Only a little bit pregnant?
The usually perspicacious Jonathan Turley has rendered his verdict. “No insurrection” on January 6 because “90 to 95% of these [arrested] are one-off cases.” Charged with trespass, not sedition. “There was no grand scheme with Roger Stone and Alex Jones and all of these people to storm the Capitol and take hostages,” Turley writes.
But even the celebrated jurist must admit:
Then you have five percent, maybe, of these militia groups that were more closely organized. … some clearly came prepared for rioting with ropes, chemical irritants and other materials. Those cases, however, are a small group among the hundreds charged and an even smaller percentage among the tens of thousands of protesters on that day.
Is that not the usual prescription? The vanguard fans the crazies of the “mostly peaceful protest” into rioters? But January 6 is not about smashing glass on State Street, Madison. It was about thwarting the will of the majority to stop the constitutionally mandated transfer of power in the Nation’s Capitol.
Indeed, 40 (out of 570 arrested, according to Turley’s numbers) ARE charged with conspiracy. Which begs the question: how many provocateurs does one need? Is there a mathematical formula? We doubt that actual BLM or Antifa provocateurs in even Portland OR could fill a big city courtroom. But pound social media long enough with hate and lies and soon Kenosha is burning. That’s what Trump did in the run-up to January 6.
Lighting the fuse
It is well established in law (attorney Turley knows this) that the intent required for criminal culpability can be formed the second before pulling the trigger. The Electoral votes are being counted in Congress that very day, their President has just told them they were robbed, to “be strong … and peaceful” (wink wink). That he hoped Mike Pence would “do the right thing.” What were those gallows all about?
So, yes, 90 to 95% did get caught up in the moment — that is how mobs are born. The RITOs responded, having been prepped since mid-summer 2020 when Trump said adverse public opinion polls showed the swamp was stacked against him.
Move past Trump into the sunshine.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: Granted, January 6 was mostly spontaneous, lightly-armed, and often bizarre. Involving a minority (570 arrests!) of the peaceful protesters who remained outside the Capitol. Maybe only a 2 on a scale of 10, with the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791 rating a 7. But STILL an insurrection that disrupted the peaceful transfer of power.
We say this as someone who continues to demand the arrest of Freedom Inc. for shutting down the Madison Board of Education. Who does not want Republicans be be the party of crazy.
→ And now Speaker Robin Vos is giving personal updates on election integrity to the chief instigator?
Blaska Policy Werkes 
36 responses to “Mostly not guilty of insurrection?”
No insurrection. Not a single person has yet been charged with that.
Mob mentality, criminal trespass, unlawful parading but no insurrection.
Even the FBI says no over riding group leading the mob.
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because they all plead down to lessed charges rather than go to court.
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richard lesiak wrote, “because they all plead down to lesser charges rather than go to court.”
That’s utter HOGWASH!!!
In this political climate if there were persons that were there with the intent of conducting an insurrection there would be absolutely NO plead down to lesser charges, they would charge them with insurrection, period, end of discussion.
There were definitely some riotous minded individuals that intentionally spurred a mob of ignorant people to enter the Capitol building and those few people need to be held accountable for their individual and/or collective actions of inciting riot.
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Well written, well reasoned. Thank you for continuing to hold the spotlight on this insane circus.
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I’d like to see him cover the ineptitude that caused the crisis in Afghanistan, the consequences of which are far more reaching than a few bad actors on 1/6.
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I keep hearing about those arrested at the so-called insurrection.
What about the thugs that tore this nation apart for most of 2020? Oh, they’re still out on the streets waiting for the next police “murder”.
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Maddening, isn’t it?
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Squire, salt, pepper eat crow.
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No kidding, Mark. I heard it’s best served cold
and garnished with bitter #NeverTrump entitlement.
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No bamboo?
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Wait till he starts realizing that there are serious questions already that the FBI may have instigated Jan. 6 like they did with the phony abduction of Michigan’s governor a/k/a Nurse Wretched.
Keep up!
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You mean, it’s not BLM or Antifa anymore. Now it’s an FBI false flag con job? Horns and bear pelt guy was an Agent In Charge?
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I am asking legitimate questions that are coming out, that FBI instigators were there that day, ALONG with the couple hundred people taking selfies and the BLM guy from Utah egging Ashli Babbitt on while she got shot.
Are you saying that it is intellectually impossible to acknowledge all of the above?
Please keep up. I can. So can you.
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No, I can’t keep up with crazy. Which is why I write: to rescue my Republican party from the Crazy.
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You poor devil.
Run for some office and win, drag ’em along on yer coat-tails.
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Liberal Glenn Greenwald lays it out.
