The insurrection was not the coup itself. It was staged as the coup was failing. The insurrection and the coup were distinct, but the insurrection emerged from the coup. It has been a common conceptual error to consider the insurrection alone to be the coup. The coup, however, was an elaborate plot developed over months...
Tag: January 6
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The U.S. Capitol Police Are Ill-Prepared for Another Assault
BARRING SOME unforeseen and dramatic changes in the dynamics of American politics, we are headed for another wave of violence pivoting on the 2020 and 2024 elections, when Trump-Republican state and local officials are widely expected to protest Democratic victories at the polls and move to nullify the results. In place after place, according to...
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DHS Failed to Designate Jan. 6 as a Protected Event in Advance of Attack
The lack of designations is seen as an important link in the chain of security failures that contributed to the Capitol being overrun in a violent insurrection that sought to stop the certification of the Electoral College votes. Other failures include the absence of an intelligence bulletin specifically warning of threats to the Capitol that...
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Transparency and National Security: What News Editors Need to Tell Their Reporters
Dan Froomkin at PressWatch on journalism after January 6. The most important lesson of the Bush/Cheney years is that we should never assume government officials are telling us the truth, especially when it comes to matters involving war and national security. This is hardly an original lesson, and yet nonetheless it bears repeating. We should...