Ashli Babbitt and Broken Windows

 

Ashli Babbitt is, as far as we know, the only person to die as a direct consequence of a deliberate act of violence during the riot of January 6 in Washington D.C. She’s the young woman who was shot by an unnamed Capitol employee while climbing through a window in the Capitol Building.

Ms. Babbitt was able to climb through a window because the window had been broken by rioters. Rioters broke the window in plain view of armed Capitol Police, who made no visible effort to stop them. (This can be observed in the short video made in the minutes leading up to and culminating in the shooting.)

The rioters weren’t very good at breaking windows. Some of them punched the windows repeatedly with their fists, gradually cracking the apparently reinforced glass. One used a thin stick, perhaps a broom handle, to poke and dislodge the cracked glass. It was a rather pathetic performance by a not very impressive mob — most rioters appear to me to be young and, frankly, wimpy — but, since they met no resistance from the police present on the scene, their clumsy efforts eventually paid off.

Broken windows. I don’t know why the police allowed the windows to be broken. I don’t know what those on the scene thought would happen after the mob succeeded in breaking the windows: surely a reasonable expectation would be that some would attempt to enter the room beyond the windows. What were they thinking?

What the rioters were thinking, I’m sure, is that there was no penalty for breaking windows. That’s what I thought, watching them.  Perhaps they were surprised by that, as I was. But I’m sure it was a surprise for all concerned (other than for the guy with the gun hiding on the other side of the wall) when the penalty for climbing through a broken window was revealed to be a speedy execution.

Murder rates skyrocket around the country following a year of broken windows. It will be blamed on racism, rather than on what it is: bad governance by cowardly public officials.

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  1. Baker Inactive
    Baker
    @Baker

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Skyler (View Comment):

    I think Ashli is a poor choice for a poster girl. When you participate in a riot, you should expect to get shot and killed. In fact I encourage it. Every state should have a law that any person not rioting is allowed and encouraged to shoot and kill anyone who is in a riot.

    It’s not a riot if you’re invited in.

    If youre climbing through broken glass, you weren’t invited in.

    • #91
  2. Henry Racette Member
    Henry Racette
    @HenryRacette

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):
    Nothing about this day adds up to the narrative presented, the one that we all would so much like to believe.

    A lot of people here really really really want to believe that it was Antifa.

    Put a number on “a lot.” Is it possible that one person here really really wants to believe that there was no Antifa participation?

    Don’t let me derail this fascinating expedition into InsurrectionTheory, but I’d just like to point out that it really doesn’t matter, to the point of the original post, who was behind the rioting. The failure to maintain control, to assert a command presence before tragedy ensued, and to escalate responsibly to the justified use of lethal force, is the same. So whether they were pro-Trump conservative protesters, a mix of conservatives and leftist trouble-makers, or a carefully choreographed assemblage of sinister anti-Trump anarchistic fifth columnists from Berkeley, it still shouldn’t, in my opinion, have resulted in the sudden explosion of lethal violence that killed Ms. Babbitt, nor the secrecy within which the event has been entombed.

    But please, carry on you crazy people.

    • #92
  3. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    MDHahn (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone (View Comment):

    Vince Guerra (View Comment):

    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone (View Comment):

    I think that first video is the window-breaking that has been definitively attributed to the Antifa folks in the crowd.

    Actual Trump supporters don’t break windows, they didn’t here, they never have, and they never will. Antifa fools with $5 MAGA hats they bought on Jan 5th do though.

    Well, also the screams of “kill them, kill them!” doesn’t sound very Trumpist. I don’t really know who those people are, though.

    Who screamed that? The young men outside the door didn’t look or act like Trump supporters either. They were young, apparently calm and well-trained (despite their shouted words), provocative and aggressive, and directing events, even redirecting the police away from protecting the doorway. This is one of the fallacies drawn from the video Zafar linked to. Plus they were prepared to transfer equipment one to another and change appearance quickly. And they kept shifting though the landing as if they each had specific functions. This was no protest gone awry, it was all planned. (Perhaps even to the killing of Babbit by the hiding mystery policeman.)

    I’m sorry, what? This was a giant false flag to randomly kill……. a single white woman? What on earth leads you to believe that? If the goal was to kill Trump supporters, which seems like where you’re going with this, then why not a whole lot more? There were ample targets that day.

    I’m sorry, but I’m going to choose to believe my owns eyes and ears from the videos that day.

    No, of course not.  And of course Aaron Danielson in Portland was not targeted, stalked, murdered and then immediately accosted by fake “medics” who just happened to be passing by in a black sedan at that exact same moment.  After all, why would anyone do that?  But come to think of it, why weren’t all the others, coordinator watcher who released his phone video with the audio, and the controllers in the black SUV, and the guy who ran out to pick up the shell casings, arrested too?

