AS A FAN OF FACTS, and the more the merrier, Mr. Blogger kept
digging. Days blended one with another. Arrests mounted. Mr. Blogger grew
bleary-eyed.
The president and his enablers continued to insist the
election had stolen. There were grave concerns for the safety of the Biden
Inauguration. Rep. Pete Meijer, one of ten House Republicans who voted to
impeach Trump, spoke of a “fever swamp” of conspiracy theories that had blinded millions on
the Republican side. Beyond doubt, these poor souls believed the election had
been stolen.
The QAnon crew was convinced that on Inauguration Day, Trump
would still triumph. Biden, Obama,
Hillary Clinton and all the other cannibal pedophiles would get their
comeuppance at last. Cuffs all around. Maybe ropes. Donald J. Trump would
rule supreme for four more years.
If not more.
____________________
“Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
Voltaire
____________________
It was ludicrous. It was also highly dangerous thinking. Had the
rioters prevailed in their attack they would have destroyed our electoral
system, probably forever, and might even have dangled a few lawmakers from
ropes.
Trump supporters continued to express doubt about the role played by their own kind in
the attack. Yet, those who were arrested kept insisting they were Trump fans,
tried and true. Thomas Fee, a retired fire fighter, and a resident of Freeport,
New York was proud of his role in the melee. He sent a selfie to his
girlfriend, showing him inside the building on Jan. 6. Fee’s girlfriend’s
brother happened to be a federal agent. So he asked Fee (who didn’t know) if he
was in fact one of the rioters. Fee responded happily, noting that he was “at
the tip of the spear.”
As The Hill reports, “The federal agent then forwarded the
information to the Joint Terrorism Task Force.”
According to ABC News,
Fee
was honored after he rescued 13 people, including a pregnant woman and several
children, from flooding during Superstorm Sandy on October 29, 2012. But he
also, as a volunteer firefighter in Hempstead in 2004, was suspended for yelling racial slurs at a Black cardiologist who walked past the
firehouse on three or four occasions.
I
kept looking for the elusive Antifa Waldo in the rioting mob. If Antifa
Waldo was out there, I couldn’t turn him up. I tried. I did. I found a story about Mark
Sahady and Suzanne Ianni, two arrestees who had participated in the attack.
Both are members of a “strait pride” group, called Super Happy Fun America.
This
blogger is all for supper happy fun. And he is strait, himself. But you can
assume these were not left-wing folks. Once again, The Hill provided a
few telling details.
The organization
previously hosted a “Straight Pride Parade” in Boston that
garnered national attention. The group’s website states that it “advocates on
behalf of the straight community,” with the organization’s president asserting
that “straight people are an oppressed majority.”
“Where’s Antifa Waldo?” I cried out at one point. I turned up
Thomas E. Caldwell in yet another search. The affidavit in his case notes that
he was on hand for the riot. His back story is strictly right-wing:
The Oath
Keepers
13. Law enforcement and news media organizations
observed that members of a paramilitary organization known as the Oath Keepers
were among the individuals and groups who knowingly, willfully, and forcibly
entered the U.S. Capitol.
14. The Oath Keepers are a large but loosely
organized collection of militias who believe that the federal government has
been coopted by a shadowy group that is trying to strip American citizens of
their rights. Though the Oath Keepers will accept anyone as members, what
differentiates them from other anti-government groups is their explicit focus
on recruiting current and former military, law enforcement and first responder
personnel. The organization’s name alludes to the oath sworn by members of the
military and police to “defend the constitution from all enemies, foreign and
domestic.”
Caldwell is described as a “resident of Clark County,
Virginia” and “appears to have a leadership role with the Oath Keepers.”
The agent who reviewed the evidence explained that in a video
he had studied, Caldwell and 8 to 10 others can be seen:
16. … In
paramilitary equipment aggressively approaching an entrance to the Capitol
building. These individuals, who are wearing helmets, reinforced vests, and
clothing with Oath Keeper paraphernalia, move in an organized and practiced
fashion and force their way to the front of the crowd gathered around a door to
the U.S. Capitol.
A picture attached to the affidavit shows the Oath Keeper
badge on one vest, with a second patch sown on, which reads: “I don’t believe
in anything. I’m just here for the violence.”
The agent then cites a second defendant, Jessica Watkins, 38,
a “resident of Champaign County, Ohio. She also “appears to be affiliated with
the Oath Keepers.”
20… At the top of WATKINS’
social media account page on Parler, WATKINS states that she is “C.O.
