In our effort to make sure no one forgets the violence incited by Donald Trump and encouraged by traitorous shitbags like Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, Lauren Boebert, Mo Brooks, and Andy Biggs (along with others) we will continue to talk about the Qanon Caucus and dangerous rightwing extremists who continue to threaten our democracy.  The NYTimes posted videos today that were presented in court yesterday where more charges were leveled at violent insurrectionists on January 6.  The article and videos can be seen here.  These videos are disturbing where a woman, Rosanne Boyland, was trampled to death in the crush at the West Entrance to the Capitol where major violence occurred.  Now, let’s be frank, here.  She was a protestor, who illegally charged the Capitol with other insurrectionists on that day.  Ironically, she was carrying a “Don’t Tread On Me” flag when she was trampled by the mob she was supporting.  Even though she was breaking the law and threatening Capitol Police, her friend’s cries for help for her are tragic.

We can never forget that day, and we must continue to remind the public that many in Congress, including those from our own state, are complicit in this tragedy that forever will be a stain on our country.

Yesterday the DOJ announced the arrest and charging of 3 insurrectionist leaders who planned and led the attack on the Capitol.  In an extensive 23 page indictment, 3 individuals were named, Thomas Caldwell, Donovan Crowl, and Jessica Watkins, associated with extremist groups including Oathkeepers, Proud Boys, and the Three Percenters.  The charges detailed how they forcibly entered the Capitol, assaulted officers, destroyed property, interfered with Congress, and pursued members of Congress.  One particular chilling part of the indictment describes FB messages Caldwell was receiving from co-conspirators that were actually guiding him down flights of stairs and through tunnels as he pursued fleeing members of Congress.  In messages between other co-conspirators, they even talked about “Paul” who has “the goodies in case things go bad and we need to get heavy.”  And stupidly, they put a lot of this communication and evidence of their lawbreaking up on social media for all to see.  Unbelievable.

It’s becoming very clear that the attack on the Capitol wasn’t just a demonstration that got out of hand.  The attack was planned among conspirators in multiple states in multiple extremist groups.  Their military training, radical rhetoric, and threats made it clear they intended to capture, and even kill members of Congress whom they had decided had somehow committed “treason”.  The evidence is also becoming clear that they had help from the inside of the Capitol.  Who that is, we don’t know yet, but I predict we will.

The feds must continue investigating, arresting, trying and convicting as many of these conspirators.  These extremists are gun nuts who advocate unlicensed and unregulated ownership of all firearms.  Many are convicted felons who are excluded from owning guns, by law.  Even though many of these radicals are not allowed to own guns, they can still get them through private sales and black markets, but the feds must continue pursuing these criminals and enforcing the law.  The Congress in collusion with George W, let the genie out of the bottle in 2004 when they let the Assault Weapons ban expire.  Millions of weapons of war have flooded into the market feeding the violent tendencies of extremists groups that have proliferated all over the country.  The only tool we have remaining is charging, convicting, and jailing thousands of these gun nuts who threaten our democratic republic.

This is at least a start.

Trump just boarded Air Force One bound for Florida to begin his fight to stay out of jail for the rest of his life.  The crowd was sparse, but the Army did give him the 21 gun salute and the band played Hail to the Chief.  During his remarks, he immediately veered off script, which is normal for him.  The written remarks had him wishing Biden and Harris success by name, but he couldn’t bring himself, even now, to even do that.  Instead, he boasted that he stopped the pandemic, took credit for the vaccines, and said he was more popular with veterans than any president in history.  The rest of his speech was his normal self aggrandizing bullshit.  Mercifully, the speech was much shorter than his normal word salad filled diatribes.

His plane is now on the runway.  I hope I never hear his voice again.

Today, Pro Publica published an amazing archive of over 500 videos of the attack on the Capitol posted to Parler by the insurrectionists who horrified all normal people on January 6th.  They are in sequential order and cover the time from noon until 6pm Eastern time.

The level of violence can disturb some, so be warned and cautious sharing this around.  This is significant work and preserves for all time how Americans attacked Americans because they didn’t like the result of a free and fair election and followed a profoundly corrupt man to the Capitol and now to jail for a long time.

