The thing I wanted to talk about today is old news, from a week ago. But it got made relevant again by yesterday’s impeachment. So I’d better buckle down and get this written.
Last week I got chastised by a friend for not coming out in
opposition to the violence at the capitol on January 6th. I wasn’t
actually writing about that, but I thought I had said enough to show I was
clearly against it, especially along with nearly a decade of writing—about how to have civilization. But the day
after the event I didn’t have nearly enough information to write on that topic.
But I have, all along, been trying to understand what
happened. More comes out daily, but I think I have enough grasp on it now for a
post. A long one. Consider it next Monday’s post as well. That will be Martin
Luther King Day, celebrating non-violence, which is the ultimate message of today’s
post.
The Rally
the January 6th rally during President Trump's speech
screenshot from Right Side livestream
The purpose of last Wednesday’s rally at the capitol was to
show how much support there was among the American people for counting only
legal votes. The suppression of information about the evidence has caused a lot
more disunity than hearing out the evidence would have done. My assumption
about that is that, allowing the evidence to be heard would have made a Biden
presidency untenable.
But the rally was in support of the legislature acting
according to the Constitution to challenge the electors from some of the states
in question—states whose state legislators had wanted to recall the chosen
electors because of the many questions about fraud and anomalies they had been
shown, but about which they felt prevented from acting on, because only their
governors could call a special session to act on that business. In other words,
there is a Constitutional process to deal with election issues that come up at
this point in the process.
And it would be, finally, an opportunity for the general
public to hear and see at least a portion of the evidence, unfiltered by a
media dismissing it as discredited.
President Trump had a goal to get the evidence heard—and so
did people supporting him and our Constitution.
There were roughly a million supporters at the capitol. They came to hear speakers—there were several in the morning, including Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman of the President’s legal team. And the President was scheduled to speak around noon, the hour prior to the 1:00 joint session of Congress. He arrived late to speak, and then spoke for a little over an hour. He went through some of the evidence he hoped to be presented.
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| President Donald Trump during his January 6th speech screenshot from Right Side livestream |
You can view his speech here.
You can read the transcript here.
I heard it mostly live, pausing the livestream in the middle of the speech for a meeting, and then returning to hear the rest on my drive home. I heard
nothing earth-shattering. I heard nothing about taking any action other than
walking over to the capitol (from where he was speaking, which was relatively
close to the White House, 2.3 miles from the capitol building). People spread
out beyond the Washington Monument, which is even further. Some no doubt spread
toward the capitol, so they were closer.
The Capitol
Breach
Twenty minutes before his speech ended, protesters breached
the barricades around the capitol building, ostensibly set up to allow
preparation for the January 20th inauguration.
Elijah Schaffer, of The Blaze, was at that forefront,
as media, and has video of the attack on those barricades. It looks bad.
By the time the President finished speaking, the bad guys
had breached the outer barricades and were attempting to enter the building.
By the time larger portions of the crowd arrived, the
barricades were down, and there was no indicator for the people to stay away
from the building.
Among people attempting to enter the building, the crowd was
shouting “Antifa! Antifa! They’re not us!” People were trying to prevent them
from breaking windows and entering, and were pushing those bad guys toward the
police for capture.
Eventually at least one door was opened. One video shows a
police officer being squashed against a wall, and it looks dangerous for him. Another video shows a door being opened, police officers standing against a
wall and allowing people to enter. One of those entering jokes that they’ll lock the door behind them, that it’s a
trap.
What we’re seeing is a lot of mayhem, a lot of confusion.
And a lot of blame.
No
Incitement
Of the million people there, only a few hundred entered the
capitol. Of the few hundred that entered the capitol, most entered only after
the doors were opened; they were nonviolent, wandered through almost like
tourists, and had nothing to do with breaking in or rioting. There were a few
dozen violent offenders arrested. Out of a million.
There were additional speeches planned for the afternoon. They
were canceled. The President made a short video telling people that, even
though we believe the election was stolen, we need peace, and they need to go
home. It was taken down by Twitter for violating community standards. He made
another similar video later; it was taken down. Shortly thereafter his Twitter
account was permanently deleted.
