The Expected Plateau in New January 6 Defendants became a Stream of New Assault Suspects

Two weeks ago, I did a post pointing out that the majority of the people who had assaulted cops on January 6 remained at large. At the time, I had identified 26 January 6 defendants charged with assault.

It remains true that most people who assaulted cops have not been arrested. Around 139 cops were assaulted that day, and thus far DOJ has announced the arrest of not much more than 43 people on assault charges, as noted in the list below. Moreover, the people who assaulted key known victims like Michael Fanone and (to the extent that determining this will be possible) Brian Sicknick remain unidentified. Plus, around 192 of the BOLO posters released by the FBI asking for help locating key suspects identified from film are for those suspected of assaulting police; about 29 people with BOLOs who’ve been arrested were suspected of assaults on cops (not all of them were charged with assault, though).

That said, as time has gone on, a great percentage of people the government arrests seem to be assault defendants (and, in some cases, the government has charged people who were arrested for trespassing in early days with assault). Here’s my list which, as of February 26, is 43 people.

  1. Daniel Page Adams, whose arrest affidavit describes engaging in a “direct struggle with [unnamed] law enforcement officers” (his cousin, Cody Connell, described the exchange as a “civil war”). Tip SM
  2. Zachary Alam, who pushed cops around as he was trying to break into the Speaker’s Lobby. BOLO 79
  3. Wilmar Alvarado, who pushed cops in the mob trying to get in from the West Terrace. BOLO 65
  4. John Anderson, who after taking two riot shields from cops, needed their assistance after getting maced.
  5. David Blair, who poked a cop with a lacrosse stick with a Confederate flag attached. Onsite arrest
  6. Daniel Caldwell, who was filmed describing macing 15 cops. SM
  7. Matthew Caspel, who was filmed charging the National Guard. Tip SM
  8. William Chrestman, who is accused of threatening a cop as Proud Boys pushed their way past the original line of defense (charged with 18 USC 115). NM
  9. Luke Coffee, who was videotaped beating several cops with a crutch. (Tip SM and BOLO 108)
  10. Christian Cortez, who yelled at cops behind a door.
  11. Matthew Council, who was arresting for shoving cops the day of the riot.
  12. Bruno Cua, who was filmed shoving a cop to be able to get into the Senate. Tip LE
  13. Nathan DeGrave, whom security cameras caught threatening to fight cops. Network Sandlin
  14. Daniel Egdvedt, a large man who took swipes and grabbed at several officers as they tried to remove him from the Capitol. BOLO 76
  15. Scott Fairlamb, who was caught in multiple videos shoving and punching officers (one who whom is identified but not named); Cori Bush has said she was threatened by him last summer. Tips, including SM
  16. Kyle Fitzsimons, who charged officers guarding the doorway of the Capitol. BOLO 139
  17. Michael Foy, a former Marine who was caught on multiple videos beating multiple cops with a hockey stick. Tip SM
  18. Robert Giswein, who appears to have ties to the Proud Boys and used a bat to beat cops. NM
  19. Vitali Gossjankowski, who was interviewed about whether he had tased MPD officer Michael Fanone, causing a heart attack; instead he was charged with assaulting CPD officer MM (BOLO 98 — with a second one mentioned)
  20. Alex Harkrider, who after being filmed fighting with police at the door of the Capitol, posted a picture with a crowbar labeled, “weapon;” he was charged with abetting Ryan Nichols’ assault. Tip SM
  21. Richard Harris
  22. Albuquerque Cosper Head, accused of assaulting Michael Fanone.
  23. Emanuel Jackson, whom videos caught punching one officer, and others show beating multiple officers with a metal baseball bat. BOLO 31
  24. Shane Jenkins, alleged to have used a crowbar to break in a window, later threw things including a pole, a desk drawer, and a flagpole at cops.
  25. Douglas Jensen, the QAnon who chased Officer Goodman up the stairs, got charged with resisting him. NM, BOLO 10
  26. Taylor Johnatakis, charged with 111.
  27. Paul Johnson, who carried a bullhorn and was in the initial assault from the west side with Ryan Samsel. BOLO 49
  28. Chad Jones, who used a Trump flag to break the glass in the Speaker’s Lobby door just before Ashli Babbitt was shot and may have intimidated three officers who were pursuing that group. Tip NM
  29. David Judd, who threw a firecracker at cops in the tunnel. Tip and BOLO 137
