An Update from Fort Pelosi

 

Last week, I wrote about the deployment of the National Guard to “protect” our Nation’s Capitol. Since then, there have been a few developments; mostly bad.

As I mentioned, the head of the Capitol police had requested a sixty-day extension of the protection detail. Although the Chief of the National Guard Bureau had objected to this request (making the case that the Guard was already overstretched due to coronavirus constraints, civil disturbances, and wildfires) the Secretary of Defense overruled him and rubber-stamped the request. Naturally, all the costs associated with this deployment have been and will be, borne by the Department of Defense. Hey, it’s only money, right?

So, these troops will remain at their posts until at least May 23. Because so many of the troops, presently there, are anxious to return home (because of those pesky things called jobs and families) the DoD is considering involuntary activation orders so that units, probably from friendly blue states, could be called up for, perhaps, longer periods.

However, it appears that more than a few people are questioning the need for not only the troops but the enhanced security features such as the razor wire that have made the “People’s House” resemble a government building in Kabul. Does our government consider this to be a permanent solution for threats that continue to be “undetermined?” In a masterful piece of government doubletalk, the DoD spokesman (who makes Baghdad Bob look like Edward R. Murrow) tried to justify the Guard’s continued presence by stating that, “It’s not just about the threat environment. In a highly polarized, hypercharged environment that we’re in right now, it’s very much about a capacity assistance to the Capitol Police as they begin to flesh out and develop what they’re going to need long-term to deal with a new reality on Capitol Hill”.

Huh? What is this overpaid doofus talking about? Is this his way of saying, “Hey, get used to it folks. We’re more afraid of our own people than we are the Red Chinese?”

But, for the Guardsmen, life at Fort Pelosi goes on. Except for today, there is one fewer. Yesterday, a member of the Guard died from a “medical emergency.” No word on what that emergency might have been.

The conditions that I described last week do not appear to be getting better. Just yesterday, it was reported that even more metal shavings were found in their food.

How much longer can this insanity go on? Is it the intent of the Biden Administration to make this the “new normal” for our Capitol? It seemed to me that when Trump was in office, not a day went by in which we did not hear the plaintive wails coming from the Democrats, “This makes us look terrible in the eyes of the world”.

Funny. They no longer seem to care.

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  1. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    CACrabtree (View Comment):

    Cow Girl (View Comment):

    Skyler (View Comment):

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Skyler (View Comment):

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Has anyone seen a list of states that are supplying these National Guard troops? I’m curious as to which governors are willing to go along with it and take responsibility for the treatment of those from their states.

    Texas sent troops. They’re still there as far as I know.

    Is there no interest in changing that?

    I only know the governor expressed his regrets for sending them after they arrived. I don’t think he can recall them.

    Why can’t he recall them? They are under his command, aren’t they? This whole thing is just so obnoxious.

    I’m not sure exactly how it works, but I believe that once Guard members are “Federalized”, different rules kick in.

    Over the years there have been some interesting battles between states and the feds over control of the National Guards.  Maybe it’s time for another.  

    • #31
  2. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    From an article tonight on Townhall:

    With COVID, the COVID relief bill, the Democratic infighting over the minimum wage, who gets a relief check, and other nonsense on the Hill, you might have missed what an FBI official said about the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill. Was it an armed insurrection or not? Based on liberal media reports, you’d think this akin to a military takeover in Myanmar. It was a riot. Our own Julio Rosas documented the chaos that day, but an armed insurrection. How many firearms were confiscated that day? Well, the FBI’s Jill Sanborn, a counterintelligence official, said the number was exactly zero (via Daily Caller):

     

    “’How many firearms were confiscated in the Capitol or on Capitol grounds during that day?’ Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson asked Jill Sanborn, the FBI official, during a Senate Homeland Security hearing.

    “’To my knowledge, we have not recovered any on that day from any other arrests at the scene at this point,’ replied Sanborn, who serves as FBI assistant director for counterterrorism.

    “’I don’t want to speak on behalf of Metro and Capitol police, but, to my knowledge, none,’ she added.”

     

    And she did note the only shots fired inside the building were directed at Ashli Babbitt, whose death was captured on camera.

    The incident on January 6 has been extremely exaggerated by the press and the Democrats. It’s really wild. 

     

    • #32
  3. Richard Easton Coolidge
    Richard Easton
    @RichardEaston

    https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2021/january/texas-gov-brings-national-guard-troops-home-after-soldiers-slept-in-parking-garage

    • #33
  4. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Richard Easton (View Comment):

    https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2021/january/texas-gov-brings-national-guard-troops-home-after-soldiers-slept-in-parking-garage

    That was in January. Maybe Abbott ordered them to return home, but did that actually happen?  Issuing an order isn’t the same as bringing them home.

    • #34
  5. Richard Easton Coolidge
    Richard Easton
    @RichardEaston

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Richard Easton (View Comment):

    https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2021/january/texas-gov-brings-national-guard-troops-home-after-soldiers-slept-in-parking-garage

    That was in January. Maybe Abbott ordered them to return home, but did that actually happen? Issuing an order isn’t the same as bringing them home.

