I have an old classmate who is a US Capitol Police Officer

[Tommy_Carcetti]

Knew him from elementary through high school. Played little league with him, went to CCD classes with him, sat at the same lunch table at him. He was always a very nice, easy going and friendly guy.

Naturally I friended him on Facebook; unfortunately I soon found out he was the type of guy who liked to share everything and anything to his page. Not political stuff, but just general pop culture bullshit, and because my feed was becoming overwhelmed with his shares I ended up “unfollowing” him—meaning I was still friends with him but his posts would no longer appear on my page. Nothing personal though.

After Wednesday’s events and the news that a USCP officer had been killed in the riots, I became a little worried so I decided to check on his page.

I admit I’m more than a little concerned at what I founded.

Thankfully he was not the officer killed; and he did have several posts up mourning his fellow colleague. I have no idea whether he knew him personally or not.

But what was disturbing was that many of his other posts had clear Trumpist styled inflammatory rhetoric demonizing Democrats and President-elect Biden; he also mentioned that he had joined Parler.

And this was not just before the January 6th riots; it continued afterwards and even after news of the fallen officer had broken. So there appeared to be no great awakening on his part.

This cognitive dissonance baffles me; what sort of person mourns the loss of his colleague but also sympathizes with his killers?

And it’s quite sad that it’s very likely that an old friend of mine who I had good memories of may have been one of those officers who welcomed insurrectionists into the building he was supposed to protect with open arms and allowed them to denigrate our democracy like that.

I honestly don’t get it. We live in insane times.

[RKP5637]

1. Pretty clearly a lot of cult behavior is going on ... n/t

[SheltieLover]

2. Did you submit tip to FBI?

Really sad situation. Sorry to hear.

[Vivienne235729]

22. 1000+

[cilla4progress]

3. That's why so many refer to it as a

cult. It just takes them over. I don't know how it happens, though. I feel like they use some of the same tools as religion. Maybe we are all subject, on some level?

I had it happen to an old friend, too, though was not truly caught off-guard about it. We parted on friendly terms, but have not been in touch since! I was shaking when it went down - so terrified by it!

Sorry about this.

[AlexSFCA]

4. save screenshots of all his posts relevant to the event

may help investigation, he may need to testify under oath. This clearly needs to be reported to FBI.

[Old Crow]

19. +1 (N/T)

[Vivienne235729]

23. 1000+

[onecaliberal]

5. He needs to be purged from the ranks.

Not sure who your rep is but if they’re Democratic, please forward this guys information. We can’t have a single one of these people protecting our government.

[KentuckyWoman]

26. NO NO NO HELL NO.

Freedom of association. If the man did not do his job in the moment then that will be looked at in due course. If he did his job as expected, then he's fine in his role.

I refuse to support punishing people for beliefs or ideas. That is just wrong. This ISN'T a hunt for everyone who supports Trump and punish them. NO NO NO NO NO.

There are websites out there identifying people who simply attended the rally. Trying to get them fired, or worse. That is just flat wrong. It is another thing if someone stormed into the Capitol Building. Then they committed a crime. Peaceful protests are not a crime.

[Snackshack]

27. Agreed

Guilt by association is how people used to get burned at the stake for being “friends” with a witch. There needs to be verifiable proof of a crime before being guilt.

Innocent until proven guilty matters.

[onecaliberal]

28. This IS a hunt for everyone who puts their hand on the Bible and says they support and defend the

Constitution of the United States but then supports the overthrow of the US government to install an authoritarian murderous piece of shit and void the votes of 80 million people. Read history if you think we can move on without getting these people out of our government. This isn’t about ideals. It’s about DEMOCRACY and its survival.

[KentuckyWoman]

29. I'm sorry but no.

We start making people public enemy simply because they have a certain belief then whatever Democracy we think we are saving is worthless.

[onecaliberal]

30. I'm sorry but I'm not going to agree in this situation.

Some capital police let those psychos into the people’s house and showed them where to go. This isn’t guilt by association. This person is supposed to be protecting our government. SO YES!

[KentuckyWoman]

32. If his actions on duty warrant termination

Or if it can be shown he helped plan the assault - I'll buy the pen to sign his termination and be right up front helping him find the door.

[TexasLefty29]

31. Agreed agreed agreed

One thousand percent.

[JonLP24]

46. There is nothing wrong with identifying people that attended an insurrection

I can't believe you said peaceful protest. Anyways so far I'm hearing people inside the Capitol are the ones being doxxed and fired.

[RockRaven]

6. It's hard to admit, even just to oneself never mind others, that one has sided with "the baddies"

this whole time.