  30. Julian Elie Khater, who allegedly sprayed Brian Sicknick and two others with very powerful bear spray. BOLO 190
  31. Freddie Klein, the State Department employee who fought with three different officers while trying to break through police lines. BOLO 136
  32. Edward Jacob Lang, who identified himself in a screen cap of a violent mob attacking cops and who was filmed slamming a riot shield into police and later fighting them with a red baseball bat. Tip SM
  33. Mark Jefferson Leffingwell, whom a Capitol Police officer described in an affidavit punching him. Onsite arrest
  34. Joshua Lollar, who described fighting cops and was caught in pictures showing himself in the front lines confronting cops. Tip SM
  35. Michael Lopatic, who allegedly assaulted some cops with Stager and Sabol, then took a BWC to hide the assault. BOLO 133
  36. Clifford Mackrell, who attempted to strip an officer’s gas mask after someone else sprayed bear spray. BOLO 124
  37. Patrick Edward McCaughey III, who was filmed crushing MPD Officer Daniel Hodges in one of the doors to the Capitol. BOLO 62
  38. Jeffrey McKellop, a former Special Forces guy accused of assaulting 4 cops, including one by using a flagpole as a spear. BOLO 215
  39. Jonathan Mellis, who used some kind of stick to try to jab and beat police. Tip SM
  40. Garret Miller, who pushed back at cops and then threatened both AOC and the cop who killed Ashli Babbit. Tip LE
  41. Matthew Ryan Miller, who released fire extinguisher in close quarters. Tip SM
  42. Jordan Mink, who used a pole to resist the police.
  43. Aaron Mostofsky, possibly for stripping a cop of his or her armored vest and riot shield. NM
  44. Clayton Mullins, alleged to be part of the mob that assaulted AW and two other police. Tip
  45. Ryan Nichols, who was filmed wielding a crowbar and yelling, “This is not a peaceful protest,” then spraying pepper spray against police trying to prevent entry to the Capitol. Tip SM
  46. Jose Padilla, who shoved cops at a barricade, then helped use a Donald Trump sign as a battering ram against them. Tip SM
  47. Dominic Pezzola, a Proud Boy who stole a shield from cops. NM (BOLO 43)
  48. Mark Ponder, filmed repeatedly attacking cops with poles.
  49. Christopher Quaglin, accused of assaulting cops both at the initial breach of the barriers and later in the Lower West Terrace.
  50. Daniel Rodriguez, whom videos appear to show tasing Michael Fanone. Sedition Hunter-based reporting
  51. Jeffrey Sabol, helped drag a cop from the Capitol and beat him while prone. LE arrest (erratic driving)
  52. Ryan Samsel, who set off the riot by giving a cop a concussion; he appears to have coordinated with Joe Biggs. BOLO 51 (though not IDed by BOLO)
  53. Salvador Sandoval, Jr, who went to the insurrection with his mother and shoved some cops.
  54. Robert Sanford, who was filmed hitting Capitol Police Officer William Young on the head with a fire extinguisher. Tip NM
  55. Ronald Sandlin, who tried to wrestle cops to keep the door to the Senate open. MPD tip
  56. Troy Sargent, who appears to have punched some cops holding a line. Tip SM
  57. Peter Schwartz, a felon who maced several cops. Tip NM (BOLO 120)
  58. Christian Secor, a UCLA self-described fascist who helped shove through some cops to break into the Capitol and then sat in the Senate chamber. Tip NM
  59. Barton Wade Shively, who pushed and shoved some police trying to get into the Capitol, punched another, then struck one of those same cops later and kicked another. BOLO 55
  60. Thomas Sibick, accused of being among a group of men who attacked Michael Fanone and stole his badge.
  61. Peter Francis Stager, who was involved in beating a prone cop with a flagpole. Tip SM
  62. Ezekial Stecher, whom videos showed pushing in the Lower West Tunnel.
  63. Tristan Stevens, who fought cops with a shield and baton. Video
  64. Isaac Sturgeon, who is accused of using a barricade to attack some officers.
  65. George Pierre Tanios, who allegedly conspired with Julian Khater to attack Brian Sicknick and two other cops. BOLO 254
  66. Thomas Webster, who attacked a cop with a flagpole (BOLO 145)
  67. Wade Whitten, accused of dragging AW down the steps of the Capitol and hitting him with a crutch (BOLO 130)
  68. Christopher Worrell, a Proud Boy who apparently sprayed pepper spray at a line of police.
  69. Kyle Young, accused of attacking Michael Fanone and another officer, and stealing Fanone’s weapon.
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81 replies
  1. bg says:

