Terrorists storm US Capitol building; DC National Guard activated

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Regarding the police response:

There are some videos appearing to show...... but a lot of context is missing .......

Why is it that every single fucking video of police officers gets this response?

The video shows a cop pepper spraying a BLM protester in handcuffs....but what you didn’t see off camera was.....

The video shows a cop shooting a black man in the back....but what you didn’t see was...

The video shows police take down a barrier down and wave Trump rioters into the capital....but what you didn’t see was....

The video shows the police posing with a terrorist .....but what you didn’t see....

The video shows white cops buddying up with the terrorist and letting their black coworkers get assaulted by the mob....but you didn’t see...

That is all bullshit.  Show me video that justifies it. 

[fyo]

Why is it that every single fucking video of police officers gets this response?

I can't speak for anyone else, but I always try to get the full context instead of judging events based on 5, 10, 15 second clips from a random angle.

The video shows a cop pepper spraying a BLM protester in handcuffs....but what you didn’t see off camera was.....

Are you saying that you cannot imagine a situation where that would be acceptable? (Going by your 1 sentence description only, if the video showed a completely pacified individual, then it would clearly not be acceptable.)

The video shows a cop shooting a black man in the back....but what you didn’t see was...

Unless that person was running towards someone else with, say, a gun drawn and reasonable belief they would should that someone, then no, shooting someone in the back is NEVER acceptable and the perpetrator should be charged with first degree murder.

The video shows police take down a barrier down and wave Trump rioters into the capital....but what you didn’t see was....

See, that's what one of them looked like initially, but it actually wasn't possible to tell who was doing the barrier moving and the person shooting the video said it was the protesters. That's what I mean by context. It also wasn't at all clear which areas were being "granted" access to. From one of the other clips I saw, it appeared that the mob (at this point still "just" a mob) was already beyond the barrier and unless you have some aerial footage... We also don't know what INSTRUCTIONS were given. I am perfectly willing to criticize the overall response in a myriad of ways, but if you want to criticize an *individual*, that would require more context. Even for an individual *action*, more context would often be required (not always - and criticizing an *action* and criticizing an *individual* isn't the same).

The video shows the police posing with a terrorist .....but what you didn’t see....

Yeah, I don't like that shit. It happens at all sorts of demonstrations with all sorts of people. Some of it is genuine sympathy for whatever "cause" and some of it is a deliberate deescalation technique. Even in the latter case, it often rubs me the wrong way and although I'm a big proponent of deescalation, I would rather see other techniques employed. I'm not sure I'm capable of telling which case is which based on a still-photo or short video clip, but considering I've not been hesitant to call the attack "terrorism", "insurrection", and "sedition", I would clearly have a huge problem with any officer having (even without expressing) sympathy for that "cause".

The video shows white cops buddying up with the terrorist and letting their black coworkers get assaulted by the mob....but you didn’t see...

I didn't see any video that showed anything like that. Link?

[Tenshot13]

The video shows a cop shooting a black man in the back....but what you didn’t see was...

Except you do see a knife, and the police officer saying drop the knife...

[fyo]

Except you do see a knife, and the police officer saying drop the knife...

I don't care if he has a rocket launcher. If he isn't an immediate danger to anyone, shooting should never be considered - let alone be considered lawful.

[Tenshot13]

I don't care if he has a rocket launcher. If he isn't an immediate danger to anyone, shooting should never be considered - let alone be considered lawful.

Yeah, it's not like the van he was getting into couldn't be used as a weapon either, not like cops have never been run over before.  It's pretty simple, if you have a weapon and the cops tell you to drop it and you don't, that's on you.  I don't know why you want to defend a rapist so badly.

[fyo]

Yeah, it's not like the van he was getting into couldn't be used as a weapon either, not like cops have never been run over before.  It's pretty simple, if you have a weapon and the cops tell you to drop it and you don't, that's on you.  I don't know why you want to defend a rapist so badly.

I have no desire to defend anyone. If the guy is guilty, we have a criminal justice system for that.

I am opposed to shooting people in the back, though.

(And your "supposition of future events" is just stupid - can't shoot someone for what might occur sometime in the future.)

[Pappy13]

You guys really need to get away from the TVs. Like Maine said it is very suspect these extremists basically just waltzed in. Almost like it was meant to happen.

