June 27, 2022

"We’re never going to be the ones to cross the police barrier or cross something in order to get to somebody."

Said Enrique Tarrio, the chairman of Proud Boys, in a recorded video conference on Dec. 30, 2020, quoted in "Proud Boys Ignored Orders Given at Pre-Jan. 6 Meeting/The directives, given during a video conference, included obeying police lines and keeping away from ordinary protesters. But members of the far-right group played aggressive roles in several breaches at the Capitol" (NYT).
Lawyers for the Proud Boys say the recorded meeting is a key piece of exculpatory evidence, contradicting claims by the government that a conspiracy to attack the Capitol was hatched several weeks before Jan. 6.

In court filings, prosecutors have claimed that the Proud Boys began to plan their assault as early as Dec. 19, 2020 — the day that President Donald J. Trump posted a tweet announcing his Jan. 6 rally and saying it would be “wild.” But the video conference shows that, just one week before the event, when Mr. Tarrio and other Proud Boys leaders gathered their team for a meeting, they spent most of their time discussing things like staying away from alcohol and women and taking measures to ensure their own security....

33 comments:

Yancey Ward said...

The government will claim that the video tape means the exact opposite of what it really means.

Anyone who claims there was an organized plan to storm the capital is just fucking stupid and/or lying.

tim maguire said...

We see in these charges and counter charges how useful it is for the government to pretend that protest groups are far more organized than they actually are. Proud Boys are not a registered corporation with control over their members. Who is a Proud Boy? Anyone who says they are, no? The leadership has, at best, persuasive powers over some number of members. They are not in control, not in charge in any meaningful way.

In fact, the Proud Boys, like Antifa, like BLM, like Q, like the Tea Party, doesn't really exist. Not, at least, in the way they are talked about by the media, the government, or their opponents. It's all a sham.

n.n said...

The denial of security, denial of civil rights, a Democrat Collusion and probable Whitmer event in progress.

Old and slow said...

Not sure what staying away from women was meant to accomplish...

rhhardin said...

You'd think Proud Boys would be a gay outfit.

Wa St Blogger said...

Can you be tried for conspiring to follow the law and avoid confrontation if the government needs you to be more civilly disobedient?

Owen said...

NYT article translated into plain English: “We need to smear this group to help create the paranoid fantasy that will justify the Administration exercising absolute and arbitrary tyranny. You know: Reichstag Fires don’t just light themselves. But we’re professionals and like to flatter ourselves and our readers with the appearance of fair and honest reporting, so here we open the story by conceding these people did everything right. Then we stick in the shiv with anonymous third-hand claims that ‘some people did something.’ Works every time!”

Dude1394 said...

And I am supposed to believe them when they are not allowing any rebuttal? No thanks.

Michael K said...

Ray Epps could be reached for comment. How many FBI guys were in Proud Boys?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

What? There is a story in the Times making cue plotters look good? That doesn't jive with the Times I know.

I should probably read the whole story before jumping to conclusions. Although, it's probably a bait and switch story.

Howard said...

Plausible deniability. A wink's as good as a nod to an obese deplorable.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

I no longer will read or consider anything reported by the NYT.

narciso said...

thats why they put at the end of the paper, behind the op ed pages

n.n said...

You'd think Proud Boys would be a gay outfit.

Or lions, perhaps cubs, on parade playing in gay abandon.

MalaiseLongue said...

@tim maguire: " . . . the Proud Boys, like Antifa, like BLM, like Q, like the Tea Party, doesn't really exist . . . "

Antifa -- quite well organized in Portland and elsewhere on the West Coast, with the ability to deliver funding, pallets of bricks, frozen bottles of water, and busloads of "antifascist" brownshirts to locations elsewhere -- is arguably the primary exception to this rule; see the book by Mark Bray and reporting by Andy Ngo. BLM is also something of an exception in that there are local BLM "chapters" around the country, though they have no formal accountability to the BLM founders/honchos in California.

Mark said...

Like corporate trainings, their seminars always have 100% adherence afterwards.

