The Capitol Police will be expanding outside DC
What could possibly go wrong?
The January 6th Capitol incursion was the gift to the left that keeps on giving. Then again, was it even a gift, or was it an event partly-orchestrated and steered by the FBI? Either way, the left has made very effective use of it. I don’t think I know a single Democrat who isn’t convinced that it was a highly dangerous insurrection and just the tip of the white supremacist Trump-supporter iceberg.
On the 6th or 7th of January, one of the first thoughts I had when I read the news was: “Reichstag fire.” I was hardly alone in that thought; it was actually rather obvious to anyone with at least a smattering of history concerning the rise of the Nazis and their consolidation of power. About a month later, I wrote a post entitled “We’ve had the Reichstag fire – what’s next?” Here’s the passage that concludes that post:
These developments are just another reminder that, brilliant as the Constitution is and brilliant as the men who devised it were, a constitution cannot rein in a people who have lost their virtue and who support a party that believes the ends justify the means. And the Founders knew that they could not protect us indefinitely from that.
That was written five months ago. Yesterday we got the following news:
The United States Capitol Police (USCP) will open new regional offices in response to increased threats to members of Congress since the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, the police agency announced Tuesday.
The first announced two field offices will open in California and Florida, with additional states expected in the “near future,” acting USCP Chief Yogananda Pittman said in a statement Tuesday. The purpose will be “to investigate threats to Members of Congress.”
…In a follow-up statement to Fox News, USCP revealed the new offices will be in the Tampa and San Francisco areas because that’s where many of the threats are concentrated and more offices are on the way.
I thought that sort of intelligence was the province of the FBI – an agency that has earned distrust in recent years. But why would they need augmentation by the Capitol Police (who also didn’t cover themselves with glory on January 6th)?
And why San Francisco, except that it’s the home of Nancy Pelosi? Is the city now a hotbed of alt-right militant radicalism? I find that especially hard to believe. If you want to look at actual violence against members of Congress, rather than threats, look no further than Rand Paul and Steve Scalise. And yet I find it hard to believe that this expansion of the Capitol Police will focus much on threats to members of Congress on the right, although the article does cite attacks on the home of Republican Representative Nancy Mace as an example of the problem they are trying to counter:
Members of Congress have reported having to take extra security precautions at their homes in response to the increased threat level. In one instance, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., had to call the police in Charleston after her house was vandalized over Memorial Day weekend with profanity and anarchist symbols.
More [emphasis mine]:
“Throughout the last six months, the United States Capitol Police has been working around the clock with our Congressional stakeholders to support our officers, enhance security around the Capitol Complex, and pivot towards an intelligence-based protective agency,” [USCP acting director] Pittman said.
And yet the Capitol Police had plenty of intelligence prior to the January 6th incursion that told them something of the sort was planned – in fact, the FBI may indeed have helped plan it.
This emphasis on intelligence seems to be a way to use the January 6th event to spy even more pervasively and effectively on Americans. Unfortunately, at this point there’s no reason to trust them to have our interests at heart.
I guess Congress has the power to make the Capitol Police into this; if the FBI is Constitutional it’s hard to see how this wouldn’t also be. Which isn’t to say they SHOULD. Scope creep and turf fights are a given.
Somehow I doubt that the USCP chief who is close to Nancy Pelosi is worried about Nancy Mace’s problems. According to this, it was the police who called Ms. Mace about her home being vandalized, not her calling them.
Combine this move with the Xiden administration’s plan to go “door to door” providing Americans “the information they need” to be convinced that the vaccines are ‘safe’.
6000+ deaths and 400,000+ severe reactions would argue otherwise but of course, the democrat party has “alternative facts”.
Just don’t open the door because its a virtual certainty that if you decline or argue that you’re going to be put on the deplorable watch list. Of course, we here are probably already on that list.
Early on, Dennis Prager called this purported “insurrection” the Democratic Party’s Reichstag fire.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/video-dennis-prager-this-is-the-reichstag-fire-relived_3657503.html
The “Biden” administration appears to agree with Prager wholeheartedly…and “Biden” knows that if “he” wishes to fundamentally transform America, “he” must act “with all deliberate speed”.