    This list the current states which have National Guards in DC and three more that will join them. Texas isn’t in the list so they came home. It’s all part of the Dims war on small businesses. 

    https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-aud-nw-national-guard-troops-leaving-dc-20210312-blq6z7u3gnbbtk6y762nzwtfqy-story.html

    • #35
  6. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Richard Easton (View Comment):

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Richard Easton (View Comment):

    https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2021/january/texas-gov-brings-national-guard-troops-home-after-soldiers-slept-in-parking-garage

    That was in January. Maybe Abbott ordered them to return home, but did that actually happen? Issuing an order isn’t the same as bringing them home.

    This list the current states which have National Guards in DC and three more that will join them. Texas isn’t in the list so they came home. It’s all part of the Dims war on small businesses.

    https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-aud-nw-national-guard-troops-leaving-dc-20210312-blq6z7u3gnbbtk6y762nzwtfqy-story.html

    Thx.

    One statement in the article is not exactly what you’d call objective reporting:  “But it also underscores concerns about security at the Capitol, two months after rioters breached the building in an attack that left five people dead.”

    Maybe it should read more like this:  “But it also underscores the efforts by Democrats to generate concerns about security at the Capitol, two months after social-justice protestors got out of control and illegally entered the building, leaving one of them dead.” 

    • #36
  7. CACrabtree Coolidge
    CACrabtree
    @CACrabtree

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Richard Easton (View Comment):

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Richard Easton (View Comment):

    https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2021/january/texas-gov-brings-national-guard-troops-home-after-soldiers-slept-in-parking-garage

    That was in January. Maybe Abbott ordered them to return home, but did that actually happen? Issuing an order isn’t the same as bringing them home.

    This list the current states which have National Guards in DC and three more that will join them. Texas isn’t in the list so they came home. It’s all part of the Dims war on small businesses.

    https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-aud-nw-national-guard-troops-leaving-dc-20210312-blq6z7u3gnbbtk6y762nzwtfqy-story.html

    Thx.

    One statement in the article is not exactly what you’d call objective reporting: “But it also underscores concerns about security at the Capitol, two months after rioters breached the building in an attack that left five people dead.”

    Maybe it should read more like this: “But it also underscores the efforts by Democrats to generate concerns about security at the Capitol, two months after social-justice protestors got out of control and illegally entered the building, leaving one of them dead.”

    Yeah, it just underscores the fact that reporters regularly inject their own opinions into the “hard” news.  (Color me surprised)

    “…breached the building…”  Makes it sound like the Alamo.

    • #37
  8. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    On 1/6, January 6, 2021, for the first time in 160 years, a mob tried to stop the peaceful count of the electoral college votes.  In 1861, the insurrectionists were met with an army raised by Army General-In-Chief Winfield Scott, who ringed the Capitol with not only armed troops who were instructed to shoot to kill, but also artillery.  A native Southerner, “Scott also sent a blunt message to those rumored to be planning to demonstrate, disrupt or worse. As he colorfully warned, ‘any man who attempted by force or unparliamentary disorder to obstruct or interfere with the lawful count’ would be ‘lashed to the muzzle of a twelve-pounder’ — a huge cannon — ‘and fired out a window of the Capitol.'”  https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-this-was-a-historic-disgrace-20210107-wt27d7akpffjhpa2tka2axpt34-story.html

    What we had in 9/11 was a failure of imagination.  No one had ever thought that terrorists would fly passenger planes into buildings.  What we had on 1/6 was a shocking insurrection, organized by the incumbent President of the United States, whose mobs broke into the Capitol, ransacked the office of the Speaker of the House, invaded the Senate Chamber, chanted “Hang Mike Pence” and killed and injured police officers.

    When can the fences come down?  I suggest that three things must happen first.  After (1) these insurrectionists are sentenced to years, if not decades, of prison, (2) the openly conspiring members of Congress, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) are expelled from Congress for their part in the insurrection, and (3) there is a broad recognition by the American people that Trump had acted as no President in American history had acted, I would be happy to take down the fence that protects the Capitol.  But note, the day after the fence protecting the U.S. Courthouse in Portland, OR was taken down, a fire was lit at its feet.  And note that Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House that was closed after 9/11 is still closed to traffic.  Trump created the fence around the Capitol.  The folks who brayed to “Stop the Steal” are also accountable.  I have seen little evidence that either of them have taken responsibility for their actions.

    I had a hard time sleeping after 1/6.  Finally after Biden’s inauguration, I started sleeping well again.  While I have disagreed with Biden’s policies, I can sleep well again.  Just as Jerry Ford healed the nation after Nixon, Biden is healing the nation after Trump.

    I am not ashamed of my first vote for a Democrat for President in 48 years; I feel wholly vindicated by it after 1/6.  I was right that Trump posed an existential danger to the Republic, and thank goodness he has been removed.  Once he is fully removed from the American Political scene and repudiated, I will be able to vote for Republicans again.

