Capitol attack
Capitol attack
Peter Hermann includes some first hand accounts from police in his piece below. A chilling read.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va ... rc404=true
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va ... rc404=true
Re: Capitol attack
I never thought I would be so firmly entrenched in the establishment as I am at this moment. So, I ran into the guy I won a grand from (he paid) on the election. Predictably, all this came up and he scolded me that it was ANTIFA who stormed the Capitol. I asked why libs would dress up as MAGA peeps, storm the building, risk their lives and freedom to protest an election that they won. Crickets. But he said that Marshall Law would be implemented and trump would be prez after the 20th and for the next four years. I offered another 1k bet that it wouldn't happen. I could see he was tempted, but reduced it to 100. Free money ![crazy :crazy:](./images/smilies/free-confused-smileys-327.gif)
![crazy :crazy:](./images/smilies/free-confused-smileys-327.gif)
Re: Capitol attack
Take it all
Re: Capitol attack
![hs :hs:](./images/smilies/headscratch.gif)
You are aware that Portland still has regular violent protests spearheaded by ANTIFA with IMPEACH BIDEN signs? Vandalizing and multiple arson attempts on a city commissioner's home, assaulting the Mayor, some ANTIFA guy punched him and wrestled him to the ground when he was sitting outside having dinner. Streets have been barricaded/closed by protesters and police regularly assaulted.
All after the election was decided.
Biden is their guy just as much as Trump was. Was never about Trump.
![noclue :noclue:](./images/smilies/confused-smiley-013.gif)
A lot of those tactics at the Capitol looked really similar to tactics used here at the Fed Courthouse in the Summer. The Capitol was completely unprepared, even though same exact thing happened at state Capitol buildings, spearheaded by MAGA folks in Michigan and Oregon and other states, in the weeks prior.
ANTIFA certainly didn't spearhead the invasion, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if they were present and aligned with MAGA leaders in some fashion. The specific tactics were quite similar. Both sides are really pissed, and represent a good portion of the population on both sides (100+ million people) who don't feel heard or represented.....
![wavesad :wavesad:](./images/smilies/wavesad.gif)
![no :no:](./images/smilies/noangry.gif)
One thing is for sure, ANTIFA watched the whole thing on television with a combination of glee and envy.....
![noclue :noclue:](./images/smilies/confused-smiley-013.gif)
Re: Capitol attack
My God.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5340 ... n-torn-out
Pressley's chief of staff said her office's panic buttons 'had been torn out' before Capitol riot
BY ARIS FOLLEY - 01/13/21 02:17 PM EST
Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s (D-Mass.) chief of staff, Sarah Groh, said in a recent interview that panic buttons she had previously used in the congresswoman’s office had been taken out before the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol last week.
Groh revealed the information in a new interview with The Boston Globe published Wednesday, in which she recounted her experience the day of the riot.
Groh said that she, Pressley and her husband, Conan Harris, had arrived at Capitol Hill early that day after the House sergeant-at-arms urged lawmakers to do so to avoid large crowds as hundreds of the president’s supporters had flocked to D.C. to oppose the November election results.
“I was deeply concerned. It felt like the heat was being turned up in terms of the rhetoric and Trump’s aims to incite violence,” she told the Globe.
It wasn’t long after, however, that a pro-Trump mob overtook the U.S. Capitol as Congress was gearing up to certify votes by the Electoral College that affirmed his defeat in the presidential race.
Around that time, Groh said, she discovered the office’s panic buttons had been removed while she and the other staffers were working to secure the office’s entrance using available furniture and water jugs.
“Every panic button in my office had been torn out — the whole unit,” Groh said, despite noting she had previously used the buttons in that same office. Groh said in the interview that she did not know why the buttons had been removed.
In a statement to The Hill later on Wednesday, a spokesperson for Pressley said “the matter has been raised with the relevant agencies and is currently under investigation.” The representative said the “duress buttons” had previously been “installed throughout the Congresswoman’s office suite.”
“Our staff has used these devices before and they are regularly tested and maintained,” they said.
