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>And the local police took the President's side. That is demonstrably false. The overwhelming majority of officers did their duty, and physically cleared riote

>And the local police took the President's side. That is demonstrably false. The overwhelming majority of officers did their duty, and physically cleared rioters from the building. Many were injured fighting the insurrectionists. One officer was hit on the head with a fire extinguisher and remains in critical care. Mayor Bowser and the DC Chief of Police said this in their morning press conference [0]: >"There was a lot of valiant fighting by members of the Metropolitan Police Department," Acting D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee said. "Just a tremendous amount of heroic acts. I have one officer who's still in the hospital right now. He was snatched into a crowd, he was beaten, he was kicked, he was Tased several times. So, yeah, they fought. They fought very hard yesterday." [0] https://wjla.com/news/local/dc-mayor-address-public https://wjla.com/news/local/dc-mayor-address-public

ChrisLomont 6y ago
> That is demonstrably false Apparently our foreign allies intelligence groups don't find it so farfetched. It does help explain the incredible lack of forces, baffling to many in law enforcement, and why Congress has already started firing capital security personnel and accepted resignations of others for such a screw up. https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-attempted-coup-federal-law-enforcement-capitol-police-2021-1 https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-attempted-coup-federal...
- bilbo0s 6y ago
  NATO is just connecting the dots, which is what they are trained to do. Even as an American I have to concede that the conclusions they are drawing are measured and reasonable. Allies losing faith in the reliability of your security personnel is Exhibit A in the case for being extremely careful about who you hire as security personnel.
- neartheplain 6y ago
  That link is a collection of anonymous quotes speculating on circumstantial evidence. Let's confine ourselves to statements supported by facts. The injuries sustained by dozens of Capitol Police officers, including one who remains on life support, suggest that if a pro-Trump conspiracy existed then it didn't extend past the Chief. There is zero evidence (so far) for such a conspiracy. On the other hand, the footage of officers fighting huge crowds, dispersing rioters with teargas and pepperballs, and even shooting one Capitol invader dead at close range all suggest they did not "side with the President." [0][1][2][3] Officers were overmatched and overwhelmed as the result of poor planning by leadership. The AP suggests complacency was to blame, not collusion or conspiracy [4]: >Both Acevedo and Ed Davis, a former Boston police commissioner who led the department during the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, said they did not fault the responses of clearly overmatched front-line officers, but the planning and leadership before the riot. >“Was there a structural feeling that well, these are a bunch of conservatives, they’re not going to do anything like this? Quite possibly,” Davis said. “That’s where the racial component to this comes into play in my mind. Was there a lack of urgency or a sense that this could never happen with this crowd? Is that possible? Absolutely.” And this is just to focus on the US Capitol Police. If we look at the DC Metro Police, "local" cops in the truest sense of the word, they're not at all aligned with President Trump. Mayor Bowser and Acting Chief Contee are not Republicans. See my comment above for a recap of MPD's conduct yesterday. I am sick of the ACAB mentality which leads to assumptions like "capitol police sided with the President." It is generally untrue, predicated on lies, and counter-productive. I hope my analysis demonstrates that in this case. EDIT: the US Capitol Police officer who was on life support has just passed away. He died from injuries sustained while fighting off violent Trump supporters [5]. Do you still think that he and other officers “sided with the President?” [0] https://twitter.com/mattdizwhitlock/status/1347018199653560320 https://twitter.com/mattdizwhitlock/status/13470181996535603... [1] https://twitter.com/KySportsRadio/status/1347031398176223233 https://twitter.com/KySportsRadio/status/1347031398176223233 [2] https://twitter.com/zhalaschak/status/1346940634557521929 https://twitter.com/zhalaschak/status/1346940634557521929 [3] https://twitter.com/mattrodierphot1/status/1346943249680883713 https://twitter.com/mattrodierphot1/status/13469432496808837... [4] https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-riots-police-coronavirus-pandemic-9c39a4ddef0ab60a48828a07e4d03380 https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-riots-police-coronav... [5] https://twitter.com/LindsayAWatts/status/1347404723767402499 https://twitter.com/LindsayAWatts/status/1347404723767402499
  - ChrisLomont 6y ago
    Also from the Associated Press - the National Guard was oddly absent from all of this, when they are normally involved [1]. Can that be a fact? Here's Congress already asking the same questions, and a few more facts supporting surprisingly bad and out of character police behavior [2]. This is only 1 day after the event - give it a few to see if it takes off. The statements by trained intelligence professional are not facts? Sometimes by looking at evidence and seeing there is likely more going one leads one to dig and find more facts, right? Many in law enforcement have called what happened ridiculously surprising. Assuming it was all just random bad luck and not investigating it in detail is a sure way screw up again, whether it was bad luck or had some component of insider issues. Certainly Congress has fired some people over it, some have resigned, and it looks like Congress is certainly going to investigate. Just a few months ago capitol police certainly had multiple layers of police around the Capitol building, so it's clear they can do that. This time they didn't, despite being given ample warning many in the crowd have been posting for weeks they will storm the building. So I don't know either way, and neither do you, but these questions are from reputable sources, not some far out left wing rag, so it's worth looking into them. [1] https://www.syracuse.com/news/2021/01/national-guard-troops-noticeably-absent-as-pro-trump-mob-swarms-capitol.html https://www.syracuse.com/news/2021/01/national-guard-troops-... [2] https://abcnews.go.com/US/lawmakers-demand-answers-outrage-explodes-us-capitol-policing/story?id=75120929 https://abcnews.go.com/US/lawmakers-demand-answers-outrage-e...
    - neartheplain 6y ago
      >So I don't know either way You should have started and ended here. The officer who died to protect the Congress was still clinging to life when you accused him and his colleagues of treason. We will find out soon enough if the Capitol Police Chief took part in any real or imagined conspiracies. That has no bearing on the demonstrated actions and loyalty to the Constitution of the vast majority of DC police officers.
      - bilbo0s 6y ago
        I don't think anyone is accusing the officers who were doing their jobs of failures, but military sense demands we investigate why the other security personnel were not on site. That's just security 101.