    Oh, because it was just one guy acting on his own.

    You see what you want to believe.  And I’ll believe what I think makes sense out of a series of coincidences.  Neither of us can at this point (or likely ever) prove each other wrong.

    [Let me add that I don’t necessarily believe anything as a matter of fact.  I just tend to believe one thing more than the others.  And there are three main categories of thought regarding what happened to Ashli Babbit.  But I won’t get into them here because most of us are all too reasonable for anything but the official narrative.]

    • #93
  4. Henry Racette Member
    Henry Racette
    @HenryRacette

    Baker (View Comment):

    Stina (View Comment):
    NO EFFORT was made to stop the protestors from coming into the capital. No effort was made to push them back. No effort was even attempted to stop them from breaking the glass. And none of them were armed.

    None of this is true.

    Agreed. Things are rarely that black and white, cut and dried, in a chaotic moment.

    However, it appears to be true that some people were effectively invited in; that the message was decidedly mixed, as officers held open doors and removed barriers; that irresponsible individuals were allowed to gradually escalate their destruction with no push-back or response from the officers present; that police were ordered to stand back and not put up an effective resistance; that the situation was allowed to get out of hand despite the presence of armed and ready defenders.

    And that a young woman who thought she was acting no more offensively than the people breaking windows around her was shot, without obvious warning, by someone who, for reasons that have yet to be made clear, is being hidden from the public eye.

    We take it for granted that we will know everything about an officer who shoots a young black woman as she’s attempting to drive a knife into another woman. We know nothing about the man who shot Ashli Babbitt.

    That’s not how it should be. There are people who have not yet been held accountable for the fatal errors of January 6. We deserve answers.

    • #94
  5. Baker Inactive
    Baker
    @Baker

    MDHahn (View Comment):
    Bad people exist on our side too, and a lot of them showed up on 1/6.

    The unbelievable inability to recognize this just allows the bad people to burrow further in. 

    • #95
  6. Baker Inactive
    Baker
    @Baker

    Henry Racette (View Comment):
    However, it appears to be true that some people were effectively invited in; that the message was decidedly mixed, as officers held open doors and removed barriers; that irresponsible individuals were allowed to gradually escalate their destruction with no push-back or response from the officers present; that police were ordered to stand back and not put up an effective resistance; that the situation was allowed to get out of hand despite the presence of armed and ready defenders.

    I hold a much different view about the shooting of Babbit but don’t disagre with any of this. It seems clear to me though that poor planning meant they were wildly overwhelmed quickly and some of these maneuvers were meant to delay destruction or violence. Clearly the capitol police management completely failed, with I think a boost from DC mayor & the FBI. I just hope that hideous fence does not become their permanent answer. I’m afraid it might. And that is disgusting.

    • #96
  7. Henry Racette Member
    Henry Racette
    @HenryRacette

    Baker (View Comment):

    Henry Racette (View Comment):
    However, it appears to be true that some people were effectively invited in; that the message was decidedly mixed, as officers held open doors and removed barriers; that irresponsible individuals were allowed to gradually escalate their destruction with no push-back or response from the officers present; that police were ordered to stand back and not put up an effective resistance; that the situation was allowed to get out of hand despite the presence of armed and ready defenders.

    I hold a much different view about the shooting of Babbit but don’t disagre with any of this. It seems clear to me though that poor planning meant they were wildly overwhelmed quickly and some of these maneuvers were meant to delay destruction or violence. Clearly the capitol police management completely failed, with I think a boost from DC mayor & the FBI. I just hope that hideous fence does not become their permanent answer. I’m afraid it might. And that is disgusting.

    I appreciate that we can disagree about a greater point while agreeing about the details. That suggests an ability to communicate.

    I think that many of us are particularly offended by the secrecy. Has a reasonable defense been offered for the anonymity of the shooter? Police officers who shoot citizens are rarely granted this anonymity: I can think of no other examples, actually. Have you heard any justification offered?

    For me, it is the combination of exaggeration of the riot, misinformation about the nature of the deaths, anonymity in the one case where the cause of death is absolutely clear, and wildly disproportionate treatment of this riot versus every riot that preceded it that exacerbates my criticism of what I see to be the mishandling of the event itself.

     

     

    • #97
  8. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):
    Nothing about this day adds up to the narrative presented, the one that we all would so much like to believe.

    A lot of people here really really really want to believe that it was Antifa.

    Put a number on “a lot.”