[Commanding Officer] of the Ohio State Regular Militia. Based on information
gained during the course of my investigation, I am aware that the Ohio State
Regular Militia is a local militia organization which is a dues-paying subset
of the Oath Keepers.
The agent further notes that Watkins has confirmed, via
social media, that she was a participant in the mob attack.
22…. For instance, on January 6,
Watkins posted to Parler a photograph of herself in the same Oath Keeper’s
uniform in which she appears in Picture 3 , alongside the statement: “Me before
forcing entry into the Capitol building. #stopthesteal #stormthecapital #oathkeepers
#ohiomilitia.” I am aware from public reporting after the 2020 U.S. Presidential
Election that the social media hashtag #stopthesteal was used by people who
believed, essentially, that the election results were influenced by fraud, and
who wanted to stop the electoral college results from being certified by the
Congress.
Watkins added later, in another post to Parler, “Yeah. We
stormed the Capitol today. Teargassed, the whole, 9 [yards]. Pushed our way
into the Rotunda. Made it into the Senate even. The news is lying (even Fox)
about the Historical Events we created today.”
Questioned by someone else on social media, about her boast, her
critic wondered if she and her pals hadn’t just been let into the building. “Nope.
Forced. Like Rugby,” she responded. “We entered through the back door of the
Capitol.”
Watkins managed to reveal the name of a second suspect,
Donovon Crowl, by posting again on Parler.
25. WATKINS Also confirmed on
social media that she had led other members of the Oath Keepers in the
incursion at the US Capitol. In another Parler post on January 6, Watkins
shared a picture of an individual in paramilitary gear, wearing an Oath Keepers
patch on his arm, and wrote, “One of my guys at the Stop the Steal Rally today.
#stopthesteal #stormthecapitol #oathkeepers #ohiomilitia.”
Still no Antifa links to the story. So, I kept reading.
Finding the elusive left-wing Waldo was becoming a quest.
30. [In an interview that same
day, Crowl] …identified himself as a member of both the Oath Keepers and the
Ohio State Regular Militia, and admitted that he attended events representing
those groups to include the incursion of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. CROWL
stated that he was drinking on January 6 , 2021, and confirmed to the writer
that he entered the U.S. Capitol, saying that he went to Washington, D.C., to “do
security” for “V.I.P.’s” whom he declined to name. CROWL also stated to the writer
that his intentions had been peaceful, and that he had never been violent,
claiming we protected the “fucking Capitol Hill police.” He declined to
substantiate the claim during the interview. CROWL at the same time admitted
during this interview that he “expelled three fucking people” whom he said had
been injured. He further elaborated about “patriots” [who] dragged this fucking
maggot off the wall and started beating his ass.”
(Nothing says “patriotism” quite like dragging a “maggot” off
a wall and “beating his ass,” right?)
I kept reading the affidavit with growing disgust. Finally, I
got to the part where Watkins realized she was wanted by the F.B.I. Allegedly,
she headed for Caldwell’s house where she hoped to hide out.
Five days before the riot, Caldwell was already planning for
an attack,
31. Specifically, on January 1,
2021, at approximately 1:10 p.m., CALDWELL sent the following message from his
Facebook account:
Here is the direct number for
Comfort Inn Ballston/Arlington 1-571-397-3955 I strongly recommend you guys get
one or two rooms for a night or two. Arrive 5th, depart 7th will work. She says
there are five of you including a husband and wife new recruits. This time of
year especially you will need to be indoors to set up, etc. really, press this
home, just get somebody to put it on a credit card. Even if you tell the hotel
it’s double occupancy, you can STILL put a couple of people on the floor with
bedrolls and the hotel won’t know ****. Paul said he might be able to take one
or two in his room as well. I spoke to the hotel last night (actually 2.a.m. this
morning ) and they still had rooms. This is a good location and would allow
us to hunt at night if we wanted to. I don’t know if Stewie has even gotten
out his call too arms but it’s a little friggin late. This is one we are doing
on our own. We will link up with the north carolina [sic] crew.”
Patriotism in action, again. “Hunting at night,” was a hint
that they might be able to go out in the dark and look for Black Lives Matter
types and beat their asses in a show of love for this great country.
Crowl sent an excited message to Caldwell on his Facebook
account: “Happy New year, to you Sir! Guess I’ll be seeing you soon. Will
probably call you tomorrow…mainly because … I like to know wft plan is. You are
the man Commander.”
You can read the affidavit
yourself if you want. If you’re a Trump supporter, I don’t think it will make
you proud.
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