+ Bonus:
This poor “Biden” spokesperson is, alas, just not up to True Jen’s dazzling standards…
https://www.foxnews.com/media/ap-reporter-stuns-biden-state-department-spokesperson-during-press-briefing
This stuff is the yeast in the bread dough, put an element of the Federal Government out in various places where it can grow and it will grow and spread. This is the Deep State playing the long game.
Great point, Neo, about choosing SF for one of the first field offices. Guess they feel they need to do so in order to support the narrative, “conservative white men = biggest threat”.
Apparently there are some police the left doesn’t want to defund.
Can we send all of Congress to Guantanamo to keep them safe?
Why Tampa? Do they want to protect Brady and the Buccaneers?
The first announced two field offices will open in California and Florida, with additional states expected in the “near future,” acting USCP Chief Yogananda Pittman said in a statement Tuesday.
USCP Chief Yogananda Pittman?
That’s one I had to look up. The original Yogananda was part of the first wave of Hindu gurus who came to America in 1920s. His “Autobiography of a Yogi” sold over four million copies. (I read it as an impressionable teen from my mother’s bookshelf.)
Wiki offers no information how Chief Pittman came by that first name. However, the Chief is a black woman and she was appointed to the position two days after 1/6.
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NB: On February 15, 2021 the U.S. Capitol Police Labor Committee, the union representing Capitol Police officers, voted 92% against Pittman in a vote of no confidence in her leadership.
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Everything is coming along swimmingly!
“Why Tampa? Do they want to protect Brady and the Buccaneers?”
Maybe they want to protect the Tampa Bay Rays from the BoSox! The AL East rivalry is heating up.
First step in creating a National Police Force under the direct command of Nancy ice cream & white wine Pelosi.
Florida? A shot across DeSantis’ bow.
They would love for you to die…and will be happy to help you get there.
I said earlier today at another website, “If you picked DC Capitol Police on your Future American Gestapo football squares, come get your prize.”
Also, Robert Barnes, said earlier today,”Guess which police force is completely exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, completely outside executive branch control & completely beholden to most corrupt members of Congress. The same one extending its authority to the whole country, w/ cross-country offices.”
On a totally unrelated topic, about a decade ago, some bureaucrat in Bangkok noticed some anomalies in the property registration and taxation regime way down south on the swimming in cash tourist island of Phuket. So off they sent a senior civil servant to sort it out.
He came back two weeks later.
In a body bag. With a neat hole in his forehead.
The property taxation and registration system on the charming tropical island of Phuket to this day exhibits the same anomalies and lacunae. Curiosity about them has waned.
FractalRabbit:
Well that seems to possibly present some separation of powers issues (DOH). I’m expecting the legal scholars and authorities at NPR, PBS, and the MSM to take up this potentiality. One justice is served, of course.
Fractal Rabbit:
Plus, as I mentioned, its acting chief (Yogananda Pitt) was chosen on the basis of her intersectionality, not the confidence of her officers.
The Capitol Police are not One Riot, One Ranger material for sure.
The Capitol Police did such an outstanding job on Jan. 6. Let’s expand their power and budget! Yup, that will fix things.
In protecting the murderer of Ashli Babbitt, the Capitol Police are now complicit in her murder. Of course, that includes most of Congress, the administration and the mass media.
Being complicit in a murder makes them criminals. Sooner or later, some will treat them accordingly. I don’t doubt that democrat congressmen fear reprisals, as they’re doing all they can to foment them. At some point everyone has a limit to the abuse they’ll take.
For some congressional democrats like AOC, it may be a case of imagined fears but I suspect for most its fearful anticipation.
Being such public figures, when the caca hits the rotary impeller, they’re going to get their share and they sense it. What they fear most is the mid and lower echelons in the military acting in support of the Constitution. That’s why the insistence on CRT indoctrination for the troops. But most aren’t buying it because a soldier willing to risk their life in defense of their country cannot be persuaded that just the color of their skin makes them evil.
That dog don’t hunt. It’s just going in one ear and out the other.
Capitol police are a private police force of Congress. Their authority is limited to the capital. Florida should boot them out.
om,
I expect the legal scholars will take it up as soon as they take up the stolen election issue. And by take it up, I mean pass some sort of law to skirt the separation of powers issue so that it’s no longer an issue. For them.
huxley,
Yogananda Pitt.