    Not wanting to disrupt the Bannon thread, leaving this here. One of the noticeable moments in the whip up to the riot was a short film projected to the crowd. Having watched his film Generation Zero back some years when he first came to my view, the riot film had his fingerprints all over it. I don’t know if it was from one of his recent productions about Trump or if it was made explicitly for the riot. But Bannon was definitely in on that too. I hope we see more about this as the investigation rolls on and the underwriters and producers are named.

    • DaveC says:

      For anyone as ignorant as me, Wikipedia entry on Generation Zero:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Zero
      From the article:
      “the idea that every 80 years American history has been marked by a crisis, or ‘fourth turning’, that destroyed an old order and created a new one”. Bannon, Kaiser states, was “very familiar with Strauss and Howe’s theory of crisis, and has been thinking about how to use it to achieve particular goals for quite a while.”

      • MB says:

        An odd footnote to this is that William Strauss was the founder of the satirical political performance group The Capitol Steps. He founded TCS while working as an aide to Sen. Charles Percy. That he also co-authored a book that impressed Steve Bannon enough to make a film based on his interpretations of his political theories, well…I don’t know what to make of that. An odd historical coincidence. At least Strauss had a sense of humor.

        • Ginevra diBenci says:

          What a surprise to see Senator Percy mentioned here! After my dad got home from Korea and finished college, he worked for Percy at Bell & Howell, where he (my father) designed the camera Abe Zapruder used to film the Kennedy assassination. (This would later necessitate depositions, etc., for the Warren Commission.) Chuck Percy was not only a good boss, in my parents’ view, but a perfect example of a Republican liberal. I have often wondered what he would make of the wreckage today.

          • MB says:

            Ahh…the “liberal republican” a quaint concept these days! Percy, Nelson Rockefeller, John Anderson, Mark Hatfield, Jacob Javitz, Edward Brooke were all members of that club. I suppose Susan Collins is the last remaining federal representative of that crowd though I would call her an LRINO. Maybe Mitt Romney when he was Gov. of Massachusetts, but no longer. The Tea Party killed them off pretty much, in my estimation, though you still have people like Gov. Hogan of MD on the state level…

          • dilbert dogbert says:

            Chuck got on the wrong side of Israel as I remember. That was back in the days of brave little Israel.

            • posaune says:

              I always felt bad for the Percy family when their daughter was killed. Later, her twin Sharon married Jay Rockefeller.

      • earthworm says:

        dave c:
        i went to the link and was struck by Bannon’s judgement about babyboomers — “The film describes the 1960s as a time in which young adults turned away from their parents’ values, saying they turned their backs on history. The film refers to “seasons of history” and concludes that the damage which was initiated in the 1960s, when young baby boomers turned away from their parents’ values, will be undone via war or other great crisis.”

        what Bannon’s opinion, or “analysis,” ignores, is the assassinations of JFK, MLK, and RFK and their effect upon an entire generation.

        our country is still struggling with THAT aftermath.

        • Ginevra diBenci says:

          Bannon relies on facile stereotypes to reel in gullible younger audiences, feeding them a myth he knows is false. When Valerie Percy was murdered in September 1966 less than two miles from my family (albeit leagues in wealth and status), barely two months had passed since Richard Speck killed eight nurses in Chicago, not far south. Even before the 1968 assassinations that obliterated, for me at least, any vestiges of 60s buzz (which I acquired via the pages of Life magazine), that period served as a baptism in a bloodbath. Maybe I was younger than the boomers Bannon’s talking about; others on this site can attest to whether he speaks for them.

  2. Ed Walker says:

    It infuriated me to watch the rioters peacefully walk out of the Capitol. Maybe it was a good decision to let that happen; and not to set up arrest rings at a distance from the building.