“The safety of the Congresswoman, her family and our staff remain our top priority and at the direction of the Congresswoman, the Sergeant at Arms oversaw the installation of new duress buttons throughout the office following the attack,” they added.
The Hill has reached the House sergeant-at-arms and U.S. Capitol Police.
The revelation adds to a growing list of concerns around the security at the Capitol after the deadly Jan. 6 riot.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) spoke out about the issue on Twitter earlier Wednesday as Groh's revelation began to pick up traction on social media.
“Even if one assumes this as some totally innocent oversight, how does the department responsible remove ALL the panic buttons from a highly visible member’s office and NOT inform that member or their staff?” she wrote.
The news also comes as federal and state officials are working to boost law enforcement presence in the nation’s capital as a number of right-wing groups have vowed to target the Capitol next week when President-elect Joe Biden is set to be inaugurated.
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Re: Capitol attack
I suspect there's more to this, or actually less then-nefarious reasons for this then meets the eye.chaos wrote: ↑Sat Jan 16, 2021 10:44 amMy God.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5340 ... n-torn-out
Pressley's chief of staff said her office's panic buttons 'had been torn out' before Capitol riot
BY ARIS FOLLEY - 01/13/21 02:17 PM EST
(snip)
Key questions are: Why was it just her office that had the "Panic Buttons" removed and not all offices or at least more offices along her block or hallway of offices? Maintenance issues, complete upgrade in progress? And why has she and/or her staff used the Panic Button feature multiple times in the past? What serious security issues have cropped up inside the Capitol in the last few years?
Re: Capitol attack
Well, you sure earned your tinfoil hat with this one.mockbee wrote: ↑Sat Jan 16, 2021 9:30 am
![]()
You are aware that Portland still has regular violent protests spearheaded by ANTIFA with IMPEACH BIDEN signs? Vandalizing and multiple arson attempts on a city commissioner's home, assaulting the Mayor, some ANTIFA guy punched him and wrestled him to the ground when he was sitting outside having dinner. Streets have been barricaded/closed by protesters and police regularly assaulted.
All after the election was decided.
Biden is their guy just as much as Trump was. Was never about Trump.
![]()
A lot of those tactics at the Capitol looked really similar to tactics used here at the Fed Courthouse in the Summer. The Capitol was completely unprepared, even though same exact thing happened at state Capitol buildings, spearheaded by MAGA folks in Michigan and Oregon and other states, in the weeks prior.
ANTIFA certainly didn't spearhead the invasion, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if they were present and aligned with MAGA leaders in some fashion. The specific tactics were quite similar. Both sides are really pissed, and represent a good portion of the population on both sides (100+ million people) who don't feel heard or represented.....
To the people struggling, unheard and angry.
To the perpetrators of violence.
One thing is for sure, ANTIFA watched the whole thing on television with a combination of glee and envy.....![]()
![eyes :eyes:](./images/smilies/rolling%20eyes.gif)
Re: Capitol attack
Hype wrote: ↑Sun Jan 17, 2021 6:12 amWell, you sure earned your tinfoil hat with this one.mockbee wrote: ↑Sat Jan 16, 2021 9:30 am
![]()
You are aware that Portland still has regular violent protests spearheaded by ANTIFA with IMPEACH BIDEN signs? Vandalizing and multiple arson attempts on a city commissioner's home, assaulting the Mayor, some ANTIFA guy punched him and wrestled him to the ground when he was sitting outside having dinner. Streets have been barricaded/closed by protesters and police regularly assaulted.
All after the election was decided.
Biden is their guy just as much as Trump was. Was never about Trump.
![]()
A lot of those tactics at the Capitol looked really similar to tactics used here at the Fed Courthouse in the Summer. The Capitol was completely unprepared, even though same exact thing happened at state Capitol buildings, spearheaded by MAGA folks in Michigan and Oregon and other states, in the weeks prior.
ANTIFA certainly didn't spearhead the invasion, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if they were present and aligned with MAGA leaders in some fashion. The specific tactics were quite similar. Both sides are really pissed, and represent a good portion of the population on both sides (100+ million people) who don't feel heard or represented.....
