Yesterday Was Illuminating
Watching the goings on yesterday at the Capitol in DC was something else. With all that happened in 2020, I've come to be a bit familiar with riot cops and the techniques and tactics they use, I was watching in part to see how all the various flavors of law enforcement in DC responded. Their response (or lack thereof) yesterday said lots of things, none of them good or flattering.
For all intents and purposes, they didn't even try to keep them out of the Capitol. More force was employed this past summer to try and keep us from marching in the streets than was utilized yesterday to protect the United States Capitol. I've spent a decent bit of time in DC over the years, I've never been anywhere with a heavier and more overbearing law enforcement presence which makes what went down yesterday seem doubly insane.
The video above is The New OK by the Drive By Truckers, the scenes from Portland should give you some small idea of what this past summer was like. It fucks with me just to watch the video, both from the memories it brings back and from the disparity in responses then and yesterday.
The photo above was taken while I was getting my first taste of tear gas, we'd been standing in the intersection chanting and holding signs (that's the jail behind the cops, nobody was in any hurry to break into there) when they opened up on us with tear gas, pepper balls, and flashbangs. Watching how things went down yesterday, I'm at a loss for an explanation other than that law enforcement plays favorites and responds to differently to some groups than others.
It will be interesting to see how things play out from here. On one hand what went down yesterday seems insane but at the same time they've been working themselves up to doing something like this for a while. Any way you look at it, storming the Capitol was always going to be a futile gesture. It made me think of the Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden back in 1939, I'm curious to see if this turns out to be the last desperate effort of the MAGA movement as well. All I know is that it is going to be interesting.
Y'all be safe out there! Drop me a comment, let me know what you thought of the excitement in DC yesterday.
Regular ass humans took over the Capitol. Even Hollywood knows that one wouldn't fly. Excellent shots as always, Colonel.
Thank you sir. Lol, looking at the photos from the AP wire I'm almost jealous I missed getting any photos.
Remember the way they responded to people who were protesting by dancing in the Jefferson Memorial several years ago? And yes, remember how they responded to BLM? Feds were black-bagging people. And now this?
Something is fishy, although I hesitate to go full tinfoil-hatter.
I do recall. The stuff from this summer is more immediate and visceral for me but there's a long list of other causes that have been treated to aggressive responses, their grievances are usually irrelevant to the police response. They usually seem more worried about maintaining their authority than anything else, which makes their tepid response yesterday even more perplexing.
I'm with you on that. My first question is always 'Who benefits from this' but I haven't figured out the answer to that one yet.
I was in DC a couple days after we invaded Iraq in 2003 and saw how they dealt with the antiwar protesters then, it was like they weren't even trying to do anything yesterday. Law enforcement always seems much politer when protesters are well armed, I would have almost expected this if they'd turned up at the Capitol with their usual array of firepower, but given their apparent lack of firearms yesterday it just makes thing seem even more suspicious.
Your post has been voted as a part of Encouragement program. Keep up the good work!
Try https://ecency.com and Earn Points in every action (being online, posting, commenting, reblog, vote and more).
Boost your earnings, double reward, double fun! 😉
Support Ecency, in our mission:
Ecency: https://ecency.com/proposals/141
Hivesigner: Vote for Proposal