    But it would have been easy to set up a camera to take pics of them as they left. Why didn’t that happen?

    • Norskeflamthrower says:

      “Why didn’t that happen?”

      Indeed, why not, but I think most of us around here know why not. Some of us have been warning for a long time that a significant number of civil police from local cops, to sheriffs to federal law enforcement are MAGAbots whose leaders are connected up the political food chain. We are 21 months from an off-year election and if we don’t do something in the next 12 months to crush those who participated in the coup January 6th and all those up the chain into elected offices who organized it…well, this is a long way from over.

      • John B. says:

        Norskeflamethrower, you are correct of course. I am an elected official in a small town in swva which is part of the larger county and I inquired of the local sheriff if he knew whether ore not any of his deputies were part of the rally and/or the insurrection. He wouldn’t reply to what seemed to be perfectly logical questions and concerns. When the mayor of our town got on board he replied but basically said I don’t know and I don’t intend to find out. When all this got reported in the local paper many folks said to me thank you for your questions but many people were outraged that I would ask such questions of such a fine man and his department. No one really wants to know what % of our police departments personnel are members of or sympathizers with white supremacists groups like the 3 percenters, proud boys, oath keepers or other neo nazi organizations. The local republicans have definitely bought into the big lies of election theft, antifa and equalization of 1/6 with the BLM civil rights movement. It’s an article of faith for them.

        • Norskeflamthrower says:

          Everyone who reads this thread needs to read your comment and understand what it means. I live in western Wisconsin just across the river from the Twin Cities. I’m a Minnesota native and I’ve lived here for 36 years, so as far as the natives are concerned I’m just visiting. My wife is a 3rd generation native of this town so I’m grandfathered in, a citizen by marriage so ta speak. This little burg is representative of the exurban areas outside population centers all over this state. A governor came from this little town and recently the old upper-middle class families that my deceased father-in-law referred to as the “city fathers” have been dying off or moving on. These folks used to run this little city with a sense of noblesse oblige. They believed in a stable, educated work force and thus built and supported a top rate school system and broad tax base. Their demise over the last 25 years left a political vacuum that has been quickly filled by forces whose roots are outside the community. The history of this area includes neo-nazi militias that go way back. The police forces and the county sheriffs are and have been all politically connected and more than tolerant of these folks as was exhibited in the response or lack of response this last election when the thugs succeeded in driving out the local Democratic Party office after the cops could not (read would not) investigate the intimidation and threats. This is happening all over Wisconsin and will not stop until the federal government takes down ALL the Nazis that attacked the government January 6th.

          • timmer says:

            Norske…now in Utah, I grew up in River Falls family is originally New Rich. (home of Knowles)

    • graham firchlis says:

      Wrote about this elsewhere. My understanding is that all top congressional leadership agreed the most important thing was tp reassemble Congress as rapidly as possible. Leaders so directed the sergeants at arms, who passed it to the Capitol Police Chief who passed it down the line: clear out the rioters without delay, secure the entrances and sweep for explosives. That’s what they did. Once the rioters were expelled it was all hands for the explosives sweep. There wad no one available to set up pens or process

      Why not set up cameras? No need. The Capitol is rife with security cameras, all around outside and throughout the public areas, some visible and some concealed. The cops had bodycams, and the rioters took loads of photos themselves. DOJ are plowing through all available, including use of facial recognition. It takes time.

      According to cbs, 540 files on identified individuals have been opened. Over 300 arrest warrents have been issued, and over 280 arrested including 50 or so on scene.

      Big mess and considering, the followup is moving right along.

      A few bad apples, perhaps, but there is no evidence to even suggest the cops on the scene did anything other than follow orders. Nor is there evidence of conspiracy among the brass, just incompetence.

      There are traitors about, but let’s don’t start seeing them everywhere. Starting to sound like McCarthy Red Scare days. Deep breath, let the professionals do thier jobs. This is not Weimar Germany, and we are not doomed.

      • PeterS says:

        Some good sense there.

        Although without disputing what you said, I recognize that the Big Lie became part of the mainstream (thanks to Fox and a certain former president, plus attendant toads) and so doubts about Biden’s legitimacy did and will exist throughout society. A very big problem.