    I’ll leave it as it is because I can’t put a number on it, but don’t you think most people on Ricochet would prefer that this kind of Capitol rampage was done by the other side?

    Is it possible that one person here really really wants to believe that there was no Antifa participation?

    It’s possible, I guess. 

    • #98
  9. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Baker (View Comment):

    Stina (View Comment):
    NO EFFORT was made to stop the protestors from coming into the capital. No effort was made to push them back. No effort was even attempted to stop them from breaking the glass. And none of them were armed.

    None of this is true.

    Who was armed?

    • #99
  10. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):
    Nothing about this day adds up to the narrative presented, the one that we all would so much like to believe.

    A lot of people here really really really want to believe that it was Antifa.

    Put a number on “a lot.”

    I’ll leave it as it is because I can’t put a number on it, but don’t you think most people on Ricochet would prefer that this kind of Capitol rampage was done by the other side?

    Perhaps, but it’s irrelevant to the question that I asked.  

    Is it possible that one person here really really wants to believe that there was no Antifa participation?

    It’s possible, I guess.

    You can be a contrarian if you wish–not a bad thing–but expect disagreement at times.

     

    • #100
  11. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Zafar (View Comment):
    A lot of people here really really really want to believe that it was Antifa.

    Foreigners even believe it was anti-fa, though I can’t remember the woman reporter’s name; she was interviewed by Joshua Philipp.  And of course, experienced Americans like Michael Yon believe it.

    What do you believe?  Really.

    • #101
  12. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Baker (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Skyler (View Comment):

    I think Ashli is a poor choice for a poster girl. When you participate in a riot, you should expect to get shot and killed. In fact I encourage it. Every state should have a law that any person not rioting is allowed and encouraged to shoot and kill anyone who is in a riot.

    It’s not a riot if you’re invited in.

    If youre climbing through broken glass, you weren’t invited in.

    I didn’t see any protesters climb in through broken glass.  I saw trained rioters climb through windows though.

    • #102
  13. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Zafar (View Comment):
    A lot of people here really really really want to believe that it was Antifa.

    Foreigners even believe it was anti-fa, though I can’t remember the woman reporter’s name; she was interviewed by Joshua Philipp. And of course, experienced Americans like Michael Yon believe it.

    What do you believe? Really.

    We’re in the realm of not one way or the other.  It’s seems clear that Babbitt was not Antifa–not that it would justify shooting an unarmed woman.  But there is evidence of Antifa participation.  Since no government body has chosen to investigate that–specifically the Capitol Police–we’re left to reasoned speculation.

    • #103
  14. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    Henry Racette (View Comment):
    But please, carry on you crazy people.

    Your OP was pretty sensible Henry – not much to push back on.

    • #104
  15. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    Hoyacon (View Comment):
    You can be a contrarian if you wish–not a bad thing–but expect disagreement at times.

    It happens to me occasionally on Ricochet. I’ll get used to it. 

    • #105
  16. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):
    Nothing about this day adds up to the narrative presented, the one that we all would so much like to believe.

    A lot of people here really really really want to believe that it was Antifa.

    Put a number on “a lot.” Is it possible that one person here really really wants to believe that there was no Antifa participation?

    Don’t let me derail this fascinating expedition into InsurrectionTheory, but I’d just like to point out that it really doesn’t matter, to the point of the original post, who was behind the rioting. The failure to maintain control, to assert a command presence before tragedy ensued, and to escalate responsibly to the justified use of lethal force, is the same. So whether they were pro-Trump conservative protesters, a mix of conservatives and leftist trouble-makers, or a carefully choreographed assemblage of sinister anti-Trump anarchistic fifth columnists from Berkeley, it still shouldn’t, in my opinion, have resulted in the sudden explosion of lethal violence that killed Ms. Babbitt, nor the secrecy within which the event has been entombed.

    But please, carry on you crazy people.

    It does depend on who’s behind the rioting if the police were told to stand down and let the protesters in, and the they shot one of them because… she got inside.

    As an aside, I’ve been idly thinking of writing a post on the archaic wording in the CoC regarding “conspiracy theories” and making Ricochet look crazy.  I think that has to be rethought, because with the news blackouts and social media censorship, there are far more questions to be asked now than ever before, and lot of the answers are now necessarily speculation.  Unless of course, “that could never happen in America”.

    • #106
  17. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):
    You can be a contrarian if you wish–not a bad thing–but expect disagreement at times.

    It happens to me occasionally on Ricochet. I’ll get used to it.

    Well, I wouldn’t take my thoughts too seriously.