I don't think you understand what we are getting at. Yes, it was very suspect and the implication is that those responsible for the protection of the Capitol were flawed in their planning. Why do you think that was? The answer is obvious. It's because they didn't perceive a large crowd of trump supporters as dangerous. They didn't have any trouble perceiving a large crowd of BLM supporters as dangerous. What's the clear implication of that? That for them BLM supporters were implicitly dangerous but Trump supporters weren't. So now that we have seen what happened do you think those that planned for the security around the Capitol were CLEARLY biased in their planning for it? If you don't believe they were, then you have your head in the sand and don't want to see the truth. Bias was the clear reason for the difference. That's it. Simple as that. There's no mystery here. Anyone can see it. I certainly didn't need CNN to point it out to me. I would have had the same thought if I watched it on TV or was there in person.

[Dave Gray]

The guard rail item - thousands of people were already beyond the check point (you can see people taking video, encouraging more to join).  The cops on the guard rails were literally outnumbered thousands to one in that situation, they were probably told to stand down.

The selfie item: Again, grossly outnumbered and in a massively combustible situation.  Each one of those officers were literally doing anything they could to keep whatever peace they were able.  If that meant taking a photo, that is what they did.  It doesn't mean they endorsed what was happening.

I'm sorry, Maine, but I can't grant you either of these points.

It would be one thing to step away or withdraw for fear of their own safety.  But taking selfies (or letting people in) is several steps too far.

I will concede that the police were grossly understaffed and what seems like intentionally unprepared for what was coming.  And they were denied help when things got out of control.  The whole thing was an utter failure of policing, both in preparation and execution.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Let’s assume that the capitol police were in fact unable to prevent the breach.   Why once backup arrived were the invaders able to leave rather than be arrested?  This would have prevented the theft of congressional computers that for all we know are currently being analyzed this very moment in Pyongyang, Moscow or Beijing.  The capitol now needs to be completely searched for bugs and could be compromised.

[Spider-Dan]

[fyo]

An interesting analysis based on security experts from US allies that train alongside US agencies for these exact situations:

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-attempted-coup-federal-law-enforcement-capitol-police-2021-1?amp&r=US&IR=T

[Spider-Dan]

Woman with ‘Don’t tread on me’ flag trampled to death at Capitol riot

Newly emerging details from Wednesday’s U.S. Capitol riot in Washington, D.C. that left five people dead included a cruelly ironic one—a woman who died in a crowd stampeding to enter the Capitol was carrying a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag.

According to a news report from CBS 46 in Atlanta, 34-year-old Rosanne Boyland of Kennesaw, Georgia, had traveled to D.C. with a friend, Justin Winchell, to attend President Donald Trump's "Save America" rally.

The two of them went to the Capitol after Trump's speech, following his advice to cheer on the lawmakers supporting his efforts. According to Winchell, Boyland was trampled in the crush of people attempting to breach security to enter the building.

CBS 46 said Winchell noted that a few demonstrators began pushing people. “They basically created a panic, and the police, in turn, push back on them, so people started falling," he explained.

The report then described the crowd as "clashing with police, trampling over one another, pinning Boyland to the ground."

“I put my arm underneath her and was pulling her out and then another guy fell on top of her, and another guy was just walking [on top of her],” Winchell told the reporter. “There were people stacked two [to] three deep…people just crushed.”

---

A tragic and unnecessary loss of life.  But at least on the positive side, it was a valuable lesson for her frie...

Despite the tragedy that cost his friend her life, Winchell didn't blame Trump for what happened when the reporter put that question to him. Instead, he shifted the blame to "antifa" and other instigators.

“She was killed by an incited event and it was not incited by Trump supporters,” Winchell asserted.

...never mind.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Woman with ‘Don’t tread on me’ flag trampled to death at Capitol riot

The Trump administration has generated more headlines that I read and say “that can’t be true that has to be an ‘Onion’ piece” than any other administration.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Just read on facebook that Ashli Babbitt had retweeted a message that “Traitors should be lined up and shot”. 

[stinkfish]

It won’t happen, but I want to see every “good amurican” that breached the Capital executed. Start with the guys who were waving the Confederate flag. Why these “I know my rights!” “Amuricans” weren’t shot like fish in a barrel as soon as they broke through I’ll never understand.