Crime and Punishment

January 6th and the Dog That Didn’t Bark

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I would like to add another dimension to Alan’s post regarding January 6th by focusing on the intelligence analysis and decision-making by various government agencies prior to that day.

There has been a lot of ink spilled by the old legacy press regarding the DOJ Inspector General’s (IG) report that the FBI had 26 informants on the ground during Jan. 6. Some commentators have seized upon a particular finding in the report, that there were no FBI agents physically present within the crowd that day, as definitive proof against broader theories of FBI involvement.

Let’s leave aside whether the scope of the report could adequately cover all of the FBI’s activities or even how a single data point (lack of FBI agents on the ground) is used to dismiss a complex web of questions in order to reach simplistic conclusions.

Instead let’s focus on something more nuanced concerning potential intelligence gathering, informants, and other forms of involvement that preceded the events of that day.

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Investigations To-Do List

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Regarding my previous post, I want J6 investigations to determine the numbers that engaged in the following:

  1. Attacked the defensive perimeter between the Capitol grounds and the area of the permitted Capitol protest
  2. Of those cited above, those who did and did not enter the Capitol grounds, and those who did and did not enter the Capitol building
  3. Engaged in assault to gain access to the Capitol building itself, or to areas within
  4. Other assaults by civilians
  5. Engaged in vandalism to gain access to the Capitol building or to areas within
  6. Other vandalism
  7. Entered the Capitol through unattended doorway (e.g. Chansley and his entourage)
  8. Entered the capitol through attended doorway with permission
  9. Accessed the Capitol grounds by climbing the west wall
  10. Of those cited above, those who did and did not enter the Capitol building (my own impression is that most were content to stay outside)
  11. Attempted to approach lawmakers while inside Capitol
  12. Did not attempt to approach lawmakers while inside Capitol
  13. All convictions of nonviolent persons who were never on Capitol grounds
  14. Capitol defenders lobbing tear gas canisters into the area of the permitted Capitol protest
  15. Capitol defenders lobbing tear gas elsewhere
  16. Assaults by non-civilians not involving tear gas

And now, on to other investigations the Trump administration or other parties should undertake.

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The FBI, Politics, and the Administrative State

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Timothy Carney writes:

”While President-elect Donald Trump drives out FBI Director Christopher Wray, Trump’s critics have taken to the airwaves, suggesting that the federal law enforcement agency should be beyond the reach of politicians. They posit a fourth branch of government outside of the executive branch and lean on the idea of a 10-year term for the director to suggest the bureau has always and should be run immune to the demands of elected officials.”

Reading this, two things come to mind.

In regard to politics…

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The Inconvenient Man

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Anybody here remember the name Nicholas Roske?

Probably not.

If you don’t that’s okay because there are a lot of people, especially right now, who wish you didn’t.

However, you do know the name of the killer of Brian Thompson.

I am not going to use that murdering sc*mbag’s name here. You can find it easily enough. There are millions of people treating him as a modern-day Robin Hood or (if they weren’t so ignorant of their cultural patrimony) an avenging angel. I shouldn’t say that about ignorance because you can actually purchase merchandise depicting the man as a saint. Just in time for Christmas…. or the Holidays…. or WinterFest or whatever they are calling it this year

Well, for now, regarding the merchandise because it seems Etsy is pulling this stuff down off their site as fast as it goes up. The other day there were multiple pages of stuff there for sale so maybe there is still hope for decency. Then again, there is always the possibility of our friends at places like Target stepping up — they haven’t forsaken the high holies of DEI yet, and open enrollment does run through Jan. 15.

So back to Nicholas Roske.

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The Jackal and a Quarter Pounder with Cheese

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For the past week, the brutal murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York City street has been a media spectacle dominating the pages and airwaves of about every legacy outlet out there. The killer had waited for Thompson to appear, used a suppressed pistol, and then during the shooting, when it appeared the weapon misfired, calmly cleared it and resumed firing. It was like something out of a movie. You can understand why the attention, especially when the shooter disappears until he is caught on Monday.

A few observations.

No one disappears without a trace. One of the first rules of investigations is that everyone, everywhere, leaves evidence of their passing in their wake. It is a matter of doing the detective work to dig up the clues. That process is enhanced, as Chinese surveillance networks demonstrate, by the massive amount of digital exhaust everyone in the developed world leaves.

As a kid, one of the first books I read after “The Magic Tree House” was the “The Day of the Jackal.” The author brilliantly leads the reader to expect that through meticulous preparation, the killer would escape detection. Of course he didn’t escape detection, even in pre-digital France. The twist was that he assumed he would not and planned accordingly.

Thompson’s killer worked hard to cover his tracks, digital and otherwise. He used burner phones to defeat geo-fencing, and otherwise took care to minimize his digital exhaust. He deployed a distinctive looking backpack as a “contra-indicator” that would provide a dead-end once abandoned, and he wore a common COVID-19 mask to defeat surveillance cameras and any witnesses. The guy even took the bus to prevent having to use an ID or have his license plate scanned.

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