To the people struggling, unheard and angry.
To the perpetrators of violence.
One thing is for sure, ANTIFA watched the whole thing on television with a combination of glee and envy.....![]()
![]()
![tiphat :tiphat:](./images/smilies/hat-tip.gif)
![noclue :noclue:](./images/smilies/confused-smiley-013.gif)
Which part is made up...
![lol :lol:](./images/smilies/lol.gif)
Where there is still violent insurections spearheaded by ANTIFA in Portland after the election?
Where the violent scenes, tactics and objectives used by MAGA at the Capitol were eerily similar to ANTIFA insurections in Portland over the summer? From using bear mace, homeade shields, flags for communicating amongst protesters, stall tactics to deplete police of defensive resources, planned barricades to block movements using debris on site?
Maybe thats all just the natural medieval way of things in these types of insurrections, but the fact is the tactics and the objective to occupy Federal property is, and was, the same with MAGA and ANTIFA. True correlation does not mean causation, but my original point stands that these groups have extremely similar tactics, objectives and grievances when it comes to "the government".
Maybe you don't think people in the United States are pissed. That they've come around to be grudgingly satisfied with the status quo Clinton/Bush, neo-con/lib, arrangement.
Well, ask BLM or Sanders folks if they are alright with Biden, or the 70 million who voted for Trump in November, or the 40+ million who think the election was stolen.
I'm not making this up...
![hehe :hehe:](./images/smilies/hehe.gif)
I guess I'm just not surprised what is taking place....
![bored :bored:](./images/smilies/bored.gif)
![wave :wave:](./images/smilies/wave.gif)
Re: Capitol attack
January 18, 2021
As Told To: The Pelosi Staffer Keith Stern on the Breach of the Capitol
“Ma’am, we’ve got to go.”
By Zach Helfand
January 9, 2021
When one of the sergeant-at-arms staffers on the floor of the House of Representatives said that people were starting to move toward the Capitol, we didn’t think much of it. We’ve had plenty of protests. But then you started seeing more worry. You could feel the energy. It wasn’t the tone, it was the face. Next they said, “They’ve breached a wall, but everything’s fine.” Then there was another breach over here, a breach over there. It just kept cascading. That was when we started hearing, “Do we have to bring the Speaker down from the rostrum?”
I’m the floor director for Speaker Nancy Pelosi. My job is to make sure that the House floor runs properly. Any legislative procedure that comes into the chamber falls under my staff’s purview. I came to D.C. after college, in the nineties, and started waiting tables at California Pizza Kitchen while I figured out how to get a job. I remember, when I first started working on the Hill, someone said, “You’ll know when it’s time to leave when you don’t have that tingle when you see the Capitol.” Now I live a mile away, and when I walk to work the sun is behind me, shining on the Capitol, and when I walk out, if I turn around, I see the sun setting over the Capitol. It’s special.
Originally, we’d been planning on spending more than twenty-four hours in the chamber. When the Arizona challenge happened, the Senate paraded out. They took the certified ballots with them in these big, fancy brown boxes that have been used for years.
As the notices came in, I found my old boss, Congressman Jim McGovern, from Massachusetts. I said, “Hey, we might need you up in the chair, just hold tight.” He’s the chairman of the Rules Committee. He knows that sometimes the Speaker just needs a break.
All of a sudden, it hit. They say, “We need to bring the Speaker down.” I asked to not do this so fast that it’s chaotic. Let’s make it look normal. She was not expecting to come down. I said, “Ma’am, we’ve got to go.” We put Mr. McGovern up, she went out the doors, and she was out of my sight. The Majority Leader, the Majority Whip, and the Minority Whip, they were pulled out, too. That was when it really hit people.
It was a weird vibe. Some were calm, some getting agitated, and then you had a machismo from some people. The noise in the chamber picked up. People were really loud, really not listening. I went into the center of the chamber and just yelled, “Everyone sit down, stay calm, let’s get some information!”
