(All of the names in this piece have been changed. Well, except my own.)

I had just taken the helm as interim director of the neighborhood summer children’s swim team after an abrupt exit by the previous leader. It was late in the planning season and our swim team board had an immediate need to recruit assistant coaches; roles typically filled by high-school-aged residents in the neighborhood eager for a little extra summer cash and leadership experience to fill on eventual college applications. Time was tight. …

JUSTICE

A few days ago, I chronicled how Capitol police were overrun in D.C. on January 6th. Rioters forced their way through the final line of barricades at about 2:30 pm. The ensuing mayhem led to destruction, violence against officers, and death, culminating on the upper terrace by the tunnel entrance. The lead actors might have been coordinated, I suggested.

But those guys were chumps compared to the squad before them.

Upon further review of footage available online and from Parler, video evidence reveals a tactical operation led by an organized group (or groups) whose sole purpose was to distract the police, remove barricades, and incense the crowd to frothy fury. …

JUSTICE

Note: This story will continually be updated.
Last edited 1/18/21 2 pm ET. Revision notes can be found at the bottom.

The Just Another Channel (JAC) video on YouTube (all source links below) shares powerful raw footage that promises to show what really happened at the Capitol. JAC, which begins with an InfoWars title card, like other right-wing uploaders on YouTube claim January 6 was mostly peaceful and patriotic with demonstrators exercising their First Amendment rights. “Was there some violence?” the video description asks. “Yes,” it affirms.

But “Was it almost entirely peaceful? Yes. …

DIGITAL CULTURE

Just days ago, a Parler data dump resulted in 70 terabytes of posts, images, and videos being culled and posted publicly just before Amazon pulled the plug on the app’s hosting services. That effort, profiled in Vice, was led by a security researcher, who goes by the handle @donk_enby on Twitter. While the archived assets can be used to determine the GPS coordinates of rioters and synchronize with profiles and incendiary posts, that’s not even the most stunning insight to come from donk_enby.

One week prior to the dump, she also accessed screens and code reserved for Parler administrators and shared evidence of their paid influencer program. …

POLITICS

Today, The New York Times reports that Senator Mitch McConnell was “pleased” Democrats were taking steps to impeach Donald Trump for a second time. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and John Katko (R-NY) followed this, announcing their support of Trump’s impeachment. Next was the statement from Adam Kinzinger (IL). This posture is in stark contrast to other Republican leaders who have been silent in condemning the President’s actions and have instead urged healing and calm rather than Trump’s removal from office.

On Monday, Republicans blocked a resolution floated by Democrats calling for Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment after he “incited a mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol,” according to The Hill. But blocking the measure was only done to prevent them from going on record in a move against Trump. …

POLITICS

Regarding the D.C. riot at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on January 6th, 35% of Republicans believe Joe Biden is to blame for the actions of those who stormed the building, while only 13% of Republicans believe Donald Trump bears responsibility. That’s the finding of a poll by YouGov, an international research data group headquartered in London, which surveyed registered voters as the events were unfolding that day.

The YouGov survey sampled responses from 1,448 registered voters on January 6th at 5 pm EST. Of those, 1,397 were aware of the events occurring at the Capitol building. According to the company, the margin of error is 3.3% …

POLITICS

Updated January 8, 2021 10:18am: The Instagram page mentioned in this piece has since become private.

Yesterday, the FBI requested information from the public to identify individuals who were “actively instigating violence” at the U.S. Capitol building. According to their press release, they were accepting tips, photos, or videos of the violence and the surrounding area in Washington, D.C.

But some Twitter users are moving swiftly to cut out the middleman by identifying individuals from social media and proactively engaging employers to take action. One astute user recognized a person who appeared inside the Capital building wearing his employer-issued identification around his neck this morning. …

POLITICS

We were told to wait on Election Day because all the ballots would be trickling in. So we waited. We were told to wait until the end of that first week in November when all votes were tallied. So we waited. When all major news outlets projected the presidential winner, as they’ve done for years prior to a concession statement, we were told that the “media doesn’t call elections.” So we waited.

We were told to wait until over 50 legal challenges were heard (and lost). So we waited. We were told to wait until the states certified their elections. So we waited. And we were told to wait until today, when Congress would meet to count the Electoral College ballot. And we waited for that day. …