        • jsrtheta says:

          Which is why the lawsuits brought by Dominion and Smartmatic are extremely important: They can bring out facts criminal prosecutions can’t. Lindell, Giuliani and the rest of the Insurrection Brigade can be deposed.

          Stock up on popcorn.

      • Ginevra diBenci says:

        graham, what about the CPD officers recently suspended/under investigation?
        And regarding Dr. EW’s list, where are the women?

  3. CCM says:

    In his 1/6 speech DT stated he was going to storm the Capitol with the insurgents. In the end he chose not to and returned to the White House. It is not clear why he chose not to; chickened out, secret service intervened, or it was a lie to amp people up. As a thought experiment have been wondering what DT joining the insurrectionist would have looked like. The Capitol police and national guard would have likely deferred to him, the insurrectionist would have been more violent, and he likely could have held the Capitol. So, we need to round every last one up, including the ringleader DT and employ the full force of the law.

    • skua says:

      There is the plot to a ghastly movie.
      Trump, with 3000 righteous trumpists right behind him walk into the Capitol and get to the doors of the Senate while the counting is in progress, Trump (with mob toilet-papering) enters and says, “The People and I ….

      • subtropolis says:

        In fact, one of the Capitol Police officers stated that they were taken by surprise in part because they thought that Trump was going to arrive with the mob.

        I do not know where this officer had been stationed, though. It’s clear that the Proud Boys arrived well before the rest of the mob, so this explanation is a bit odd. If any of the police who first encountered the PBs believed that Trump was on his way, then one would expect that there would have been frantic communications with the Secret Service.

        • P J Evans says:

          You would expect the Secret Service to alert the Capitol Police and the MPD before he moved, because traffic and crowd control are a necessity.

          • ducktree says:

            Unless he had also ordered up a golf cart to haul his ample self down Pennsylvania Avenue, the suggestion that he would march – let alone stroll – to the Capitol building is nothing more than balloon juice.

    • PeterS says:

      No he didn’t state he was “going to storm the Capitol” with the insurgents. And yes he lied about walking with them to the Capitol (when did he ever do anything courageous?).

      “So, we need to round every last one up, including the ringleader DT”. What, because of a thought experiment?

      What happened on 6 January was quite terrible enough without people making shit up.

      • CCM says:

        Yes,because of a thought experiment, because he is still at large with millions of followers. What will he do next? He is planning on running in 2024 and stands a good chance of being the republican nonimee. If he loses again, what then? The law serves a deterrent. We round them up because we are a society of laws. “I will be right there with you,” is pretty plain in its meaning.
        Thought experiments, gaming out, planning for future possibilities is only rational.

        • harpie says:

          Just this week Trump re: SCOTUS decision on his tax returns:

          February 22, 2021
          Statement on the Continuing Political Persecution of President Donald J. Trump
          […] The Supreme Court never should have let this “fishing expedition” happen, but they did. This is something which has never happened to a President before, it is all Democrat-inspired in a totally Democrat location, New York City and State, completely controlled and dominated by a heavily reported enemy of mine, Governor Andrew Cuomo. These are attacks by Democrats willing to do anything to stop the almost 75 million people (the most votes, by far, ever gotten by a sitting president) who voted for me in the election – – an election which many people, and experts, feel that I won. I agree! […]

          https://twitter.com/Acosta/status/1363927173489393668
          2:02 PM · Feb 22, 2021 [screenshot]

          • P J Evans says:

            He’ll be proclaiming his innocence right up until the gate greeter (RBG, I hope!) on the other side pulls the handle on the trap door to the other destination.

    • Norskeflamthrower says:

      “I will be right there with you” and he was from the comfort of the Oval Office! He did what he said he was gunna do and there is no arguing or rhetorical nit-picking about it.

    • Tom says:

      I can’t find the story now but I recall reading an account that claimed Trump did intend to accompany his mob to the Capitol but was talked out of doing so by his aides. If that’s true, I don’t think he would have required much persuading.

      I think the fact that Trump DIDN’T march on the Capitol speaks to his intent and state of mind at the time. He knew there was going to be violence and didn’t want to be there when it happened. The same applies to Don Jr., Rudy G., and any of the other speakers that day who fired up the mob with speechifying lies and then took a powder when crunch time arrived. Trump didn’t want to be directly associated and identified with mob violence, although he was all too willing to accept any beneficial fallout from it that came his way.