Capitol police said, “They’re coming. They’re inside the building.” They told us to pull out escape hoods—the gas masks. They started pointing: “Lock that door, lock that door!” We helped the police move a couple of old, credenza-type bookshelves into place in front of the doors. We become a hermetically sealed room. You’re not supposed to be able to get in. Well, at some point you start hearing: Bang! A couple of members were there. They were going to protect our colleagues, protect our friends, and protect the chamber.
Capitol police decided we’re evacuating. They opened one of the doors into the Speaker’s lobby and started pushing people out. But up in the gallery there’s no easy way out. It’s literally like an obstacle course. I’m pointing and yelling, “Go, go, go! That way! Get through!” The banging on the front door is intensifying. It sounded violent. All of a sudden you hear a crack. It sounded like a gunshot. The police had their guns out. And I just sprinted out of the chamber.
We ran down some stairs, underground into these old, old spaces. Some older folks can’t move all that quickly. It took us a while, but we finally got to, essentially, a holding area.
We looked around the room. We didn’t know what was happening, but we knew the Capitol had been overrun. Someone would say, “We’re missing someone!” The Capitol police would try to find them. And then you have this din, the mechanical filter of a hundred and fifty gas masks—this high-pitched whirring. It sounded like a hundred and fifty kazoos.
It was a weird mix. Remember, this was everyone who’d been on the floor. In one corner, you had all the Republicans who think we stole the election. You can see people looking, thinking, The people outside are here because of what you’re doing. We were also concerned about the fact that many of them don’t wear masks. Some of them were saying they were glad the “protesters” were there. Everybody else, including many Republicans, was figuring out what’s happening, what’s going on with our institution, with our society, with our democracy. And how do we get back? We knew we had to finish that night. It was never a question of if—it was how. That’s part of my job. I can’t really get into this, but we have alternatives to the House chamber, if we need them.
Someone said, “Where are the boxes? Do we still have them?” One of the parliamentarians came over to me and said, “The ballot boxes are safe.” If they’d been stolen or destroyed, to be honest, I don’t know what happens.
We started to go back around seven. There was this powder everywhere, a film everywhere. Broken glass. The same doors that the President comes through for the State of the Union—when they say, “Madam Speaker, the President of the United States!”—you could see the holes where they’d broken through.
The workers did the best they could to clean up. Who knows where they went, and how they came back? They’re scared, too. They brought in one of those industrial cleaners you see at the mall at, like, five in the morning. One congressman, Andy Kim, a real nice, soft-spoken man from New Jersey, was helping.
The fact that the Capitol was invaded did not defuse tensions. When the Vice-President announced that Joe Biden is now the President-elect, people cheered. There was relief that we got this done. But it wasn’t joyousness. There was a profound sadness afterward, and exhaustion, on the faces of my co-workers. All the trauma hit. This is the people’s building. Every time a security threat makes it harder for someone to get in and see how our democracy works is just sad. But the fact that they’d attack democracy—physically and literally attack it? I never thought it would happen.
When I headed home, it was about four. The sun was still down. ♦
Re: Capitol attack
What Parler Saw During the Attack on the Capitol
by Lena V. Groeger, Jeff Kao, Al Shaw, Moiz Syed and Maya Eliahou, January 17, 2021
This story contains videos that viewers may find disturbing.
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.
As supporters of President Donald Trump took part in a violent riot at the Capitol, users of the social media service Parler posted videos of themselves and others joining the fray.
ProPublica reviewed thousands of videos uploaded publicly to the service that were archived by a programmer before Parler was taken offline by its web host. Below is a collection of more than 500 videos that ProPublica determined were taken during the events of Jan. 6 and were relevant and newsworthy. Taken together, they provide one of the most comprehensive records of a dark event in American history through the eyes of those who took part.
Videos are ordered by the time they were taken. Scroll down to start watching or click on the timeline to jump to any point in the day.
https://projects.propublica.org/parler- ... nt=feature
Re: Capitol attack
I wish this side of McConnell came out sooner instead of enabling that orange piece of shit for four years.
Re: Capitol attack
Battling the Mob, a Black Officer Came Face to Face With Racism
“Black officers fought a different battle” on Jan. 6, said Harry Dunn, a Capitol Police officer. Here is what he saw and heard when rioters, including white supremacists, stormed the Capitol.
