FBI warns of ‘war’ – “As of 5 January 2021, FBI Norfolk received information indicating calls for violence in response to ‘unlawful lockdowns’ to begin on 6 January 2021 in Washington, D.C…An online thread discussed specific calls for violence to include stating ‘Be ready to fight. Congress needs to hear glass breaking, doors being kicked in, and blood from their BLM and Pantifa slave soldiers being spilled. Get violent. Stop calling this a march, or rally, or a protest. Go there ready for war. We get our President or we die. NOTHING else will achieve this goal.”
This was the warning an FBI office in Virginia issued the day before last week’s deadly riots. It was written within 45 minutes of receiving the information and shared with numerous law enforcement agencies. And then what happened? No one is quite sure. What we know now is that the deep-dive into what happened and why, is just beginning. Some lawmakers are calling for an investigation into visitors’ access to the Capitol the day before the riot, citing “an extremely high number of outside groups” on January 5. The Government Accountability Office has signaled they would look into what role, if any, members of Congress played in inciting the mob and the inspector general’s office of the Capitol Police has begun an in-depth look into Wednesday’s security breaches. We also know that participating in the insurrection were police officers (including a trained sniper), current and former members of the military, elected officials, firefighters (including one charged with throwing a fire extinguisher at police) and a former gold medal Olympian who wore his Team USA jacket to the riot. (Washington Post, New York Times, Rolling Stone, AP)
D.C. police heroes –
D.C. officer Daniel Hodges got to the Capitol grounds after the rioting was underway. As he waded into the crowd, he was knocked to the ground and someone tried to gouge his eyes out. Pulled free by another officer, he made it to the West Terrace doors to try to hold the rioters back. Hodges is the officer that is seen being crushed against a door by the mob. His gas mask was ripped off, bear spray was sprayed directly in his face repeatedly and he was beaten on the head with his own baton. Fellow D.C. police officer Michael Fanone was one of a number of officers that held the line at the West Terrace doors in a standoff that would last hours. “We were battling 15,000 people. It looked like a medieval battle scene,” he said. He was pulled outside, and down a set of stairs by his helmet, beaten with metal pipes – including one with a U.S. flag still on it – and tazed. “We got one! We got one! Kill him with his own gun!” An overhead photo shows him face down on the ground with a rioter holding a police baton at his neck. In those moments he thought he would die, he thought of his four daughters. (Washington Post, NY Post, WUSA9)
Listen to this entire interview from an officer who was assaulted at the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/IYV2aumwnw
— Heath Mayo (@HeathMayo) January 15, 2021
Feel good story of the day – snow art – Amy and Eric Flygare spent a few hours last Saturday stomping through the snow in Logan Canyon. By the end of their three-hour “workout,” they had created a 300-foot pinwheel in the snow. Eric is an engineer and sketches out the patterns, calculates the steps needed and then he and Amy use snowshoes, a compass and careful counting to make the pattern into snow. (Fox 13, Herald Journal, KSL)