      I also think that Trump didn’t want to be associated with failure. He knew he couldn’t count on Mike Pence to subvert the electoral count, and he must have thought there was a good chance his mob would be repelled by Capitol security forces if it became violent. Far better to have some distance and semblance of plausible deniability by watching events on TV from the safety of the White House than be present at the scene of his final failed ignominious attempt to steal the election.

      • Rayne says:

        I think the “talked out of doing so by his aides” is bullshit, unless there was a golf cart on standby to carry his flabby ass. He can’t walk that far.

        Trump doesn’t like dirty work. He’s always been a slacker, hasn’t lifted a finger for years to do anything except move food to his mouth, play shitty golf, and touch a sex worker. There’s no way he’d be on site where real work was being done — he’d leave it to the hoi polloi.

        • P J Evans says:

          He thinks that’s how bosses are supposed to do it: tell the underlings what you want, and expect them to do it by whatever means possible. If that involves breaking the law – well, they’re expendable. If they decide to talk, they’re disloyal and can be replaced. It keeps him clean (he thinks).

        • Manwen says:

          I read a similar story, also cannot recall where. The story I read implied that he had discussed it days before, but the Secret Service talked him out of it. I am sure that if the secret service told him he would be in danger and they could not protect him, the man who talks loudly and carries a small stick would have never put himself at risk. He reserves the right to put others at risk for him, not himself for them.

      • Terry Mroczek says:

        He didn’t march with mob to the Capitol for 2 reasons: #1 It gave him plausible deniability when the violence he wanted broke out and #2 It would have mussed his hair.

      • Tracy Lynn says:

        This gives the former guy too much credit for thinking through stuff. Rather, I believe he likes keeping his mob at an arm’s distance, meaning that he implied he would go with them to the Capitol, but he had no intention of doing so. The mob heard what they thought they heard, but it wasn’t what he meant or intended.

    • subtropolis says:

      He lied, of course. But he said that he was going to march with them, not “storm” the Capitol. Why am I convinced that he lied? Because he’s a lazy bum. There’s no damned way that he was going to walk that far.

      In any case, he’s a damned liar and life-long gaslighter. Anyone who takes him at his word about anything at all has not been paying enough attention.

    • BroD says:

      “In the end he chose not to and returned to the White House.”
      Because he’s chicken-shit or it was bull-shit–or both. And I find it stunning that his macho followers have given him a pass on that–until they call him out, they should just shut up.

      • Chris.EL says:

        dear people, Trump is above-all — a narcissist, a sadist, and a coward.

        There is — really — absolutely nothing we can ever do to change that!!!

        Evidently the Republican party thought they could use him, control him for their means to some end, and they were wrong; but perhaps now they are content to ride on this out of control rollercoaster, in the last car, until it derails?

        Fools. Trump will destroy you. If things are not to his liking he will take his base and leave Republican party in the dirt — like an imploded building.

        Trump didn’t accompany the mob to the Capitol because he’s a fearful coward and a liar. Look at the way he retreated to the White House bunker after deploying tear gas for his Bible photo op!

  4. Rayne says:

    That last one, Thomas Webster, was arrested Tuesday; he’d been characterized as the “eye gouger” having caused permanent eye damage to the CPD officer he attacked.

    What’s particularly worrisome: he’s a retired NYPD cop; his FBI photos had been distributed widely. Yet it took seven weeks before he was arrested — NYPD members, current and retired, didn’t pipe up and own him.

    NYPD has some serious problems, as does the military since Webster is yet another example of a radicalized veteran. At least I feel some confidence in the current SecDef addressing racism and radicalization among active duty military. I have no such confidence about NYPD.

    • ApacheTrout says:

      That’s a great point, Rayne. I think it also extends to the circles of friends in fundamentalist churches.

      I’ve been looking for a face in the crowd. When we first met, he was wearing a baseball cap with the 13 stars wreath and ‘We The People.’ Hints at disgust with taxes and government filtered throughout his word as we discussed contract terms. I know he’s a minister at an evangelical church and I pray he was not down there, but it would not surprise me.