    Trump should have been impeached and convicted by an overwhelming margin of Republicans in Congress, just as Nixon was facing.  It is ironic that liberal New York State will impeach and remove Governor Andrew Cuomo and will serve as an example to Republicans and Conservatives throughout the nation.

    • #38
  9. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Wikipedia is just as bad.  I was looking up George Floyd and Ashli Babbit yesterday, and Floyd had two wiki entries, one for him, and another for his “killing” and Ashli Babbit only linked to an entry on the Capitol Riot entry; and while they did not show her photo, they showed Sicknick’s with a caption that he sustained injuries in the riot and died of a stroke the next day (also elsewhere in the article, called a brain hemorrhage) .

     

    • #39
  10. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    What we had on 1/6 was a shocking insurrection, organized by the incumbent President of the United States, whose mobs broke into the Capitol, ransacked the office of the Speaker of the House, invaded the Senate Chamber, chanted “Hang Mike Pence” and killed and injured police officers.

    If our country had libel laws like the UK does, you’d probably be finding yourself in court for saying that.

    • #40
  11. namlliT noD Member
    namlliT noD
    @DonTillman

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    On 1/6,

    Flagged for lying, trolling, bad faith, and making Ricochet look bad with a batpoop crazy insane rant.

    • #41
  12. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    namlliT noD (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    On 1/6,

    Flagged for lying, trolling, bad faith, and making Ricochet look bad with a batpoop crazy insane rant.

    The very words “On 1/6” are enough for you to say “lying,” “trolling,” “bad faith,” and “making Ricochet look bad with a batpoop crazy insane rant.”  

    How about the next words of “January 6, 2021, for the first time in 160 years, a mob tried to stop the peaceful count of the electoral college votes”?  Are you going to tell of 1993 when George H.W. Bush tried to hold on to power?  On of 1981 when Jimmy Carter tried to hold on to power?  Or of 1933 when Herbert Hoover tried to to hold on to power?  Or of 1913 when President Taft claimed that Wilson had stolen the election, so Taft had a mob attack the Capital?  Opps, didn’t happen.  When in history did any political party in America try to mob the Capitol? 

    The way to fight arguments is with the truth.  So, lay it on.  Tell us the truth.  Or are you going to just call names?     

    • #42
  13. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    The very words “On 1/6” are enough for you to say “lying,” “trolling,” “bad faith,”

    Why yes. Of course.  If you really buy into the overblown nonsense of equating a minor protest made to go awry by professional agitators to 9/11 then you are not in the world of reality. 

    • #43
  14. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Skyler (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    The very words “On 1/6” are enough for you to say “lying,” “trolling,” “bad faith,”

    Why yes. Of course. If you really buy into the overblown nonsense of equating a minor protest made to go awry by professional agitators to 9/11 then you are not in the world of reality.

    The more tenuous their narrative becomes, the greater the belligerence with which they’ll try to disseminate it. 

    • #44
  15. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    So we disagree.  History will sort this out.

    • #45
  16. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    The Reticulator (View Comment):
    The more tenuous their narrative becomes, the greater the belligerence with which they’ll try to disseminate it. 

    Brilliantly accurate.

    • #46
  17. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    So we disagree. History will sort this out.

    Perhaps it will.  But a lot of people still believe the lies about Catherine the Great and a horse.

    • #47
  18. Gazpacho Grande' Coolidge
    Gazpacho Grande'
    @ChrisCampion

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    What we had on 1/6 was a shocking insurrection, organized by the incumbent President of the United States, whose mobs broke into the Capitol, ransacked the office of the Speaker of the House, invaded the Senate Chamber, chanted “Hang Mike Pence” and killed and injured police officers.

    If our country had libel laws like the UK does, you’d probably be finding yourself in court for saying that.

    “Organized”

    “Whose mobs”

    “Killed and injured police officers”

    Literally none of the above is true.  It’s demonstrably untrue.

    Standard fare from Trollsy McTrolls-a-Lot.  Thanks for helping Biden become president.

    • #48
  19. DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone Member
    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone
    @DrewInWisconsin

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    PURE MARXISM: Sen. Tuberville Says Pelosi Is Providing ‘Black SUVs with Secret Service’ to Democratic Congressmen but NOT Republicans

    I’m sure it won’t affect Republican willingness to support Democrat programs and personnel.

    It’s not the discrimination that interests me, it’s the supposed need. either she’s crazy, and the congressmen are grooving on it, or else there’s real trouble that doesn’t have to do with your basic Trump supporters.

    Good point, but how are Republicans supposed to protect themselves from the antifa fascists?

    They’re not.

    • #49
  20. DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone Member
    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone
    @DrewInWisconsin

    MarciN (View Comment):
    The incident on January 6 has been extremely exaggerated by the press and the Democrats and Gary. It’s really wild. 

    A small addition.

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    The way to fight arguments is with the truth. So, lay it on. Tell us the truth.

    Gary, we’ve told you the truth countless times over the last four years. Yet you continue to spread lies.

    • #50
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