfies with rioters in the rotunda. And whomever heads capitol security clearly was OK with this happening, because the level of security ordered was BIZARRE. This storming of the capitol has been planned IN THE OPEN for weeks. Incompetent, or intentional?
I really think the police assumed they would be respected because “Blue Lives Matter”. Turns out- they don’t when they are in the way.
I think its pretty clear to everyone in this administration that the president is anything but. It’s heinous that they’ve let their loyalty to this goon and their cowardly party overcome their loyalty to the office and our democracy.
That htey aren’t immediately calling for his impeachment is DISGUSTING.
I read somewhere - at this point I have ZERO idea where - that the DoD had said no, because of the optics of military influencing an election result?
Which, y’know, makes zero sense seeing that they’d be there to stop rioters from shooting at elected officials and destroying the capitol…
Yes, I think they were caught off guard because, y’know, it’s those flamingly liberal protesters who believe ACAB and don’t respect the badge, meanwhile, Trump’s supporters are unfailingly law and order… {collapses in hysterical laughter}
I posted something similar yesterday, which could have been where you saw it.
The D.C. National Guard actually was activated. Here is a link to a CNN article from 4-Jan stating that the Secretary of Defense approved the deployment of the D.C. national guard.
The issue is that the NG was not preemptively deployed to the capitol. And the when the call came, it came from VPOTUS. My belief is that the NG was ordered to remain away, until VPOTUS reversed the decision. Question is: at what level did the hold order come from?
IF the cops were in on it, I think it was at a high level, purposely staffing inadequately. I don’t think the “warm bodies” if you will were part of anything amounting to a conspiracy. Even the selfies, as much as I find it distasteful, I can understand- you can avoid a lot of violence if you seem like you’re just there to “keep an eye on things” and not be in opposition. Hence all the hollow gesture kneeling photos of cops early on in the summer BLM protests. Frankly it’s a good method of crowd control when you’re outnumbered.
When you find yourself watching the news and thinking “See…Boris Johnson is right.” things have really gone insane.
(Because I don’t care how many Republicans denounce what happened…it’s only because it affected them personally. If the democrat caucus was the only one there, they wouldn’t have cared.)
My thoughts are still forming on this, but one thing that stuck out to me yesterday was Trump’s lack of leadership and a plan, which may seem like a crazy thing to say, but…
I started watching the news about 3 pm EST yesterday. I saw his televised address to the nation which I’ve read has been pulled from the internet. It wasn’t shown again and again on the news. He repeated his claims about the election, and then, in a resigned voice, instructed people to go home, to be peaceful. As coups go, he didn’t have a plan. The goals of sending the demonstrators to the capital wasn’t clear to him or the demonstrators. I heard interviews this morning ranging from people who thought they were protesting and didn’t like the way things turned out to one person who spoke seriously about
graphic description of violence
hanging the legislators four at a time. I saw a photo of a gallows and noose constructed on sight. Hopefully this was not true?
We’ve seen his inability to plan and execute a plan. Pandemic, vaccine rollout, repeal ACA and so on.
What if he’d had a well-crafted plan for a coup? Clearly stated goals for his demonstrators? Coordinated, armed attacks actually planned for other locations? What if he’d gotten on TV and incited even more violence and unrest, or declared the victory of his coup? What if he had been someone who actually knew what he was doing instead of nursing his ego?
I feel like, we got off easy yesterday. Our enemies were watching too, and taking notes, including terrorists who know how to plan and execute “events” for lack of a better word. Trump is an easily-manipulated pawn in the hands of our adversaries. People still support him.
I wish Pence would have invoked the 25th amendment by now and cabinet members were voting to remove him from office instead of resigning, and Congress was already moving to impeach him. Perhaps there are concerns that removing him will incite even more violence. We need some clear leadership to protect our nation and democracy, I can only hope there are things going on behind the scenes.
I just googled this, actually.
GA secretary of state has until 1/22 to certify the results, though he can do it before then.
Then they’re usually sworn in promptly.
I haven’t yet looked to see whether anyone’s suing over this election result too or demanding fraud investigations. Probably just haven’t seen it yet.