“It took a horrific toll on us,” Officer Harry Dunn of the Capitol Police said of the attack on Jan. 6. “Mental health has always been a stigma. Nobody wants to talk about it.”Credit...Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times
By Luke Broadwater
Feb. 25, 2021Updated 3:40 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON — The racist slurs hurled at Harry Dunn, a Capitol Police officer, during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol were cited as evidence this month in the Senate’s impeachment trial of former President Donald J. Trump. Until this week, Officer Dunn had remained anonymous.
Now, Officer Dunn, 37, who is Black and is a 13-year veteran of the force, and who grew up in nearby Prince George’s County, Md., is ready to speak publicly about the violence and racism he experienced at the hands of a pro-Trump mob during that grim day in American history.
Standing 6-foot-7 with a muscular frame, Officer Dunn is an imposing figure, but he says the bigotry and trauma he experienced that day were enough to intimidate anyone. Now that he is talking about his experience, he says other Black officers have told him that they, too, experienced racist slurs from the mob.
“So many people, for whatever reason, aren’t talking,” Officer Dunn said in an interview with The New York Times. “I just want to give a voice for us.”
The interview has been edited for length, clarity and offensive language.
How did Jan. 6 start for you? Were you worried?
It was a protest day. We deal with protests here all the time. People come up here because they’re angry about something. It could be anything. It could be displeasure with the Affordable Care Act or a Supreme Court nominee or whatever it is. For a regular officer on the ground, we were thinking: “Here we go. Let’s get through this day. And then go back to normal.”
When did you realize things were turning bad?
I got a message from one of my friends. It was a screenshot from maybe an Instagram page or something like that and it said they were storming the Capitol and to be ready for a fight. It was around 9 in the morning. I started work at 7. But I didn’t really get a sense things were turning bad until they found the pipe bombs at the R.N.C. [Republican National Committee] in the afternoon. Then, a couple minutes later, we found a second one. I thought, “Holy crap, what the hell is going on?” The crowd started growing in size, and now you’re like, “OK, something’s about to happen.” People are getting more agitated and then, boom. The next thing you know, we’re fighting with the people on the West Lawn of the Capitol. That’s where it started.
Did you notice a difference between the small crowd that had been protesting all morning in front of the Capitol and the mob that marched from the Trump rally and began attacking from the West Lawn of the Capitol?
On the West Lawn, those were the people that came from the rally. Those are the ones that started the violence.
What was the moment when your physical safety felt most in danger?
Shoot, man, the whole day. At one point, I was out there on the inaugural platform. I had this rifle, and I’m literally aimed in at the crowd. They’re fighting. They’re throwing smoke bombs. These were terrorists. They had weapons, and they were attacking us. They had flags that said “Come and Take It” with a picture of a gun. You know that these guys are fricking armed. And I’m thinking, “I got my gun pointed at these guys, and I can’t concentrate on one person. But 100 people could concentrate on me. And they could take me out right here on this stage. How long is it before I get shot?”
OK, at this point, you’re still some distance from the rioters. Tell me about when you first made physical contact with the mob.
Once they started to break the line is when I actually made contact and started defending myself and the building. It was just holding the line with other officers.
Did you have a shield or any other protective gear?
My fists are pretty protective. By the end, I had blood on my knuckles and swelling.
You are a big guy.
There were a couple punches. By a couple, I mean a lot. I didn’t even pick up my baton. My pepper spray? I didn’t deploy that until well into the fight, because I realized, “Oh crap, I have this — why don’t I use these tools?”
So you were outside the building to begin the day. How did you end up inside?
Once they breached the building, some of us decided to team up in teams of two and go inside the building. The M.P.D. [Metropolitan Police Department] guys had arrived and they were holding the line so valiantly. They fought their asses off, and I want to make sure they get credit.
Absolutely. I was there that day. I watched how the D.C. Police Department put down the riot — once their officers arrived on the scene with riot gear. What happened next?