ChrisLomont 6y ago

> That is demonstrably false Apparently our foreign allies intelligence groups don't find it so farfetched. It does help explain the incredible lack of forces, baffling to many in law enforcement, and why Congress has already started firing capital security personnel and accepted resignations of others for such a screw up. https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-attempted-coup-federal-law-enforcement-capitol-police-2021-1 https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-attempted-coup-federal...

bilbo0s 6y ago
NATO is just connecting the dots, which is what they are trained to do. Even as an American I have to concede that the conclusions they are drawing are measured and reasonable. Allies losing faith in the reliability of your security personnel is Exhibit A in the case for being extremely careful about who you hire as security personnel.
neartheplain 6y ago
That link is a collection of anonymous quotes speculating on circumstantial evidence. Let's confine ourselves to statements supported by facts. The injuries sustained by dozens of Capitol Police officers, including one who remains on life support, suggest that if a pro-Trump conspiracy existed then it didn't extend past the Chief. There is zero evidence (so far) for such a conspiracy. On the other hand, the footage of officers fighting huge crowds, dispersing rioters with teargas and pepperballs, and even shooting one Capitol invader dead at close range all suggest they did not "side with the President." [0][1][2][3] Officers were overmatched and overwhelmed as the result of poor planning by leadership. The AP suggests complacency was to blame, not collusion or conspiracy [4]: >Both Acevedo and Ed Davis, a former Boston police commissioner who led the department during the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, said they did not fault the responses of clearly overmatched front-line officers, but the planning and leadership before the riot. >“Was there a structural feeling that well, these are a bunch of conservatives, they’re not going to do anything like this? Quite possibly,” Davis said. “That’s where the racial component to this comes into play in my mind. Was there a lack of urgency or a sense that this could never happen with this crowd? Is that possible? Absolutely.” And this is just to focus on the US Capitol Police. If we look at the DC Metro Police, "local" cops in the truest sense of the word, they're not at all aligned with President Trump. Mayor Bowser and Acting Chief Contee are not Republicans. See my comment above for a recap of MPD's conduct yesterday. I am sick of the ACAB mentality which leads to assumptions like "capitol police sided with the President." It is generally untrue, predicated on lies, and counter-productive. I hope my analysis demonstrates that in this case. EDIT: the US Capitol Police officer who was on life support has just passed away. He died from injuries sustained while fighting off violent Trump supporters [5]. Do you still think that he and other officers “sided with the President?” [0] https://twitter.com/mattdizwhitlock/status/1347018199653560320 https://twitter.com/mattdizwhitlock/status/13470181996535603... [1] https://twitter.com/KySportsRadio/status/1347031398176223233 https://twitter.com/KySportsRadio/status/1347031398176223233 [2] https://twitter.com/zhalaschak/status/1346940634557521929 https://twitter.com/zhalaschak/status/1346940634557521929 [3] https://twitter.com/mattrodierphot1/status/1346943249680883713 https://twitter.com/mattrodierphot1/status/13469432496808837... [4] https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-riots-police-coronavirus-pandemic-9c39a4ddef0ab60a48828a07e4d03380 https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-riots-police-coronav... [5] https://twitter.com/LindsayAWatts/status/1347404723767402499 https://twitter.com/LindsayAWatts/status/1347404723767402499
- ChrisLomont 6y ago
  Also from the Associated Press - the National Guard was oddly absent from all of this, when they are normally involved [1]. Can that be a fact? Here's Congress already asking the same questions, and a few more facts supporting surprisingly bad and out of character police behavior [2]. This is only 1 day after the event - give it a few to see if it takes off. The statements by trained intelligence professional are not facts? Sometimes by looking at evidence and seeing there is likely more going one leads one to dig and find more facts, right? Many in law enforcement have called what happened ridiculously surprising. Assuming it was all just random bad luck and not investigating it in detail is a sure way screw up again, whether it was bad luck or had some component of insider issues. Certainly Congress has fired some people over it, some have resigned, and it looks like Congress is certainly going to investigate. Just a few months ago capitol police certainly had multiple layers of police around the Capitol building, so it's clear they can do that. This time they didn't, despite being given ample warning many in the crowd have been posting for weeks they will storm the building. So I don't know either way, and neither do you, but these questions are from reputable sources, not some far out left wing rag, so it's worth looking into them. [1] https://www.syracuse.com/news/2021/01/national-guard-troops-noticeably-absent-as-pro-trump-mob-swarms-capitol.html https://www.syracuse.com/news/2021/01/national-guard-troops-... [2] https://abcnews.go.com/US/lawmakers-demand-answers-outrage-explodes-us-capitol-policing/story?id=75120929 https://abcnews.go.com/US/lawmakers-demand-answers-outrage-e...
  - neartheplain 6y ago
    >So I don't know either way You should have started and ended here. The officer who died to protect the Congress was still clinging to life when you accused him and his colleagues of treason. We will find out soon enough if the Capitol Police Chief took part in any real or imagined conspiracies. That has no bearing on the demonstrated actions and loyalty to the Constitution of the vast majority of DC police officers.
    - bilbo0s 6y ago
      I don't think anyone is accusing the officers who were doing their jobs of failures, but military sense demands we investigate why the other security personnel were not on site. That's just security 101.