Leftist progressives have frequently warned their members for decades to watch out for aggressive rah-rah types in their midst whipping up revolutionary fervor during antiwar protests. This is nothing new.
And more than 7 months later not one arrest of whoever was caught on video planting pipe bombs at the Republican and Democratic Party HQ in D.C. late the night of Jan. 5.
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/questions-about-the-fbis-role-in
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I have a feeling that you’d reject any evidence, even if God himself presented it. Leads one to believe that this is strictly about prejudice against Trump.
You’ve written just one post about the Afghanistan crisis, despite the fact that this will have far reaching implications for years to come. How can anyone even begin to compare a few unstable people entering the Capitol (reportedly with help from police) with the ongoing brutality & chaos occurring right now in the Middle East?
I have this funny feeling that if Trump was at the helm during this crisis, that you’d be hard on him, and rightfully so. But you seem to be holding back on Biden.
“No, I can’t keep up with crazy. Which is why I write: to rescue my Republican party from the Crazy.”
So unless we place 100% faith in the system and refuse to ask questions, we’re all delusional fools?
For someone who gets it right so often, you have a blind spot when it comes to anything Trump. When the only people agreeing with you are Progressives and Democrats, I think that maybe it’s time to consider what the rest of us are trying to say.
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To be fair, Vos has declared that this is not about overturning the vote, but election integrity. The idea of performing an audit to insure election integrity should not be controversial at all, and should be opposed by none. Calling it a waste of money is laughable. You’d have to look long and hard to find anything they pass that ISN’T a waste of money, in somebody’s opinion. I do not believe the election was stolen, but I absolutely believe there was cheating in several states, including ours. In addition, there were many illegal votes accepted. Chicken shit Hagedorn, said that yes, the votes were illegal, but he couldn’t see an appropriate and acceptable remedy. So he voted against the case. “Yeah, they were illegal, but I can’t see how to apply the law without pissing off a lot of people, so I’ll just punt.”
Thanks Judge.
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Nearly 15 million unaccounted for “mail-in” ballots in 2020. Counties that NEVER had Mail-in voting decided at the last minute to do that with no idea for proper procedures.
I had to show Photo ID at the polls with a securely monitored polling place staffed by election officials; meanwhile others could drop off 1 (or more) ballots at a city park into a bag held by who-knows-who. All funded by Zuckerberg in select Democrat cities.
This is a major problem, practically inviting ballot fraud, and while almost no one wants to publicly say it, privately most know it.
When precincts in parts of Madison report all time record vote counts and their results are 95% Biden, it’s almost laughably obvious that there was likely massive fraud in Democrat cities.
Does anyone really believe that Madison far-left progressives unanimously bought Biden’s steaming hot buffet line of B.S. and malarkey?
Come on, man.
(BTW, gotta love the look on his face when a reporter asked him about a CBS poll that most Americans not only disapprove of his handling of Afghanistan but most now question his competence to hold office.)
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Adam C. asks: “Does anyone really believe that Madison far-left progressives unanimously bought Biden’s steaming hot buffet line of B.S. and malarkey?”
Blaska answers: “I live in Madison. Voters here cut into the buffet line for seconds on B.S. and malarkey.”
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So now the Ninja report is delayed AGAIN because the group suddenly all got Covid. I think they are stalling till all the dark money checks clear the bank.
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Hagedorn said what the clerks did was illegal but not that the votes were illegal in the sense that he was not going to overturn the free will votes cast in good faith in only the two most Democrat counties. Suppose it is possible that Gableman will find bamboo but it is otherwise known what the problems were: “Democracy in the Park,” unattended ballot boxes, loosie goosie absentee voting, clerks signing affidavits, etc. Those have already or can be addressed by the legislature as Georgia has done.
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The only bamboo Gableman found was at the tiki bar where he spent some of our tax dollars. Why haven’t we gottten an accounting of how much this trip cost us?
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I think rather than beating the dead horse of an insurrection of 500 screwballs (“lightly armed”), you might be more concerned with the outcome of the forthcoming congressional vote by the estimated 70 million or so who voted last time for Trump.
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We’re in the midst of one of the biggest geopolitical screw-ups and crises of recent history and THIS is what we’re talking about?
Thousands of terrified Americans & allies are stranded in Afghanistan because of Democratic incompetence. People are again being beheaded, burned alive, & beaten in Afghanistan. ISIS & Al Quaeda have been released and with the Taliban now have our military equipment. Terrorist chatter is again increasing. We have lost our credibility around the world. China is rising in power.
But hey, let’s talk about the few hours where a FEW Americans entered the Capital (with assistance from the police). The offenders have been charged and punished accordingly. Great, let’s move one, because I’d say we have a much bigger mess on our hands.