      • Rayne says:

        This is a measure of our freedom, sadly. If this was China you can bet every single person who trekked onto the Capitol complex would already have been identified because of the deep and pervasive nature of their social tracking system. But we’re having to comb through blurry photos and videos posted randomly all over the place to assist our law enforcement because we don’t have a comprehensive digital panopticon yet.

        I hope if that minister was at the event that he’s identified. He has some serious conflicts which should be dealt with if he couldn’t keep his politics out of his ministry.

        • P J Evans says:

          A lot of the fundy evangelical/pentecostal ministers are like that, unfortunately. Authoritarian followers, and they found their new deity in Trmp. Also at least some of the RC hierarchy, which has become pretty conservative in the US thanks to the previous couple of popes.

        • Ginevra diBenci says:

          Rayne, I’ve never attended an evangelical church in Michigan (the Episcopal congregation in northwestern LP that my grandparents used to attend has struggled to resist right-wing views). But in Tennessee and North Carolina, where I have, you would be hard pressed to find a pastor who has *not* made politics, specifically GOP politics, an explicit part of their message. (I am talking about mostly White Protestant congregations that identify as conservative; Black evangelical churches are a different story, and Catholic congregations seem to exist on a broad spectrum.) I have friends who have told me they’re afraid to vote for Democrats because they will either be shunned for it or have to lie.

          • MB says:

            I have a long-time liberal Democratic friend from California who moved to Wyoming several years ago. After her first 2-3 years there, she decided it would be best to register as a Republican. She hasn’t changed her views at all – this is camouflage and avoidance of needless conflict speaking here…

            • P J Evans says:

              There’s a lot of pressure to conform to local standards. I have to say that in the mid-90s, when I was living in west Texas, it was still possible to be a Democrat there; people didn’t ask so much. But the Dems and the Rs had primaries in different locations, so they could certainly tell from that.

            • Ginevra diBenci says:

              It’s not so much that you’ll be asked how you voted/intend to vote. It’s more a matter of social interaction premised on the assumption that you toed the line, that you will of course join in the attacks on “the communists.” If you don’t, you will be known as “eccentric” (assuming you’re one of them; if you’re not, they’ll just bless your little heart and render you invisible).

  5. earlofhuntingdon says:

    In a surprising own goal, Biden admin considers charging reporters $170 per White House visit to cover the cost of testing them for Covid. The bad PR would be hard to replicate by design. Worse, it signals – but does not dictate – a disastrous right turn for their health care, social equity, and budget priorities.

    Not every news medium has the resources of Faux Noise and the NYT. Besides, covering these costs should be a routine public health care cost, as it should be a routine cost of doing the public’s business publicly.

    https://www.rawstory.com/biden-white-house-test/

  6. may says:

    ever heard of “Operation Paperclip”?

    post WW2 protection and recruitment of war criminals deemed useful in postwar industry.

    maybe it’s just my nasty suspicious mind…..maybe not, just a bridge too far.

  7. John Paul Jones says:

    Christopher Simpson has a good book on this, called Blowback, about the USG’s recruitment of Nazis. He has a couple of others covering related areas of the history of the late 1940s-early 1950s.

  8. Chris.EL says:

    Some interesting off-topic curiosities! From twitter

    “Juha Keskinen@MacFinn44”
    2/26/2021
    Replying to
    @MacFinn44 and @FBIWFO
    “Also, Oleg Deripaska’s other private jet M-UGIC made an unexplained flight to Morristown, nearest airport to #Trump’s Bedminster golf club, 9/18-9/20/17. What was a sanctioned Russian oligarch’s jet doing there two days?”
    #TrumpCrimeFamily ”

    ~~~~~~~~

    “SFrederick
    @BlueVoter4All
    2/26/2021
    Replying to
    @CheriJacobus
    “CPAC’s stage is literally in the shape of a Nazi/SS insignia.
    That’s too big of a coincidence to be an accident.
    I did Nazi that coming.”
    ~~~~
    𝖍𝖆𝖓 𝖇𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖒𝖆𝖓
    @HannibalBateman
    Replying to
    @RexChapman
    Literal WTF
    1:40 PM · Feb 26, 2021·Twitter for iPhone

