Friday, February 19, 2021

The January 6 Disturbance Spin

Interesting stuff in this Lefty-screed about the Capitol disturbances.  We'll point out the spin when it happens.

The riot squad defending the embattled entrance to the west side of the U.S. Capitol was surrounded by violence. Rioters had clambered up the scaffolding by the stage erected for the inauguration of President Joseph Biden. They hurled everything they could get their hands on at the cops beneath: rebar, plywood, power tools, even cans of food they had frozen for extra damage....

Very telling.  This is NOT behavior associated with Conservatives, especially the over-60 types.  No question that some people did this--it's on video.  The REAL questions:  what motivated them?  Who are they, really?

...Over the last several weeks, ProPublica has interviewed 19 current and former U.S. Capitol Police officers about the assault on the Capitol....ProPublica also obtained confidential intelligence bulletins and previously unreported planning documents....

OK, then.  This should reveal some pretty good info.  Bear in mind that every interviewee has a point of view!

 ...“We normally have pretty good information regarding where these people are and how far they are from the Capitol,” said Keith McFaden, a former Capitol Police officer and union leader who retired from the force following the riot. “We heard nothing that day.”...

...For the members of the riot squad who formed the first line of defense on the Capitol’s lower west terrace on Jan. 6, the lack of information could not have come with higher stakes.

Thrust into the most intense battle of the insurrection, the roughly two dozen officers bought lawmakers crucial time to scramble for safety. For about 100 heart-pounding minutes, they slipped and skidded across a stone surface slick with blood and bear spray, attempting to hold their ground against a rampaging mass of thousands....

The West-face riot started before Trump finished his speech.  Given the bias of the sourc (ProPublica) it's no surprise that that particular detail was not mentioned here.  But it's important, because few of them walked out while he was talking.  So who are these West Face rioters?

...On the morning of Jan. 4, members of a civil disturbance unit gathered in a briefing room. A small group of officers were shown a document from Capitol intelligence officials that projected as many as 20,000 people arriving in Washington that week. The crowd would include members of several militia and right-wing extremist groups, including the Proud Boys, the Boogaloo Bois and the white supremacist Patriot Front. Some were expected to be armed, according to one officer who attended the briefing. The document anticipated that there could be violence....

NONE from BLM?  NONE from Antifa?  Really???

Here's a very useful piece of info:

 ....But the intelligence the unit relied on to make that judgment was not widely shared within the department. Several officers assigned to other commands told ProPublica they received no warning whatsoever going into Jan. 6. “We went to work like it was a normal f---ing day,” one said.

“It was business as usual,” said another, who has been on the force for more than 15 years. “The main thing we were told was to be on the lookout for counterdemonstrators.”

The Capitol Police force is made up of four main divisions, each responsible for safeguarding its own section of the Capitol complex. But ProPublica learned that these divisions operate in silos, often out of sync with one another....

What the Hell?

No wonder the Chief of CapCops resigned the day after.  He is a moron.

The CapCops had no helmets--they were told to turn them in early in December.  What helmets were available were all in "medium" size.

...As second-in-command at the Capitol Police union, McFaden said, he met with then-Chief Steven Sund and other leaders of the force every two weeks.

“We’d consistently ask them, for years, ‘What are the contingency plans for upcoming events?’” McFaden told ProPublica. “We’d always get either a no response, or that things were in flux and it’s a national security issue and we can’t divulge that information at this time.”...

Union guy, remember--but that's not an unreasonable "ask."

The article goes on to tell readers that "Trump supporters" were planning to raise Hell.  The assertion that all the troublemakers were "Trump supporters" is made entirely without evidence, of course. 

Moving on.....

...ProPublica obtained a previously unreported 17-page Capitol Police operational plan that showed select officials were notified of “numerous social media posts” encouraging protesters to arrive armed.The document, which is dated Jan. 5, also states that white supremacists and the Proud Boys were expected to attend the rally, along with “other extremist groups,” including antifa, the left-wing movement that has clashed with far-right groups and drawn the ire of some Republicans....

NOW we hear about BLM/Antifa?  Also note that the Fake-News outlet asserts that Antifa has 'clashed with far-right groups.'  No mention of Antifa assaulting cops in Seattle, Portland,........no.  Only "far-right groups."  Lying much?

...ProPublica also obtained four daily reports from the department’s intelligence division that were shared widely among commanders of the force, spanning the dates Jan. 4 through Jan. 7. The documents make no mention of expected extremist groups or the possibility that demonstrators would be armed. Instead, they note simply that “folks could organize a demonstration on USCP grounds.”

The intelligence reports provide a kind of threat scale that gauges the likelihood of arrests. The Jan. 6 rally was scored as “improbable,” meaning it had a 20% to 45% chance of resulting in arrests....

All of a sudden, Fake News mentions "armed."  RLY?

...Sund, who submitted his resignation as chief of the Capitol Police on Jan. 7, later said he had tried to call in the National Guard two days before the riot. He said the sergeants-at-arms — the House and Senate officials responsible for security of lawmakers — denied his request. Both officials have since resigned....

That's the most important part of this article, but strangely, there is NO MENTION of who is actually in charge of the sergeant-at-arms of the House:  Nancy Pelosi.  Nor of the Schumer half-command of the Senate's.

Curious omission, right?

There's a lot more that we didn't go through.  I'm certain you'll find lots more Fake News propaganda.  Have fun! 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Who are the insurrectionists? Trump supporters.