by the Editor, OSA Observer (9.11.2024)
In a few months, the four-year anniversary of January 6th will be upon us. The milestone of 1,000 charged by the DOJ was surpassed on the second anniversary of the protest and the number continues to rise. If you search the DOJ website, you will see that January 6th is characterized by the government as an “attack on the Capitol”. President-Elect Biden, only hours after the event, labeled those who participated as “domestic terrorists” and “insurrectionists” arguably committing libel against one thousand plus Americans who will never be charged and convicted of either domestic terrorism or insurrection. In contrast, the Black Lives Matter protests which caused hundreds of millions in damage to businesses across the U.S. and were organized by trained communists were generally characterized much differently in the media. According to President Biden, they were a “historic movement for justice”.
This leads me to the irregularities I witnessed on January 6th. The first one of note was the size of the crowd at President Trump’s speech. At the time, I estimated it to be the size of a couple football stadiums. In contrast to the large crowd, there was a rather small Capitol Police presence. This tiny force undoubtedly led to thousands pouring onto the Capitol yard and by the time most people arrived, they had no idea it was classified as restricted grounds. If someone wanted to lay a trap, this is how it would be done.
Another irregularity I witnessed was the indiscriminate use of munitions (prior to any warnings like I saw in many of the 2020 BLM protests) against protesters that were not threatening police. I found further evidence of this weeks later upon video review and witnessed Capitol police throwing flashbangs into a static crowd dangerously close to people’s faces. Who authorized such indiscriminate use of flashbangs? It was the indiscriminate use of a variety of munitions and the lack of awareness that the crowd was on restricted grounds that agitated the crowd to a fight or flight response. The result wasn’t good for either the protesters or the police.
Another irregularity was the conscious choice not to use the Capitol loudspeaker system when the crowd was gathering and at the height of the protest. That system is powerful enough to project blocks away from the Capitol Building. This system was not used during a crucial time supposedly threatening the existence of the United States, that is—an insurrection! When was this speaker system used to warn people? Days later it was used when a fire broke out near the Capitol Building during Biden’s inauguration rehearsal. That fire reportedly came from a nearby homeless camp. You can listen to the speaker system in action here. Using the loudspeaker system to warn people about a nearby fire at a homeless camp but not an insurrection—that makes sense, right?
I subsequently spoke to people that live near the Capitol and they confirmed this speaker system can project hundreds of yards out and that it is quite powerful. This begs the question, why were many of the BLM protestors given dispersal orders and riot declaration notices via mobile speaker systems on police vehicles in the summer of 2020 yet the January 6th protesters received no such warnings? This is also exactly what you would do if you wanted to lay a trap.
Another irregularity that I witnessed first-hand were police uncharacteristically acting like they did not have badges of authority. What I specifically mean here is that none I encountered were issuing any orders to the crowd. Given that thousands did not know they were on restricted grounds coupled with indiscriminate munition use, followed by no verbal orders from the police many were left wondering why they were being fired on (and as I mentioned earlier when exposed to certain less-than-lethal munitions you enter fight or flight which causes your higher order cognitive processing to cease).
I personally spoke to two officers that day. One on the outside lawn and one on the inside. The one on the outside was part of a police line, and he responded to me saying they were ordered not to speak with us (that is, the crowd). Neither him nor his fellow officers issued any dispersal order or any other order to the crowd outside. On the inside, the police that were around me also did not give any dispersal orders or any other verbal order within my earshot. Again, this is exactly what you would do if you wanted to lay a trap.
In conclusion, I’m not saying January 6th was a trap. I’m just saying there were many irregularities I witnessed that day compared to what I saw with the summer 2020 BLM protests and how the police handled crowds in those cases. Furthermore, I decided to write about this after witnessing the attempted assassination of former President Trump on live television and seeing the media disingenuously characterize in the headlines what happened in the minutes and hours afterward as anything other than an assassination attempt (even when everyone else knew what it was). They had distorted that event just like they had distorted what happened on January 6th.
Old Stock American Observer 