He had his Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany do a similar
announcement, brief, taking no questions.
In the President’s rally speech, he says, “I know that
everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully
and patriotically make your voices heard.” That is not an incitement to do
violence, clearly.
Robert H. Gruler, who does a law vlog, for the word “fight.” It comes up 23 times in the speech—each time related to political
argument. But, taking the paragraph containing the final three, suddenly we’re
supposed to assume he meant physical altercation and rioting, when he said,
“And we fight. We fight like Hell and if you don’t fight like
Hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
About moving toward the capitol, near that part of the
speech, he said,
So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania
Avenue—I love Pennsylvania Avenue—and we’re going to the Capitol and we’re
going to try and give— The Democrats are hopeless. They’re never voting for
anything, not even one vote. But we’re going to try and give our Republicans—the
weak ones, because the strong ones don’t need any of our help—we’re going to
try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back
our country.
In order to incite a riot, according to 18 USCS § 2102, a
person would need to “organize, promote, encourage, participate in, or carry on
a riot." Also, as I learned from one post,
In Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 (1969), the US Supreme
Court held that only express advocacy specifically directed at inciting
imminent lawlessness falls outside First Amendment protections. Ambiguous or
abstract speech, even if it can be construed as advocating violence, is protected.
Calling for peaceable assembly, calling for peace, calling
for people to go home—and never even, not even once, encouraging violence, but
actually insisting on peace—that’s not inciting violence. People who are
accusing him of that are lying.
Agent
Provocateurs
Were there people inciting violence? Clearly. We want to
find out who.
There was suspicion of Antifa and BLM from the beginning. The
fact that video and photos show individuals who have been active at Antifa and
BLM events leads credence to that.
One report from a local person, our State Senate District
chair, James Buntrock, a pastor, includes this:
We came together to support our president and to let him know
he is not alone. We came to show that election integrity matters. My sincere
hope was that legislators would see our immense crowds and feel emboldened to
do the right thing: to delay certifying electors until fraud investigation is
complete. Throughout the event, you could feel the love for our country. It was
awe inspiring.
That aligns with the stated and understood goals of the
event. All was peaceful during the entire rally—not even profanity. Then they
walked to the capitol building, and he witnessed this:
We stood on the lawn of the Capitol in protest, continuing to
pray, sing, chant and wave our signs and flags. I witnessed one individual on
the Capitol steps beckoning others to join him. I saw a dozen or so people
wearing dark clothing and light body armor advance in military fashion through
the crowd inciting people to join them in “storming the Capitol”. These were
likely some of the Antifa infiltrators that we had heard would be there, as the
night before, we heard of busses of Antifa receiving police escorts into town.
I don’t know how to verify that Antifa were escorted into
town. There are additional reports of people witnessing buses of Antifa
arriving the night before. I expect there is video, but I haven’t seen it.
I don’t think we can entirely blame agent provocateurs; you
also have to blame those who allow themselves to be provoked. But those are an
estimated .01%, or 1 in 10,000. Painting all rally participants as rioters or
insurrectionists is a blatant lie.
Robert Barnes, in the Sunday night Viva/Barnes livestream, suggests
that it is the QAnon group, thinking somehow they’re helping. I’m not
convinced. I’m not fully aware of Q stuff, but I have heard occasional periphery.
Always it was about a military operation, all planned and underway. The only thing
the public was ever asked to do was to spread the word and wait and watch what
happens—not participate. Are there some wackos out there with some sort of hero
delusion? It’s a big country, so probably.
Robert Gruler talks about the arrest and detainment of a man named Cleveland Grover Meredith, Jr.