[PatSeg]

7. That is really sad

I think everyone has a story like that about relatives and old friends, people we thought we really knew. The devotion and support of a monster like Trump is so incomprehensible.

[Walleye]

9. Yes, trumps legacy, bitter division of family and friends, one of the worst things he's done

[PatSeg]

14. True, it is so personal

[MineralMan]

8. Send a link to his page to the FBI.

Really. They will be interested.

[Hortensis]

16. Yes, though the FBI will be checking ALL Capitol PD officers.

And as you say, they WILL be interested. This guy has some serious interrogation coming. And a new boss.

[Mariana]

17. Archive it and take screenshots first, in case he decides to delete.

https://www.stillio.com/how-to-archive-website#:~:text=A.,-Wayback%20Machine&text=Saving%20any%20URL%20to%20Wayback,That's%20it%20guys.

A. Wayback Machine
Wayback Machine is solely designed to store web pages across the Internet. Saving any URL to Wayback Machine is pretty easy.

Go to http://web.archive.org/.
Enter the target URL in the “Save Page Now” box and click on “Save Page”.
That’s it guys. Now your desired web page is permanently stored on Wayback.

[MineralMan]

18. Good idea.

Nothing is ever actually deleted on FB, though. It can all be recovered with a court order.

[A HERETIC I AM]

10. Seen on FB and elsewhere;

“Why you all lookin for the cops? You never ask where Miley is when Hannah Montana is on stage”

In other words, if you’re looking for the cops, they are with the vandals.

Your post verifies what is becoming increasingly apparent.

The terrorists had an easy entry into the building because many of the men supposedly there to protect it were on their side.

[Paladin]

11. Turn him in to the authorities. Don't let him be part of the next coup attempt.

Please. Just do it.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. Intel is that they will try again on 17th, 19th and 20th. . . . nt

[Old Crow]

20. +1 (N/T)

[gulliver]

12. It's a kind of insanity, for sure, but a fairly widespread kind.

I agree with others that he doesn't need to work for the Capitol Police.

Fox News and other vultures may have let your friend down and goaded him into insanity, sort of like Iago does with Othello.

[gibraltar72]

13. Been said already, but submit to FBI.

[DownriverDem]

21. A guy I know who

works in the Capitol, told me that many in the Capitol Police are trumpers. They need to be weeded out.

[jb5150]

24. Take screenshots of his posts, and send them to the FBI ...

........

[Skya Rhen]

25. Trump simply made it more comfortable for people to freely reveal their true selves

[krakfiend]

33. i know what you are saying

a lot of my family members are exactly the same way. i go crazy trying to understand their mentality

[Snackshack]

34. It's not hard to understand.

How a person can do this. Cognitive dissonance is real. The comment the news has played from Wednesday by a woman at the capital saying. They are pepper spraying us, we’re the patriots, they are supposed to do this the Antifa or BLM...or something like that shows clearly how people view this and their place in it Many honestly believe they are saving America by either tacit or direct support for decades these people have been hearing from right wing radio/Fox - Limbaugh, Savage, Ingraham, Hanity, O’Rielly etc and more recently from evangelicals how the “Demoncrats/progressives...the Clintons” want to destroy America, destroy god, destroy life. They firmly believe this just like Knights on Crusades used to believe it. After WW2 a huge effort was made to “de-nazify” people. After we invaded Iraq we heard about “de-ba’athification” of the people who supported Saddam and his Ba’ath party. Some of us find it difficult to understand how a person can set aside reason/rationality for what appears to us to be obviously wrong or insane but history shows clearly that humans can. At some point what Fox/Clear Channel/Many internet sites and now Newsmax/OAN broadcast is going to have to be addressed. People will always gravitate to what confirms their bias regardless of reality. Usually it takes a catastrophic event to stop it like a war...hopefully we will avoid that.

[DeminPennswoods]

41. Interesting about the "de-nazi-fication"

IIRC, McArthur did the same in Japan with the emporer.