Just like students never disobey after the high school principal issues school rules.

What kind of rubes do their lawyer think we are?

William said...

I read the NYT report. The reporter states that there were numerous misogynistic, homophobic, and anti-Semitic comments, but he doesn't provide any examples. The reporter does point out one leader referred to the J.Q., i.e Jewish Question. The reporter doesn't state the context of how "J.Q." was used. The reporter does, however, point out that "JQ" is Nazi terminology.....Maybe, maybe not. I don't recall this kind of in depth reporting when it came to Occupy Wall St., BLM, Ruth Sent Me and other left wing protest groups. Misandry among feminists generally passes without notice or is praised for its militancy. I feel certain that if a NYT reporter really dug into it, he might find some quotes by OWS, BLM, et al. leaders that do not reflect the highest aspirations of humanity.

Mason G said...

"It's all a sham."

Even the racist hand signals? Say it ain't so!

Mason G said...

"though they have no formal accountability to the BLM founders/honchos in California."

Founders/honchos could not be reached for comment in their multi-million dollar estates.

Yancey Ward said...

"You'd think Proud Boys would be a gay outfit."

You would think so, but let's ask the expert: Howard, what do you call your group?

boatbuilder said...

Does the NYT piece include the information that Tarrio is an FBI informant?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/27/proud-boys-leader-enrique-tarrio-fbi-informant

It seems like it might have some relevance.

Howard said...

Howard, what do you call your group?

Yancey's Nancy's

n.n said...

Misandry among feminists generally passes without notice or is praised

Misandry, misogyny, and, a social irony, transphobia/homophobia, too, and, of course, transhumanity. Feminists, masculinists, and social progressives form a loo train.

Joe Smith said...

"Anyone who claims there was an organized plan to storm the capital is just fucking stupid and/or lying."

There were plans, we just haven't been told the names of the organizations who made and followed them...

Michael K said...

Blogger Howard said...

Plausible deniability. A wink's as good as a nod to an obese deplorable.


Howard, do you have a weight problem?

What's emanating from your penumbra said...

Until there is a full, verifiable and believable explanation for why Ray Epps isn't already in jail with the longest sentence out of any of the protestors, I won't give criticism of the protest an ounce of credence. After years of screeching about the lack of trust deserved by U.S. intelligence agencies, suddenly the sheeple are best friends with the wolves. Don't be naive.

tim maguire said...

MalaiseLongue said...Antifa -- quite well organized in Portland and elsewhere on the West Coast, with the ability to deliver funding, pallets of bricks, frozen bottles of water, and busloads of "antifascist" brownshirts

Things are done under their name, sure. What i mean is they are not a formal group--they don't have membership lists, dues, leadership structure. It's more like a generic term for violently radical left-wing nutjobs. That violence is done under their banner doesn't mean much when nobody controls the banner.

n.n said...

Antifa -- quite well organized in Portland and elsewhere on the West Coast

They do operate with some organization (e.g. website), but generally follow a distributed network model, processed through diverse channels (e.g. Twitter, Facebook).

Yancey Ward said...

Howard, I wouldn't fuck you and call you Nancy if you were the next to last living human on the planet.

gadfly said...

Yancey Ward said...
Anyone who claims there was an organized plan to storm the capital(sic) is just fucking stupid and/or lying.

Or more likely, vice versa. Did the Jan 6 Committee spend more time investigating the Capitol putsch than Yancey Ward? Methinks so. Has the DOJ also been doing investigations? Yep. But they are all telling lies in the Donald Trump mode while he permitted the violence to continue. Almost 900 convictions later, all trials had stupid judges and jurors.

iowan2 said...

Things are done under their name, sure. What i mean is they are not a formal group--they don't have membership lists, dues, leadership structure

Sounds exactly like Alcoholics Anonymous

tim maguire said...

iowan2 said...Sounds exactly like Alcoholics Anonymous

Good observation. Maybe that's why I spend so much time emphasizing the distinction between how they are portrayed in popular culture and how they actually operate.

Kirk Parker said...

{ distributed network model }

Sounds like Islam.