The media portrayed him as having a semiautomatic weapon and high capacity
magazines, caught during the protest, attempting to assassinate Nancy Pelosi
and others. But that is not actually what he’s charged with. He was traveling
from Colorado the day of January 6th. His phone records show he was
in touch with people at the capitol (among agitators? quite possibly). Multiple
times he said he was still 3 ½ hours away. He arrived in the evening—the legislators
were back in session, because calm had already long been restored to the
capitol building—and went straight to his hotel. The next day, January 7th,
he is charged with getting out of his vehicle, assaulting someone, without weapons,
and then getting back in his vehicle and leaving. He has a history of marijuana
use (legal in Colorado) and mental illness. I’m wondering if the mental illness
is related to the marijuana use, because there is evidence it increases
likelihood of schizophrenia. Anyway, the guy wasn’t at the capitol during the
riots. He’s the only one I’m aware of named with having a weapon. It was with
him, not used. And he wasn’t involved in the riots, but on a charge that on any
other day would not make the news. He is being held without bond. Could he be
considered a QAnon activist? Maybe. His friends he was in contact with who were
there? Maybe. Maybe they are just more susceptible to agent provocateurs than
the general patriotic protester.
There was evidence of pipe bombs, or IEDs. One was found at
each of the Republican and Democrat Party headquarters, within blocks of the
capitol. None was detonated. I hope the police are able to trace them to the
perpetrators and hold them fully accountable.
I want to get back to agent provocateurs, or APs. There are
two interesting interviews Joshua Philipp did with expert observers, which I
saw Monday. Philipp himself was at the rally, but took a while moving from the
rally to the capitol, walking and interviewing people in the crowd. He never
saw any violence. Not even any mayhem—teargas, pepper spray, etc.—around the
perimeter of the capitol. Incidentally, The Epoch Times did a number of
interviews during their day-long livestream, which I wanted to review, but
YouTube took it down, possibly because of length, so those interviews, if they
are to be recovered for history, will have to be pieced together later. Anyway,
people who had entered the House chambers, but claimed not to have been among
the violent, told what they thought. Their language was profane. (I don’t
understand loving America but calling it “f-ing America.”) They seemed proud of
what they had done. They thought they had shown something to the powers
threatening freedom. They seemed to be regular public, and Trump
supporters, although about as different from me as I can imagine. I now think
these were the people subject to the APs.
Back to Philipp’s interviews. The first is with a young woman
named Masako Ganaha. She has taken footage from social media, showing video from the event, and
looking at it from many angles. For the interview she is mostly focused on the
Ashli Babbit incident—the unarmed woman, a veteran, shot by security. We see
mainly three men breaking door windows to the room they’re trying to enter, the
Speaker’s office lobby. One has a bat or stick to beat the glass. Another is
pounding and shoving. Then the third one, wearing a bright yellow scarf, hands the middle one a
helmet. This guy takes off his heavy winter cap and places it inside the helmet,
cushioning his hand, using that to bash the window, which finally breaks. Ganaha
notes that there seems to be coordination, communication, between the two. They
are working together and seem to know each other.
It is after they break through that Ashli Babbit goes to
step through the broken door window, and then she is shot, at close range, in
the neck. There is no warning to her, no “Stop! Or I’ll shoot.” There is enough
mayhem, I’m uncertain how we could have expected such a command. I’m not even
sure where the shot came from. Inside? The doors appeared to be barricaded with
chairs from the inside. (The Crossroads video didn’t show the
actual shot, and her image was pixelated to avoid showing gore.)
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| Masako Ganaha points out that an agitator goes partway down stairway and changes his appearance. screenshot from here |
There is one young black man, appearing later on mainstream media, named John Sullivan. He is a BLM activist, but he reports that he was only there to document and to come to understand Trump people, because we need understanding. He appears sympathetic. Ganaha shows in the video, however, that, while he is taking video of the altercation, as soon as Babbit is shot, while people are working on her and trying to save her, he is shouting, “She’s dead! They killed her!” in what she believes is an attempt to incite anger toward the police. This is before anyone could know whether Babbit was dead, and from his angle he certainly couldn’t know that; the people working on her blocked his view. Ganaha says this is also an AP tactic, to agitate against whoever they want to agitate against, in this case the capitol security police. And it is also an AP tactic to have one of them be the sympathetic character, going on media to create a narrative in their favor. (Sullivan was arrested today, in Utah.)