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Forward your Move On to rep.vos@legis.wi.gov
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Why do you seem more upset by a few bad actors on 1/6 than by the crisis in the middle east? I’m stumped here.
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If you think he’s off on that now, you should have heard him when the Brits burned it down in 1814.
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Vos just flew down to Fld. to kiss trump’s ass. Who paid for that and why?
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What difference does that make, Les? Are you saying there’s money in politics?
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I’m getting really sick and tired of this nonsense!
When are you people going to respect the fact that Dave Blaska has a different opinion about the events of January 6th than you do? I am one of the people that disagree with Dave on the use of the word “insurrection” and condemning President Trump as “inciting an insurrection” to describe the events of that day. I do agree with Dave that each and every person that took part in the “riot” should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and if you don’t agree with me on that point then we are on opposing sides of reality.
Now climb down off your high horses and stop trying to smear Dave because you disagree with him, that’s what the political left does or do you want to be tarred as an irrational progressive hacks because that’s exactly what some of you are acting like and I’m about to label you as.
Fix your attitudes and stop acting like ignorant progressive social justice warriors.
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Frankly, Mr. Blaska plays a bit fast and loose with words such as “traitor”. He’s quite fond of poking other people in their emotional gut, but doesn’t at all like it when people poke back. There’s a word for that…
I do agree with Dave that each and every person that took part in the “riot” should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and if you don’t agree with me on that point then we are on opposing sides of reality.
Everyone? Even the known FBI informants? Say, when do we get a real investigation into the murder of Ashli Babbitt? Do you expect to see any Federal indictments handed down onto the Antifa who attempted to invade the White House and burn down a church?
The word that some people need to learn is this: “Anarcho-tyranny”. It is what we are now in the middle of. “Law and order” only applies to us now. “Equal before the law” is dead. The Left/ Progressive side killed it.
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This blog is titled “Mostly not guilty of insurrection”…. people are going to comment on that! NO ONE was charged with insurrection. They can barely charge people with illegal parading and unauthorized selfies.
The continuing hysteria about a 3-hour beer belly putsch Jan. 6 — possibly egged on by undercover federal agents and filmed by BLM activist John Earle Sullivan — at this point is just plain ridiculous, while thousands of American citizens are stranded in Afghanistan with a few days left until the “Tolly-Bon” slams shut the door of opportunity for those people.
In 1979 they used the word “hostages” for this kind of thing.
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AdamC wrote, “The continuing hysteria about a 3-hour beer belly putsch Jan. 6 — possibly egged on by undercover federal agents and filmed by BLM activist John Earle Sullivan — at this point is just plain ridiculous, while thousands of American citizens are stranded in Afghanistan with a few days left until the “Tolly-Bon” slams shut the door of opportunity for those people.”
This is the same kind of deflection tactic that progressives use all the time.
AdamC wrote, “The continuing hysteria about a 3-hour beer belly putsch Jan. 6 — possibly egged on by undercover federal agents…”
I wouldn’t put it past the FBI to be egging on this like they did the Michigan Governor kidnapping but I haven’t actually seen evidence to support it yet. If there were FBI agents that chose to be part of the riot of their own volition and not part of an FBI undercover mission then that cannot be placed on the FBI as an organization.
Correlation ≠ Causation.
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No Body wrote, “He’s quite fond of poking other people in their emotional gut, but doesn’t at all like it when people poke back. There’s a word for that…”
I really don’t see Blaska complaining that people are poking him, heck he’s been poked at by the political left for a long time, I’m the one that chose to say something about the nonsense. In my opinion, implying that Blaska is hypocritical is unsupportable and I think you owe Blaska an apology.
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No Body wrote, “Everyone?”
Yes everyone.
No Body wrote, “Even the known FBI informants?”
Yes, if they were part of the riot, they should be prosecuted too.
No Body wrote, “Say, when do we get a real investigation into the murder of Ashli Babbitt?”
Here is what I wrote elsewhere about this…
I’ve watched every video I can find of the Babbitt shooting and in my opinion, the shooting of Ashli Babbitt was NOT justified, she was not a physical threat to anyone at the time she was shot and if the officer claimed otherwise he is a liar. The officer should be prosecuted for murder, period.
No Body wrote, “Do you expect to see any Federal indictments handed down onto the Antifa who attempted to invade the White House and burn down a church?”
Nope, I don’t “expect” to see any prosecutions related to those incidents but that doesn’t mean they won’t find out who the arsonists are and eventually prosecute them. By the way, none of the people in the protest across the street from the White House actually “attempted” to invade or enter the White House itself in any way, your statement is an extrapolation and the same kind of BS propaganda lie that the political left spews on a daily basis.
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