Radley Balko @radleybalko
Handgun. Zip ties. Punisher logo.
This image tells a huge story. And is a big worry.
Why did this guy have cable ties? What were they for?
You don't just randomly carry them around.
You can have a debate about guns and the legality of carrying them in DC. And whether BLM could v the Capitol Stormers.
But cable ties?
That suggests a degree of hope of storming the building. With the plan of taking hostages, if they found the right people. Possibly with the intention of executing them. This is a QAnon Fantasy which is circulating.
That smacks of terrorist intent.
The UN definition of terrorism is:
"All criminal acts directed against a State and intended or calculated to create a state of terror in the minds of particular persons or a group of persons or the general public."
Attacking a state building constitutes an attack on the state. It was definitely intended to intimate certain people (the note left on Pelosi's desk or the slogan 'murder the media' graffitied on the doors of the building). And the motivation was undeniably politically driven.
This photo (its getty images retweeted by a Washington Post columnist if you are looking for verification on authenticity) demonstrates just how dark and troubling it is.
Its suggesting strongly there is a risk of an American Jo Cox.
We already know how Trump has incited along those lines. Its real and people are taking it seriously.
And its a hint at how yesterday COULD have gone.
If the police really DID just open the barriers to these people as videos seem to suggest, thats incredibly worrying.
In that sense, its a whole lot darker than simply 'why didn't they arrest more people like BLM' or 'why wasnt their sufficient security beforehand like BLM'.
Given we know that Trump organised a rally calling these people to DC and he ultimately was the one in charge of security arrangements and didn't consider it appropriate to defend Congress adequately its dark.
I do think that with that in mind debates over why early on were there no more arrests and why were the trump supporters not confronted more aggressively rather than taken a defensive line to protect Congress need to be seen in this light.
They were outnumbered and the trump supporters were heavily armed. They walked into the building in a stroll as if they had all the time in the world. If challenged how would that have changed? Would it have been more of a risk.
Thoughts of what could have happened are frightening.
Are CNN right to use the word 'terrorism' and 'terrorists'?
I'd argue if you can't manage to call these people domestic terrorists then the problem with your political culture really does run deep to a frightening level.
Its not about being devisive at this stage. Its about correctly and clearly identifying the nature of the risk that is posed.
If you fail to do this you put those threatened by it, at even greater risk because you are minimising what is happening, the form its taking and who is enabling it.
You can dismiss it as 'just a harmless funny meme off the internet' when people are reading and getting into this idea.
Its not about creating division. Its about understanding what is actually happening accurately and just how serious it is.