I doubt I could come up with a name that screamed “intersectionality” like ‘Yogananda Pitt’ does. Pretty efficient use of 5 syllables.
Yogi panda Pitt, Nancy’s law dog, or lap dog. They’ve only murdered one citizen so far, does she know that was already too many?
Ashli Babbitt, RIP.
I think Nancy Pelosi wants a Private State Police, answering only to her. The German word geheime has a secondary meaning of ” private “. Now, what could the German for Private State Police be?
From what Richard Barnes says, the Capitol Police do not answer in any way to the Executive Branch, hence Justice Department, and are unencumbered by Freedom of Information Act jurisdiction. Hmm.
Tell me this, where does their jurisdiction originate? I would have thought the States would have the authority to forbid their branch offices from operating. Not so? Why not?
In any case, I propose we all dress up like bums, go to San Francisco, and poop on the sidewalk in front of the office. Form a line, even.
Sorry: Robert Barnes.
Praetorian Guards.
Even those dreaded and malignant “storm troopers” that Nancy spoke of last summer who were active in Portland had a Federal facility they were “trooping.” And of course they were part of the Executive branch. Not so it would seem for the Nancy Cops of Congress. since the
SS has already been claimed, should the CBRC called the CC or CCP (Capitol Cops Progressive 🙂 )?
Or the new Krazy Kapitol Kops? Yogi panda Pit in a black hajib, stylin’. The SS were partial to black togs IIRC.
Autocomplete is not my friend it seems, more gibberish than usual from my “smart” phone. 🙂
And to thoroughly flog the dead pony, the Democrat party SA, only ideas, Antifa and BLM, have not been idle. Shaping the battlespace so to speak.
That’s enough optimism for one evening?
Under the Biden-Harris-Pelosi anti-Constitutional regime, we will learn just how many federal police forces there are: Congressional? EPA? Treasury?
Jerry Pournelle several times listed how many government agencies had strange armed divisions with the power of arrest. Wish I’d kept that list now.
I don’t believe its constitutional for an arm of the Congress to be operating anywhere but in the Congressional office complex. This is an executive function.
Note, the total manpower of the Capitol Police might just suffice to patrol Jacksonville, Florida. As we’ve seen, they’re not a high performance agency. They have more in common with the county bailiffs’ corps than they do with an urban patrol force.
Almost an act of desperation, Nancy?
By the way, it’s Pittman, not Pitt.
I think Nancy Pelosi wants a Private State Police,
Her life expectancy is about 9 years, of which she can expect to be lucid for 6 or 7 years. She’s already the oldest person ever to sit in the speaker’s chair and her two deputies are, respectively, a few months older and a few months younger than she is.
Art Deco:
So what? Do you really think she sits around thinking about that when she makes her decisions? She’s interested in power, and holding onto it as long as possible.
While I wanted to agree with Art Deco about the constitutionality of the USCP operating outside of their core complex, Wikipedia says they have both DC wide and a national jurisdiction: “While performing protective functions, the Capitol Police have jurisdiction throughout the entire United States.[3]” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Capitol_Police.
And [3] = “2 U.S. Code § 1966 – Protection of Members of Congress, officers of Congress, and members of their families”.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/2/1966
This doesn’t address the core constitutionality of whether Congress can have a police force, if they are restricted to making the laws and not enforcing them. They clearly need personnel for committees and other admin functions, but don’t need police to actually pass legislation. But they needed something from the beginning, it appears: a protective watchman started in 1801, and a formal department in 1828, expanded since then.
Thus the protective function could well be challenged as properly being only an executive branch operation. The Marshall Service provides protection for (some) judicial activities and personnel, it appears. Surprising this issue has not come up previously, but then Congress also delegated legislative activity to the executive agencies, so why not take on executive functions in turn.
Any legal beagles here have a better take on this?
So what? Do you really think she sits around thinking about that when she makes her decisions?
If she’s an ordinary person, she does.
While I wanted to agree with Art Deco about the constitutionality of the USCP operating outside of their core complex, Wikipedia says they have both DC wide and a national jurisdiction: “While performing protective functions, the Capitol Police have jurisdiction throughout the entire United States.