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| John Sullivan, arrested Jan. 14, in Utah, for his participation in the capitol riot on Jan. 6. screenshot from Fox 13 News |
The next of Philipp’s interviews I saw was with war correspondent
Michael Yon, whom he had become acquainted with during unrest in Hong Kong. Yon
is an expert in observing riots. He points out some of the things you can look
for to see professional agitation coordination; he uses the term agent provocateur, or AP. If the group is small, maybe
four people, they would know each other and not need identifiers. But if there
are more, and they aren’t familiar to each other, then you might see that they
have similar shoes; and they don’t change their shoes when they change clothing
appearance, because extra shoes would be hard to carry, and nobody looks at
them anyway. So that’s something to look for.
And one of the tactics that he had seen before only in Hong
Kong was a coordinated technique of calling for what they need: “Send up masks,”
“Send up water,” etc. That was happening at the capitol. It shows they were
professional agitators, not an incited crowd.
He noted that, at such an event, susceptible people are
looking for direction, looking for a leader. Whoever has a megaphone, the
loudest voice, gets followed. APs know how to do this, to gather others to do
what they want them to do. It works.
He pointed out that there is a difference between these US
APs and those in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong they had the moral high ground and
wanted to maintain that, so they made sure no one looted, stole, injured
innocents, or did property damage. Antifa, BLM, and any other APs here not only
don’t care about the moral high ground, they want to make it look like those
they are involving look bad.
Possible Advanced
Knowledge
It would be nice to know whether those buses of activists
were actually escorted by police, meaning they were known and welcomed. There
is a fair amount of confusion surrounding the lack of security. Capitol Police
Chief Steven Sund, who resigned right after the event, revealed that he had
asked for additional security multiple times, days ahead of the event. Refusal
came, possibly from as high as Nancy Pelosi’s office.
Once the event was underway, Sund asked for National Guard
help and was refused. This is odd since, during the morning speeches, the Chiron
on the Right Side livestream tells us National Guard troops were activated
for the protest. Confusion surrounded that. MSM claimed the President blocked
them from going. In reality, the troops said they couldn’t be deployed without
an order; as soon as the President learned of it, he gave the go ahead,
possibly even against advice surrounding him. Troops are now on scene and will
be until several days after inauguration.
The FBI had claimed that they had no notice of any planned
violence ahead of time. Mark Levin reported yesterday that they did have
credible evidence at least 24 hours ahead of time. One major news story wrote
about the violence hours ahead of it happening and had to retract it. MSM
wishful thinking? Planted narrative? Why did the FBI lie about what they knew?
Casualties
A civil war has not broken out; as they say, “What if they
hold a war and nobody comes?” Real patriots aren’t participating in any such
war. But the other side is certainly trying to provoke one.
During this skirmish at the capitol—a tragic event—there were
casualties, five deaths. The MSM narrative makes it sound like Trump supporters
murdered five people in their lawless rioting. Not exactly. One death was Ashli
Babbit, unarmed, killed by police. I don’t know much of her background, but she
was inside, with an advanced group that was doing damage; she put herself into
an outlaw position, although she was not guilty of the death penalty, in my
opinion. A second death was an officer beaten in the head with a fire
extinguisher, who died later. There are questions surrounding his death, but I’m
willing to accept that narrative; if accurate, I hope they find his murderer
and convict him. The other three are listed as medical events, which are likely
heart attack or stroke, unrelated to physical violence. I’m not even sure they
were inside the capitol building. So, in other words, Chicago on any typical
weekend is more dangerous than the capitol was under siege.
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| President Trump, looking out window in the Oval Office image found here |
My
Conclusion
Based on what I’ve pieced together, I have what I think
happened. I think the President called patriots to Washington to encourage the
legislature to protest the electoral votes in the states known to have voting
results that should not have been certified before the evidence was considered.
I think a million people showed up to support him in doing that very thing. I
think bad actors saw this as an opportunity to do damage to Trump and to his
supporters. These include agent provocateurs, possibly Antifa and BLM, and also
Pelosi and/or others who left the capitol vulnerable, possibly by coordinating
with those APs.
Sources
·
Right Side livestream of President’s rally and speech—4+ hours of video
·
Transcript
of President’s speech
·
“Timeline of Events in DC on Jan. 6” by Petr
Svab for The Epoch Times, Jan. 13 (updated Jan. 14), 2021.
