Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

FBI, Homeland Security Int. Didn’t Issue Risk Assessment for ProTrump Protests

wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 136 posts

Re: FBI, Homeland Security Int. Didn’t Issue Risk Assessment for ProTrump Protests

#81

Post by Ericson2314 »

PHGamer wrote: post #60
Ericson2314 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are white people and the cops support their cause . The cops are racist, but they also wouldn't be this friendly had a white leftist protest escalated.

oh please. plenty of cops bent the knee for the BLM protests and stood by as stuff happened. some cops want to crack heads, some cops think attacking the mob will make things worse.

You know the bolling pin machine? the one that picks up the down pins and sweeps the the rest? Go pick up your good apples and then sweep out the rest.

To continue with the analogies, when the task is cleaning a mess like the Augean stables, the usual methods won't do.

Re: FBI, Homeland Security Int. Didn’t Issue Risk Assessment for ProTrump Protests

#82

Post by DennisP »

avs733 wrote: post #6

Let’s be blunt... because white people. This is the same thing that happened in Charlottesville and the after action review of Charlottesville made that clear. No one listened. The need here isn’t more police or more training or more gear. Any of those things would just be used to harm people of color and low income communities. What needs to happen is people stop being taken in by bad faith arguments about “free spe…

I think race is a big part of it but it's not just that. Climate protests have a lot of white people and they get roughed up too.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/climate/capitol-riots-arr...

Re: FBI, Homeland Security Int. Didn’t Issue Risk Assessment for ProTrump Protests

#83

Post by colejohnson66 »

guscost wrote: post #44
admiralspoo wrote: post #26

The DC mayor didn't want any federal assistance https://thefederalist.com/2021/01/06/dc-mayor-told-federal-l...

AP source will get fewer downvotes: https://apnews.com/article/capitol-police-reject-federal-hel...

Capitol Police are federal, not DC police

Re: FBI, Homeland Security Int. Didn’t Issue Risk Assessment for ProTrump Protests

#84

Post by notabee »

guscost wrote: post #36

But the police also rejected offers of federal help: https://apnews.com/article/capitol-police-reject-federal-hel... Propaganda war to escape the blame, DC municipality against feds? Something else?

Capitol police != DC Metro police.

Re: FBI, Homeland Security Int. Didn’t Issue Risk Assessment for ProTrump Protests

#85

Post by disgrunt »

wwright wrote: post #24
logicslave wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you see the riots this summer? Probably over 20 police were shot.

Given that there were literally millions of protestors on the streets over the summer, 20 is a pretty tiny number. Multiple people have already died from the DC attacks, just in two days in one city, with a much smaller number of people. That’s just comparing the number of deaths, and putting aside that one was a massive distributed protest of government brutality and the other was an attempted coup.

So five Trump supporters are killed and that's not police brutality? I just want to make sure I got this narrative straight.

Re: FBI, Homeland Security Int. Didn’t Issue Risk Assessment for ProTrump Protests

#86

Post by Animats »

guscost wrote: post #36

But the police also rejected offers of federal help: https://apnews.com/article/capitol-police-reject-federal-hel... Propaganda war to escape the blame, DC municipality against feds? Something else?

Tough call. Which side would Federal help, which reports to Trump, been on? The Capitol Police work for Congress, not the Executive Branch, by the way.

There were a number of other possible bad outcomes. One was a huge Federal presence of armed troops in the House chamber during the vote. Trump was trying desperately to influence or delay the vote.[1] Having armed soldiers in body armor standing over Congress would have emboldened his people to stall or interfere.

Anyway, that's just speculation now.

[1] https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/08/politics/mike-lee-tommy-tuber...

Re: FBI, Homeland Security Int. Didn’t Issue Risk Assessment for ProTrump Protests

#87

Post by Ericson2314 »

mistermann wrote: post #50
Ericson2314 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes! The police are overrun with right wingers. With competent policing, this would have been just an ordinary protest. Everyone needs to ignore the mob and look at the cops. That's where the story is.

The right wing racist meme is one possible explanation, but not the only one. I say let's see if any journalists have any curiosity and do some investigation, or if we instead just get a coordinated full court press of the right wing racist narrative.

Right now the full court press, if any, is the centrists agape at trumpists and bemoaning the collapse of norms. I see a lot of "gross hoi polloi" vs "those decent bipartisans who will restore the good old times".

That's not investigating the cops either. That's self-serving uncritical thinking looking at the outcome and ignoring what we know about the inputs.

Re: FBI, Homeland Security Int. Didn’t Issue Risk Assessment for ProTrump Protests

#88

Post by neogodless »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #67
admiralspoo wrote: post #26

The DC mayor didn't want any federal assistance https://thefederalist.com/2021/01/06/dc-mayor-told-federal-l...

I’m confused about this and hope others can explain. My understanding is that the capital is not the jurisdiction of DC police but rather the Capitol police which is under the control of Congress. Am I misinformed about that?

No, you are correct. But the Capitol is in DC, and crowds outside the Capitol are in DC. I'd have to see a map to be certain, but I would imagine for any large gathering, sufficient forces may be needed the Capitol and in surrounding areas.

To your point, though:

> D.C. Metropolitan Police Department would be the lead agency and would coordinate with the Capitol Police, the U.S. Park Police and the U.S. Secret Service.

It appears the Mayor had been requesting assistance from federal agencies in the week leading up to ceremony, but declined additional assistance greater than a force of 340[0], likely to avoid having images like this one[1] giving the impression of military being involved in the election process.

[0]https://www.npr.org/sections/congress-electoral-college-tall...

[1]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErEvfgnXAAA2kEc.jpg

Re: FBI, Homeland Security Int. Didn’t Issue Risk Assessment for ProTrump Protests

#89

Post by disgrunt »

Ericson2314 wrote: post #34
chrissnell wrote: post #20

A police officer friend with 20 years of crowd control experience told me that the preparations looked criminally negligent. I believe that this was done on purpose with full knowledge that these events were likely to occur. If crowd control and security are your job, there are only two explanations: you are horrible at your job, or, you did this on purpose with bad intentions.

Yes! The police are overrun with right wingers. With competent policing, this would have been just an ordinary protest. Everyone needs to ignore the mob and look at the cops. That's where the story is.

Let's go with that theory. Did these right wing cops help the right wing cause by allowing this incident to get out of hand?

Re: FBI, Homeland Security Int. Didn’t Issue Risk Assessment for ProTrump Protests

#90

Post by jariel »

rootusrootus wrote: post #70
jariel wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Odd, because the Mayor of DC (Black Female) very clearly refused help from the feds. "Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser told federal law enforcement to stand down just one day before a mob of Trump supporters breached the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, smashing windows, entering the chambers, and forcing lawmakers and congressional staff inside into lockdown. “To be clear, the District of Columbia is not requesting ot…

Does the federal government really rely that much on the DC mayor's opinion when it comes to protecting federal buildings, especially the seat of government? That's fascinating. I realize the relationship between the federal government and DC is nontraditional, so I probably just don't understand the dynamics.

The streets where the rally took place, and the streets in front of WH, Capitol building are her turf.

There were huge protests there this summer, so she knows the story.

It just seems odd and that there's not more discussion specifically about this what with a lot of blame and finger pointing going on.

Post reply on HN