1. Why quote Wikipedia?
2. They’re not actually performing any protective function in Los Angeles unless they’re traveling with a member of Congress. You don’t need a district office to do that.
3. The problem, as always, is that our odious judiciary only enforces constitutional provisions on a whim.
The Jan 6 event is often likened to The Reichstag Fire.
I’m beginning to see parallels with John Brown’s Harpers Ferry Raid, though.
“Somehow I doubt that the USCP chief who is close to Nancy Pelosi is worried about Nancy Mace’s problems. According to this, it was the police who called Ms. Mace about her home being vandalized, not her calling them.” – TommyJay
Well, once the Democrats get through defunding the local police, who else can they call to protect them from the rabble?
“1. Why quote Wikipedia?” – Art Deco
Good question.
https://justthenews.com/accountability/cancel-culture/tuewikipedia-more-one-sided-ever-co-founder-warns
So many threads this post is relevant to – but this one will suffice.
https://notthebee.com/article/this-1963-report-on-how-the-communist-party-wanted-to-take-over-america-is-ridiculously-relevant-for-today
Very long and detailed list of the Left’s tactics and strategy, which seem to have been successfully implemented to date.
As Neo said the Battle of Capital Hill is the gift that keeps on coming.
My thought is the Soviet Marxists had Kulaks, American Marxists have white supremacists, same difference.
“Robert Barnes @barnes_law
Guess which federal police force is completely exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, completely outside executive branch control & completely beholden to most corrupt members of Congress. The same one extending its authority to the whole country, w/ cross-country offices.”
https://twitter.com/barnes_law/status/1412590660029501440
Will the “strike force” people who will go door-to-door the enforce covid vaccine compliance be deputized Capitol Police officers?
Do USCP have arrest powers outside DC?
Someone needs to ask Pelosi, so you don’t trust the local/state police, nor the FBI to investigate legitimate threats congress people?
Of course, if the goal isn’t to investigate LEGITIMATE threats, then the USCP will be investigating ANY threat, including colorful rhetoric which Heir Nancy Jackboots Pelosi deems threatening to her.
via Instapundit, Reynolds posting: Paul Sperry at RealClearInvestigations — https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2021/07/07/naming_the_capitol_cop_who_killed_jan_6_rioter_ashli_babbitt_779601.html
Lt. Michael L. Byrd
That is the name.
@Robert Shotzberger: Their authority is limited to the capital.
Limited by whom? By Congress. Congress is changing the limit to include the whole nation.
Congress makes the laws that define the authority of the entities which they create through the other laws they pass….
@R2L:This doesn’t address the core constitutionality of whether Congress can have a police force, if they are restricted to making the laws and not enforcing them.
Section 9 of Article I (what Congress cannot do) does not say that Congress cannot have police. Article I does not say that Congress is limited to the powers enumerated in Section 8, which are already quite broad. The “necessary and proper” clause probably has all that’s needed…
Congress makes the laws that define the authority of the entities which they create through the other laws they pass….
Again, the government is segmented into executive, legislative, and judicial departments. The Congress can not properly over-ride that distinction through statutory legislation. They’re not performing a support-staff function by having a permanent presence in Miami or Frisco.
Also,
“In February 2019, [Capital Police] Lt. [Michael] Byrd was investigated for leaving his department-issued Glock-22 firearm unattended in a restroom on the House side of the Capitol…”
“In February 2019, [Capital Police] Lt. [Michael] Byrd was investigated for leaving his department-issued Glock-22 firearm unattended in a restroom on the House side of the Capitol…”
Great. Toking on the job.
Should one wonder if Pelosi’s Praetorians have a mandate to intimidate judges….?
Because here we go:
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/thudemocrats-dug-themselves-election-integrity-hole-courts-may-bury-them
Yep, clawing back, state by state. The “beginning of the end”? Or merely the “end of the beginning”? (With apologies…)
One might hope that the Democrats’ thirst for endless destruction boomerangs entirely. (Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of psychopaths….)
“The Congress can not properly over-ride that distinction through statutory legislation.” – Art Deco
The list of things that we now know government agencies do, even though they cannot properly over-ride their controlling statutes, is too long for one comment.