    (𝖍𝖆𝖓 𝖇𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖒𝖆𝖓
    @HannibalBateman has the image of the stage)

  9. newbroom says:

    Non violent protests usually don’t involve axe handles. It’s the violence that the Right Wing has been threatening via the 1st and 2nd amendments since the optic orange wrecking ball announced. (and for yrs before, but especially once *he took over the gop and let the dawgs out..)
    The ‘south’ and white identifying Americans seem to have a hardened hate as their core motivation. Hate rallies for 5 yrs accompanied by hate speech from the *leader of the free world, including repeated glorification of violence, building to the crescendo of Jan. 6th.
    Sure we hate Government and taxes. We hate the ineffectiveness of Government and don’t enjoy having to pay for such divisive waste by partisan politicians and corporate lobbyists.
    Do we break out the axe handles? NO!
    We vote. and….we’d had better do some vote protecting at the Federal level while ‘WE’ can.

    • Chris.EL says:

      To reference newbroom’s comment above: …”Hate rallies for 5 yrs accompanied by hate speech from the *leader of the free world, including repeated glorification of violence, building to the crescendo of Jan. 6th.” …

      Adding Trump, himself, started years before, much more than five back — thinking of the full page ads he bought to advocate killing the “Central Park Five.”

      Again, years back, he took out ads to support Russia’s foreign policy; Putin’s dream asset!

      Sprinkle in Trump’s love for Roy Cohn and Rush Limbaugh.

      These folks are working very hard to resurrect the Nazi way of living and thinking.

      Recent events in Eritrea echo mass killings in Ukraine, Germany, Poland.

      It’s all happening again: crimes against humanity.

      From Aljazeera: …”The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said it has received an “overwhelming” number of reports about Eritrean refugees in Tigray being killed, abducted or forcibly returned to Eritrea since fighting in Ethiopia’s northernmost region began more than a month ago.

      “If confirmed, these actions would constitute a major violation of international law,” UNHCR head Filippo Grandi said in a statement on Friday, “…

      Something is very, very terribly wrong in this world of ours.

      Trump is a nasty variant of a world wide pandemic.

  10. Savage Librarian says:

    Hocus and the Pokey

    You put your right wing in,
    The left wing gives a shout,
    You put your right wing in,
    And you flap it all about.

    Who fears the pending pokey,
    Who is yet to run aground?
    That’s what we will find out!

    You put your right wing in,
    The left wing is more stout,
    You put your right wing in,
    And you watch it all play out.

    Democracy’s not hokey,
    The Constitution is profound,
    We’re soon to see its clout.

    You put your right wing in,
    Don’t forget the dang cutout,
    You put your right wing in,
    That’s how you leave no doubt.

    It’s clink and karaoke,
    Orange jumpsuit common ground,
    Who’ll be the talent scout?

      • Savage Librarian says:

        Hey, Ginevra, right back atchya! I’m imagining you wearing heels and dancing to the tune, ha ha.

        BTW, I have a little Bell & Howell story, too, though not nearly as cool as yours. Once upon a time I worked as a film librarian in a university. Instead of a typewriter on my desk, I had a B & H 16mm projector and a screen on the wall. I previewed educational films to purchase, wrote reviews, and cataloged. For some reason, the only film I can remember from then was one about wildebeests, lol.

        • Ginevra diBenci says:

          I think I know just which projector you used–we had several around the house and my dad designed at least one of them. He was a polymath when it came to product design, although his early years were devoted to those video cameras. He would definitely approve of wildebeests. That job sounds cool as hell!
          (I’m trying to figure out how you deduced my passion for dancing in heels. Deep in pandemic I’ve learned to do it sitting down and in socks, but it’s still fun to see your verses pop up and get the rhythm going!)

  11. Leoghann says:

    CNN reported Friday night (2/26) “sources say” that the FBI has identified a suspect in USCPD Officer Sicknick’s murder.

  12. J R in WV says:

    I’m hoping the application of IT and data science against the imagery from the 1-6 Insurrection will result in at least a few hundred more assault arrests.

    Also admiring Judge Howell and her willingness to write an opinion that can be used as a model by other judges in the DC circuit to put these treasonous violent hater racists behind bars for as long as possible.

Comments are closed.