While there is yet much to learn about what happened at the Capitol on January 6, some important facts are known beyond a reasonable doubt:

1. Most protesters who entered the Capitol encountered no resistance, and some were directed by police on where to go.

2. Some protesters who led the storming of the Capitol were leftist agitators.

3. The riot was planned, and foreknowledge of this event was reported to the FBI, the Capitol police, the NYPD, and even the Joint Terrorism Taskforce.

This raises the following questions:

1. If the police allowed protesters into the Capitol because they were overwhelmed, why did reinforcements fail to arrive?  Did officers direct protesters to the hallway where Ashley Babbit was later shot?  Based on the 19:40 time mark on this video, it sure seems this way.

2. Why did CNN broadcast the account of John Sullivan?  Did they already know he was a BLM agitator who encouraged protesters to "burn down" the Capitol?

3. It is almost certain that Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell knew about plans to storm the Capitol because failure to notify them would have been an egregious failure of intelligence.  If they did not know it then, they certainly know by now that the riot was planned, and the media cannot hide this information forever from the American people.  Could this explain Pelosi's frantic request to move the Senate impeachment trial to January 25?

All participants in the vandalism and assaults on police officers are responsible for their own behavior regardless of political affiliation.  Having said that, we must take into account whether or not their crimes were premeditated and prosecute more harshly those who were in on the plan.  Most importantly, we need to know how much help (if any) these riot organizers received from the inside.  The officers directed protestors to sensitive portions of the building may have been blindly following orders, but two incidents caught on video implicate at least two people who may have knowingly provided inside help:

First, in this poorly staged video, a police officer is "chased" by a protester who looks more like the reluctant participant of a high school skit.

Second, at the 25:40 time mark of this video, Rudy Giuliani points out two "out of place" individuals who nodded approvingly to the BLM activist John Sullivan as he neared the hallway where Ashley Babbitt was soon to be killed.  The first one looks the most out of place due to both his age and his attire.  Giuliani rightly suggests he might be a detective and wondered aloud if anybody has investigated who he is and why he nodded to the provocateur.

McConnell has denied Pelosi's request to expedite the Senate impeachment trial.  While I am no fan of Mitch McConnell, his delaying the Senate proceedings until February may provide a major advantage to the Trump team because the trial would provide an unfiltered platform for low-information voters to learn to what extent the riot was a setup.  Evidence of Deep State involvement presented at the impeachment trial (if it exists) may go a long way in raising awareness of governmental corruption among people who never followed the unraveling of the Russia hoax.  Regardless of McConnell's intentions, the risk to his reputation is minimal because he did not vote yet on impeachment and can claim he had not known the extent of the exonerating evidence when he signaled his intention to impeach.  Career politicians know how to survive when they do not let emotions cloud their judgment.  Sorry, Nancy!

In his column "The Day Democracy Died," PJ Media columnist David Goldman claimed that the Capitol trespassers "desecrated" the "Holy of Holies of American democracy."  Goldman sometimes goes by the pseudonym "Spengler."  I always thought use of this name was a bit pretentious.  The tone of this column confirmed my suspicion that Goldman is a snob. 

Storming the Capitol was wrong, but rioters neither "desecrated" the building nor "killed" democracy.  You cannot desecrate an institution that is already contaminated by corrupt bureaucrats and career politicians who care more about their D.C. network than the voters who put them in office.  You also cannot kill democracy when compelling evidence of massive voter fraud never gets its day in court.  If the Supreme Court ever deigns to hear us out, let's hope this impeachment paves the way for the truth.

Antonio Chaves teaches biology at a local community college.  His interest in economic and social issues stems from his experience teaching environmental science.  His older articles with graphs and images are available here.

Image: Ted Eytan.