     

    • #107
  18. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Henry Racette (View Comment):
    [Let me add that I don’t necessarily believe anything as a matter of fact.  I just tend to believe one thing more than the others.  And there are three main categories of thought regarding what happened to Ashli Babbit.  But I won’t get into them here because most of us are all too reasonable for anything but the official narrative.]

    Let me repeat here what I added to a prior comment.

    “I don’t necessarily believe anything regarding Ashli Babbit as a matter of fact. I just tend to believe one thing more than the others. And there are three main categories of thought regarding what happened to Ashli Babbit. But I won’t get into them here because most of us are all too reasonable for anything but variations of the official narrative.”

    Having honestly said that, I don’t know what to believe.  But the bland “she broke the law (and broke into a sacred palace [Freudian typo: should read “place”] and was a danger to others and the police were right to shoot her” is so full of holes that it is nearly impossible to believe on its face; especially the dearth of unbiased reporting.  Add to this the improbability of the unusual deaths of three policemen in the hours, days, and weeks afterward — and all are deaths claimed by the Democrats to be the direct result of their involvement in the 1/6 Capitol incursion — two by suicide — this is all a highly unusual sequence of events.

    And moreover, Michael Yon who is very experienced in the ways of both the military and anti-fa, as well as a ?Japanese? reporter (I can’t remember her name or find the video but it was and Epoch times interview by Joshua Philipp) who is one who presents herself as having expensive knowledge of color revolutions in Japan and Hong Kong, and in anti-fa generally, both believe and credibly argue that the aggressors and directors of the Capitol incursion were anti-fa.

    I strongly tend to believe that these two are right, and those who don’t have their experience are quite unaware of the circumstances these two reporters explain.

     

    • #108
  19. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Video: Japanese reporter Misako Ganaha interview regarding Capitol attack and anti-fa.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/video-analysis-of-ashli-babbit-video-suggests-coordinated-actions-interview-with-masako_3652783.html

    Video: Report on Trump protesters calling out anti-fa trying to break into the Capitol.

    https://www.ntd.com/trump-supporters-stop-antifa-from-breaking-into-capitol_550268.html

    • #109
  20. MDHahn Coolidge
    MDHahn
    @MDHahn

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    Baker (View Comment):

    Stina (View Comment):
    NO EFFORT was made to stop the protestors from coming into the capital. No effort was made to push them back. No effort was even attempted to stop them from breaking the glass. And none of them were armed.

    None of this is true.

    Agreed. Things are rarely that black and white, cut and dried, in a chaotic moment.

    However, it appears to be true that some people were effectively invited in; that the message was decidedly mixed, as officers held open doors and removed barriers; that irresponsible individuals were allowed to gradually escalate their destruction with no push-back or response from the officers present; that police were ordered to stand back and not put up an effective resistance; that the situation was allowed to get out of hand despite the presence of armed and ready defenders.

    And that a young woman who thought she was acting no more offensively than the people breaking windows around her was shot, without obvious warning, by someone who, for reasons that have yet to be made clear, is being hidden from the public eye.

    We take it for granted that we will know everything about an officer who shoots a young black woman as she’s attempting to drive a knife into another woman. We know nothing about the man who shot Ashli Babbitt.

    That’s not how it should be. There are people who have not yet been held accountable for the fatal errors of January 6. We deserve answers.

    I agree that there were massive failures on proper levels of force to deal with potential violence. There needs to be a serious review of why no additional police/national guard were stationed in support. That review should also include why there was a delay in calling in reinforcements. Who was in command? 

    I also agree there’s a double standard. I’d prefer a lot more transparency. I’d like to avoid a rush to judgment on these cases and not destroy people’s lives before the facts are in. 

    Where we disagree is on Babbitt’s culpability. The previous riots last summer don’t excuse subsequent rioters. Nor does the fact that other rioters faced less resistance. She was breaking the law and was part of a group trying to get to members of Congress during the certification process. She shouldn’t have expected a walk in the park. Any sentient adult should know that is a very dangerous thing to do. 

    • #110
  21. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    There’s one really easy way to uncover exactly who was who, why they were there, what they did, and what exactly they’re guilty or innocent of: release the information.

    But they’re not doing that.

    Instead the FBI is arresting and detaining people who merely walked around, harassing conservatives who’ve come forward with information, and doing everything in their power to conceal the identities of everyone in that video except Ashli Babbitt. 

    If they want to dispel conspiracy theories they should stop hiding the facts. 

    • #111
  22. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    MDHahn (View Comment):
    This was a giant false flag to randomly kill……. a single white woman? What on earth leads you to believe that? If the goal was to kill Trump supporters, which seems like where you’re going with this, then why not a whole lot more? There were ample targets that day.