You’ll probably recall the videos showing a Metropolitan Police officer being dragged down the steps on the west side of the building and beaten by Trump insurrectionists.  These self-described “patriots” beat this officer with poles of their flags and his own baton.  They stole is ammunition, his radio, and other equipment.  They tased him several times. When they started screaming, “Kill him with his own gun!”, he cried out that he had kids at home.  A few rioters who had not completely lost their souls stepped in and saved his life. He was rescued and sent to the hospital.

The officer’s name is Michael Fanone; he is an undercover narcotics detective who rushed with his partner to the Capitol when he heard about the attack.  For his efforts, he was almost killed by Trump insurrectionists.  He was interviewed today by CNN, and the reporter asked him what he wanted to say to the rioters who saved him from being killed.  His response?

“Thank you, but fuck you for being there.”

El Jefe unilaterally declares this to be the Quote of the Week.

UPDATE 2: The Boston Globe is reporting that Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley and her husband retreated to her office during the attack and staff barricaded and bolted the door.  When she went to her panic button (every office has one) she found that it had been ripped out.  Capitol Hill Police moved her several times to keep her away from the mob.

UPDATE 1:  New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill told constituents on a live stream last night that she witnessed certain representatives actually giving tours of the Capitol on January 5th that she’s now realized were actually reconnaissance for the attack the following day.  She didn’t name them publicly, but is going to make sure that they are brought to justice along with other complicit representatives as well as Trump.  She does know what she’s talking about, being a Navy helicopter pilot and member of flag staff for a decade.  This story just piles more evidence on the emerging narrative that the attack was most certainly carefully planned and executed from the highest levels of the government.

ORIGINAL STORY: Seth Abramson, a NYTimes bestselling author and analyst for several networks, has compiled over 250 reports on last Wednesday and a seriously disturbing pattern is emerging about what events led to an invasion of the Capitol.  The punch line is that this entire sordid episode was planned and executed with the specific intent of disrupting the certification of the Electoral Vote long enough for violent extremists to actually stop the certification.  I won’t post the entire thread here, but you can read it here on Threadreader.  It is required reading to begin to understand what happened on January 6th.

To set the scene, here were the main players:

Trump
Giuliani
Rep. Biggs (R-AZ)
Rep. Gosar (R-AZ)
Rep. Brooks (R-AL)
Sen. Tuberville (R-AL)
Arizona Proud Boys
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall

Assisted by:

Ali Alexander, far-right activist
Roger Stone, friend and advisor to the president
Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign manager
Donald Trump Jr., son of the president

Roger Stone is in the center of this conspiracy (sound familiar?), is close to the Proud Boys, and coordinated the effort.  Alexander originally organized a “Stop the Steal” rally for January 6.  Stone had coined the term.  The event was eventually combined with another event, “Save America” which had been organized by a Trump dark money group.  Since the election, Trump has raised over $300 million from loyalists for “election defense” but much of the money apparently went to Stone and Manafort to organize the insurrection.  Stone recruited Biggs, Gosar, and Brooks in the house to object to the Arizona electoral vote, and got Tuberville to join in the Senate.

Here’s the money line:  THE ONLY REASON THEY WERE TO OBJECT TO THE ELECTORAL VOTE WAS TO DELAY THE CERTIFICATION LONG ENOUGH TO GIVE THE MOB, LED BY THE PROUD BOYS, TIME TO BREACH THE CAPITOL AND STOP THE CERTIFICATION COMPLETELY. 

Here are the Arizona Proud Boys at the Capitol.  They wore the orange hats to distinguish members during the invasion:

That, boys and girls, is chilling.  Seth Abramson has compiled public data that reveals a narrative that the President of the United States, one US Senator, three US Congressmen, a state attorney general, Trump’s insane attorney, two convicted felons, Trump’s shitbag son, and a violent far right group of extremists hatched a plan IN THE WHITE HOUSE to actually overturn a free and fair election, overthrow the US government, and hand it to Donald Trump, Dictator.  Apparently, idiots like Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley were unwitting accomplices to the overthrow plot just trying to stay on the Crazy Train to 2024.

Read Abramson’s thread.  It will give you cold chills about how close the United States government actually came to collapsing on Wednesday, January 6, 2021.