Inside, we were getting overrun. The teams of two ended up getting separated. Now we’re just one-man units. It was so confusing because everybody was everywhere. They didn’t just come through the doors; they came through the windows. We were just outmatched. This fight starts going on for hours. You’ve got a mask on. There’s OC spray [a kind of pepper spray] in the air. All these factors are contributing to officer fatigue. Everybody’s just running on adrenaline, just pure adrenaline.
At one point, I confronted a group of terrorists in the crypt. There were downed officers behind me, and, I’m like, “I have to hold this hallway.” I’m tired, but I said, “Y’all not coming through here.” They said, “We’re coming. This is our house. We’re taking over.” That’s when I said, “We’ve got dozens of downed officers here. Why are y’all doing this? Get out!” I guess it was a group of the Oath Keepers and they appeared to be concerned. “Officers are hurt?” That’s when one guy said, “We’re doing this for you,” and showed me his badge. He was an officer. But they didn’t get through me. Only one person attempted to get through me at that time, and he met the floor. He met the floor. Finally, officers with armored gear responded and held that area.
Now, there was a moment when racist slurs were used against you.
So I run up the stairwell. There’s people freaking everywhere. They saw I came from an area that wasn’t occupied by terrorists. So they tried to go down the steps. I said, “No, you’re not going down there.” And I’m exhausted. They’re saying, “Trump is our rightful president. Nobody voted for Joe Biden.” I needed to catch my breath. So I said, “I voted for Joe Biden. What? My vote doesn’t matter?” A woman responded, “This [slur] voted for Joe Biden!” Everybody that was there started joining in. “Hey, [slur]!” It was over 20 people who said it.
Later, you broke down in the Rotunda.
Once the F.B.I. and all these other officers arrived, the Capitol started getting cleared out and more secure. The officers who had been fighting from the start, a lot of us just sat down on the floor. There was trash everywhere. The smoke was thick. I saw one of my buddies who I’ve known basically since I’ve been on the department, and we just looked at each other. And we just started talking about the day and how we were hurting. A war is made up of 100 battles. We were all in the war, but we all had different battles. A lot of us Black officers fought a different battle than everybody else fought. I said to my buddy, “I got called [slur] a couple dozen times today.” I’m looking at him. He’s got blood on him. I’ve got bloody knuckles. We’re hurting. That’s when I said, “Is this America?” and I started crying. Tears are coming down my face. “Is this America?”
I know you want to stay away from politics, but how did you feel when your experience was referenced in the impeachment trial?
At that time, I hadn’t gone public yet. But a lot of people knew my story. I was in the middle of the Rotunda crying. I was loud. I didn’t hide it. I was starting to heal, and it kind of brought me back there all over again. It was a rough time.
How has the impact of the violence of Jan. 6 been on officers’ mental health?
It took a horrific toll on us. Counselors have been available, but I think a lot of people are reluctant to use them. Mental health has always been a stigma. Nobody wants to talk about it. If you appear to be broken or hurt, you’re weak. Now people are wondering, “Can I even go tell them that I’m not OK without them taking my gun from me and losing my job?” I want people to know it’s OK and it’s normal to feel a certain kind of way.
Did you know Brian Sicknick, the Capitol Police officer who collapsed and died after the attack?
We worked together. He was a great man, a great person, somebody that you would want to work with. He did his job. He was somebody that you could trust.
There’s been a lot of praise of Officer Eugene Goodman, who led the rioters away from the senators, including Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah. He was a hero, absolutely. But you’ve said there were many officers whose names the public doesn’t know who were heroes that day.
People fought their asses off. Eugene was great. He did his job. He did it heroically, literally, in the face of danger. So many people did that that day. So many freaking people. We’ve got officers who suffered concussions and got attacked. So many people fought so bravely. There were so many Eugene Goodmans that day. Everybody I saw fought their asses off. And they’re heroes.
Re: Capitol attack
Fox News/Dominions' last minute settlement is the quiet loss for FN we desperately didn't need.
Re: Capitol attack
but so predictable....60 million dollar company did just fine, it's not their duty to fight for more...