[Jetheels]

35. It is insane...don't know if it will ever be figured out and maybe different reasons all around.

Imho it’s a combination of fear, stupidity, racism, homophobia, compartmentalizing, people who don’t know how to gather information from various sources and formulate their own opinion, brain washing/ lies from Fox News and many churches, the daily trump tweets and rallies designed and implemented as hypnosis. I know how you feel I too know perfectly otherwise nice people that are supporters. And he’s done it all in the open, not covering up his intention ever, I mean, he uses phrases straight out of authoritarian playbook such as, “ I alone can fix it”, “No one knows better than me”, “I love the uneducated”. “Make America great again”. Trump knows his audience. He’s stupid in a lot of things but he is a master manipulator, scammer, grifter, snake oil salesman, blamer, distracter, and knows how to throw anything into chaos. I doubt he is shaking in his boots at all of this, but most likely formulating his next schemes right now. He leaves behind piles of shit on purpose. He flourishes in piles of shit. Piles of shit are where he is most comfortable. Disaster areas are where he navigates best, case in point, NYC real estate in the 70’s. After the Hollywood Access tapes I thought, this is his end. After the Bernstein tapes I thought, this is his end. After January 6 coup attempt I thought this is his end. Certainly his brand is going to suffer. I mean, the rioters all wore the red cap and the flags. But as we move further away from January 6th, I’m wondering if the outcome was maybe calculated in. He niece says he is now as dangerous as ever. His silver spoon has protected him his entire life. He never has had to confront losing ever. That January 6 did not wake up your friend is sad and worrisome.

[jaxexpat]

36. Life is a series of experiences which transform a child into an adult personality.

Some experiences are accompanied by disruptions to one's "peace of mind" which can take years, or even forever, to repair. While these "wounds" remain unclosed, influences enter a more or less unfiltered domain. Perhaps as unbidden thoughts, like parasitic environmental viruses over which our immune system either takes control, ramping up to neutralize their presence or succumbs, perhaps to long term suffering. Each person has different thresholds of susceptibility, still harmful concepts do exist, seeking hosts in the unprepared or preoccupied mind. Naivete can be lethal. Introspection is housecleaning and an absence of introspection is unhealthy. Friends can seem like strangers. Ultimately they are.

Of course: That is probably just mumbo jumbo which I made up. We all mostly walk about in a bewilderment of our own internal conversations anyway.

[yonder]

42. +1.

[jaxexpat]

44. thks

[yonder]

45. I didn't elaborate but many things rang true for me:

"Naivete can be lethal. Introspection is housecleaning and an absence of introspection is unhealthy."
and:
"We all mostly walk about in a bewilderment of our own internal conversations anyway."

We all have flaws but lack of curiosity, both internal and external is huge in my book. There are so many folks walking around with self-righteous and reactive ideological switches just waiting to be tripped - the worst among us and for their own ends, know how and when to do the tripping.

[jaxexpat]

47. Bingo! As they say.

So many paths lead to gateways breached at peril and no good use. But I guess the greatest peril is complacency and it's accomplice, laziness. Our Mr Trump peruses and is victim to both. That does not circumscribe his burden nor, since he claims sentience, excuse his abominality. His is an all too common example of 21st century Americana. Even the would-be's of our suburbs emulate him.

[orleans]

37. you're right--absolutely INSANE times.

screen grab posts
contact fbi & suggest they check him/his whereabouts out on jan 6

[barbtries]

38. i don't know where you would go with this information,

but it seems useful in terms of cleaning out the capitol police and making sure that there is no rerun of last Wednesday between now and 20Jan2021.

[FakeNoose]

39. You have to wonder, why do people post this stuff publicly on Facebook?

I mean, on other websites like Twitter, Parler, Qanon, you can post stuff anonymously. Your boss, your family, your friends can't associate the political crap with you, if you don't want them to. People have been fired for stuff they've posted on Facebook - long before the attempted coup at the U.S. Capitol building.

How stupid does a person have to be, when they put it up on Facebook? It's a slap in the face to everyone they ever knew.

[BobTheSubgenius]

40. I know a few of them here in Canada.

Not just Canada in general, but in a pretty liberal part of it.

[DeminPennswoods]

43. I think it's really true that human brains are programmed

differently. I don't know if it's nature, nurture of a combination of both, but some people are pre-disposed to believe nonsense, fantasy, whatever you want to call it. It's like people being pre-disposed to addiction.

I would bet if fMRI brain studies of these rioters were done and compared with what are normal brain scans, you would see a difference.

[apnu]

48. I was recruited twice by Nazis in my teens and 20s.

It it was not for a Jewish history teacher in high school, I would not have been equipped to recognize the signs of fascism.

They are very good at recruitment. They are patient and know the process takes a long time for it to transform a normal person into a full fascist.

The Internet and Social Media accelerates this process but it is still a process that happens over time. They come to you as friends, sympathetic to whatever is upsetting you. Once an emotional trust is built, they start testing the waters and slowly introduce concepts, but continue to lay on the emotional bond to mask what they are really saying.

This how the trick always goes: find recruits when they are lost, scared, worried. Turn that fear into anger. Direct that anger at a scapegoat. Poof you are now a fascist.