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. Suspira Member
    Suspira
    @Suspira

    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone (View Comment):

    Suspira (View Comment):
    I simply cannot understand why the unfortunate death of this woman has become something of a casus belli on the right.

    Because it highlights the sheer hypocrisy of the Dem/Left/Media axis of evil.

    And this is the first time I can ever recall that such an event happened where the person who pulled the trigger has been kept anonymous.

    Perhaps it does highlight the Left’s hypocrisy, but there are better examples of it. Pretty much everything they say and do illustrates their hypocrisy. 

    • #121
  2. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    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.

    Brought to you by the people who investigated Hunter Bidens laptop, Joe’s Ukraine dealings, Hillary’s emails, Epstein’s island…

    I don’t want their laughable reports, I want the names of who was there. The internet can do it’s own reporting and in about ten hours we’ll know what these people are all about.

    • #122
  3. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    DrewInEastHillAutonomousZone (View Comment):

    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.

    Yes, I remember a video but I didn’t remember (or think to look) Ashli Babbit in it.  I think I included that in my comments at #109.

    Do you have a link for it?

    • #123
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