·
“How a Presidential Rally Turned Into a Capitol Rampage” the “capitol mob timeline” by Lauren Leatherby, Arielle Ray, Anjali
Singhvi, Christiaan Triebert, Derek Watkins and Haley Willis for The New
York Times, Jan. 12, 2021.
·
Account from James Buntrock, from the
capitol
·
“Analysis of Ashli Babbit Video Suggests Coordinated Actions—Interview with Masako Ganaha” Crossroads with Joshua
Philipp, Jan. 11-2021.
· "'Agent Provocateur' Tactics Seen at Jan 6 US
Capitol Protest—Interview with Michael Yon” Crossroads with Joshua
Philipp, Jan. 10, 2021.
·
“At Least One BLM Activist Among Those Who Breached US Capitol” Facts Matter with Roman Balmakov, Jan. 8, 2021.
·
“Black Lives Matter Activist Took Part in Storming of Capitol” by Zachary Stieber for The Epoch Times, Jan. 8
(updated Jan. 9), 2021.
·
“NEW Video appears to show police officers welcome Trump protesters into U.S. Capitol building” by Ellen Killoran for CrimeOnline,
Jan. 8, 2021.
o Christina
Bobb report for OANN, Jan. 8, 2021, Twitter video mentioned in above.
·
“Trump Impeached Again! Save America Rally
Transcript, McConnell's Hints, Hill Rioter Seeks Release” Robert H. Gruler for R&R
Law Group, Jan. 13, 2021.
·
“Why Impeachment Will Likely Fail; State of Emergency Declared in DC” Facts Matter with Roman Balmakov, Jan. 13, 2021.
·
“Live Q&A: Trump Says Impeachment Is a
'Witch Hunt;' Big Tech Loses Billions Over Censorship” Crossroads with
Joshua Philipp, Jan. 12, 2021.
·
“Ep. 43: Another Impeachment? Capitol Hill Fallout; Tech ANTI-TRUST? Using the Law” Viva & Barnes livestream,
Jan. 10,2021.
·
“Live Q&A: Emergency Declaration in DC
Approved by Trump; First Time Trump & Pence Speak Since Jan 6” Crossroads
with Joshua Philipp, Jan. 11, 2021.
·
“‘A Greater Revival Will Come to This Nation’—Interview With Pastor Brian Gibson” Crossroads with Joshua
Philipp, Jan. 8, 2021.
·
“Video shows police officers stand by and do nothing as rioters charge into US Capitol” by Gabrielle Fonrouge for New
York Post, Jan. 8, 2021.
·
“SEE IT: Video shows bloodied police officer pinned into door at U.S. Capitol riot” by Ellen Killoran for CrimeOnline,
Jan. 8, 2021. Quote: “As CrimeOnline previously reported, Capitol police
confirmed Thursday night that an officer died after sustaining injuries in the
riot. According to multiple reports, he had been hit in the head with a fire
hydrant. A woman died in a police-involved shooting after she reportedly tried
to climb through a window, and three others died in what police described as ‘medical
emergencies.’”
·
“What Happened in DC,” Dr. Eric Nepute of
Frontline Doctors,
·
Paul Sperry tweet, forwarded on Facebook, about
bus loads of Antifa in DC
·
In-person account from Paulette Carson, forwarded
on Facebook, about the rally and Antifa infiltration
·
Congresswoman Cori Bush tweet, forwarded on
Facebook, dated Jan. 5, 2021, before the events happened
·
“Utah activist John Sullivan arrested for involvement in Capitol riot” by Erin Cox for Fox 13 Salt Lake City, Jan.
14, 2021.
·
“Capitol Siege: The Left Rewrites History” Ep.
116 Slightly Offensive with Elijah Schaffer, Jan. 14, 2021. (behind
paywall)
·
Brett Hastings post on definition of incitement.
·
“Missing Laptops Raise Cyber Risks From U.S. Capitol Mayhem” by Alyza Sebenius for Bloomberg, Jan. 7 (updated Jan.
8), 2021.
·
“FBI: Attack on Capitol Was Pre-Planned” by Don
Tran, NTD News, Jan. 14, 2021.