    The goal of Antifa was to cause mayhem and make it look like Trump supporters. We have admissions of this.

    The goal of whoever hired or facilitated them was to cower the shaky kneed Republicans into withdrawing their Electoral Vote challenges and prevent the 70 hours worth of evidence from ever being heard. They succeeded.

    The goal of the media is to keep all of these players hidden so that nobody ever knows the thing that caused the thing.

    • #112
  23. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    MDHahn (View Comment):

    Where we disagree is on Babbitt’s culpability. The previous  last summer don’t excuse subsequent rioters. Nor does the fact that other rioters faced less resistance. She was breaking the law and was part of a group trying to get to members of Congress during the certification process. She shouldn’t have expected a walk in the park. Any sentient adult should know that is a very dangerous thing to do.

    This is all well and good. But I think that we can also question whether Babbitt deserves to be dead based on her actions.  Let’s grant that an unarmed Babbitt was a “rioter” undeserving of a “walk in the park.”  So . . . shot and dead?

     

     

    • #113
  24. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    Vince Guerra (View Comment):
    If they want to dispel conspiracy theories they should stop hiding the facts.

    There’s an ongoing investigation. I suspect facts will emerge in time for some lurid mid-term ads footage.

    • #114
  25. philo Member
    philo
    @philo

    Baker (View Comment): …poor planning meant they were wildly overwhelmed… Clearly the capitol police management completely failed…

    What did Nancy (and Mitch) know and when did they know it? (Serious question…even while I am still giggling at that earlier “Baker Dude” line.)

    • #115
  26. MWD B612 "Dawg" Member
    MWD B612 "Dawg"
    @danok1

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Vince Guerra (View Comment):
    If they want to dispel conspiracy theories they should stop hiding the facts.

    There’s an ongoing investigation. I suspect facts will emerge in time for some lurid mid-term ads footage.

    Well, Zafar, from news reports it seems they’ve already cleared the officer. And as for an ongoing investigation being the reason to suppress facts, note that in the shooing in Columbus, which is being investigated, we know the name of the officer, the fact that he was a “marksman” in the military, etc. We know enough about him for LeBron James to threaten him over Twitter. See this post by OccupantCDN.

    I can’t recall a single police shooting where the name of the officer(s) involved were not released.

    Though I agree that any release will be timed to the midterm elections.

    • #116
  27. DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone Member
    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Flicker (View Comment):
    I didn’t but I wasn’t so much listening for background voices.  But even so, was it Babbit who yelled that?

    No, completely different video, completely different window. This was an outside one. And I think (I’m not sure, but I think) this is the same one where Antifa members are identified as doing the smashing and egging people on to enter.

    You mentioned before the video that has Antifa busting a window and people yelling at him to stop. That’s the one I’m thinking of. I think that video linked above is of the same window.

    • #117
  28. DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone Member
    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Zafar (View Comment):
    There’s a lot that doesn’t add up (how did at least some rioters know how to find unmarked offices, why was Ayana Presley’s alarm button pulled out of the wall)

    Is that true, or is that one of those things like AOC cowering in her office when the rioters banged on her door — only to find out later she wasn’t even in the same building, and the people who came to her door were capitol police trying to escort her to safety — and she decided she couldn’t trust them because COPS = BAD!

    The actual truth about what happened that day will likely never come out if we have to depend on Democrats and the Media to inform us.

    • #118
  29. DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone Member
    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone
    @DrewInWisconsin

    By the way, we’ve recently learned that Hodgkins’ attempt to mass murder Republican members of Congress at a softball game has been declared a “suicide by cop” by the FBI. Not a domestic terrorist incident. Not an attempted mass murder. A “suicide by cop.”

    The FBI is not to be believed. About anything.

    I wouldn’t trust a single word Christopher Wray says about Jan. 6th, and nobody else should either.

    Destroy the FBI and salt the earth where it stood.

    • #119
  30. MWD B612 "Dawg" Member
    MWD B612 "Dawg"
    @danok1

    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone (View Comment):

    By the way, we’ve recently learned that Hodgkins’ attempt to mass murder Republican members of Congress at a softball game has been declared a “suicide by cop” by the FBI. Not a domestic terrorist incident. Not an attempted mass murder. A “suicide by cop.”

    The FBI is not to be believed. About anything.

    I wouldn’t trust a single word Christopher Wray says about Jan. 6th, and nobody else should either.

    Destroy the FBI and salt the earth where it stood.

    Hodgkin had a “kill list” on him, asked if the players were the Democrat or Republican team, and had no reason to expect security to be there. But sure, it was a suicide-by-cop.

    They must think we’re idiots.

    BTSTTG.

    • #120
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