Muriel Bowser
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Anonymous
capitol building is not part of DC municipal authorities. |
Anonymous
First, that's not true. Lots of people predicted this, based on the fact that some of the planning took place online. And, second, there was minimal violence in DC. The actual insurrection took place on the Capitol grounds. DC cops arrested people before and after, for firearms and curfew violations. It's fair to criticize Bowser/MPD for foreseeable violence that occurs in DC that they failed to properly prepare for. But here, the primary failure was that of the Capitol Police, who were unprepared for and failed to prevent a breach of the Capitol. DC police were clearly prepared for people trying to carry firearms in the city, and planned to focus on those offenses. |
Anonymous
This. Bowser asked, they told her no. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
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The Capitol Police force is 2,300. Just to put that into perspective Montgomery County is 1,300 for a population of over 1 million. Montgomery County's police budget is $281 million for a population of over 1 million. The Capitol Police has a budget of $460 million.
They probably didn't need assistance if they did their job and used their resources. All the neat new toys they got after September 11th, nowhere to be seen. The oversight of the Capitol Police needs to be examined. This committee has been asleep at the wheel if they allowed a budget of $460 million and they have nothing to show for it. Appropriations Committees House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Chairman: Tim Ryan (Ohio) Ranking Member: Jaime Herrera Beutler (Washington) Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Chairman: Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississippi) Ranking Member: Christopher Murphy (Connecticut) Authorizing Committees Committee on House Administration Chairman: Zoe Lofgren (California) Ranking Member: Rodney Davis (Illinois) Senate Committee on Rules and Administration Chairman: Roy Blunt (Missouri) Ranking Member: Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota) |
Anonymous
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Who pays for the national guard? Does DC have to pay every time they get called out? Per person? Per vehicle?
Bowser activated the national guard and MPDC personnel she believed she needed to control and secure the streets of DC, and it turns out she had the correct number of people for that job. It's not her fault the federal forces completely abdicated their duties. |
Anonymous
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2021/01/07/this-is-why-the-national-guard-didnt-respond-to-the-attack-on-the-capitol/ "DCNG announced Monday it had mobilized 340 troops to support MPD, but that organization’s jurisdiction does not cover any federal land within the District, and so its officers ― and its Guard support ― could not have just rushed to the Capitol. Further, once they got there, Guard troops who had been acting in a traffic control capacity, not as law enforcement, would not have been able or authorized to forcibly push back rioters or help clear the building, a task that fell to the Capitol Police and the FBI tactical forces they requested to help out. So when chaos unfolded Wednesday afternoon and reports surfaced that there had been a request for additional Guard troops and the Defense Department had denied it, here’s what really happened. Because of D.C.’s finicky federal status, any entity ― whether its the mayor, or the Interior Department, which controls federal parks within the District ― has to put in a request for National Guard troops through the Army secretary, who gets it endorsed by the defense secretary. The Capitol’s request for Guard back-up went beyond what Bowser had already gotten approved, so it needed a new sign-off. “We quickly worked to move our resources forward in support of Metro PD and the Capitol Police,” McCarthy said Thursday. The process took about an hour, the source familiar told Military Times, from the time McCarthy received it around 2 p.m. on Wednesday." |
Anonymous
Even my guinea pigs knew the Capitol would be attacked. |
Anonymous
Side argument. Anyway, the major sticking points with what happened at the Capitol seem to be with the Capitol Police lack of planning, and the unwieldy approval process on the DOD side once the irregular requests for NG started flooding in. They should review the entire process to make sure the latter is not an issue in the future; perhaps changes should be made. However, it is clear (since she is doing it for the inauguration that Bowser can request more Guard in an enhanced capacity. I personally think she should have done it for 1/6, since her own spokespeople were warning about the potential for violence anywhere. I'm glad she is doing it now. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
I’m not sure if you’re being deliberately obtuse or if you have poor comprehension skills. Any NG support requested by Bowser that was or is approved would be limited to protecting non-federally-owned land. So, even if she requested and received approval for 1 million NG troops, they cannot act on the Capitol grounds, the White House, etc. unless DOD specifically approves it. Bowser is not responsible for planning to protect federally-owned land. Her job was not to ensure that enough law enforcement was present on the Capitol grounds. That was and is the job of the Capitol Police, DHS, FBI, Secret Service (since Pence was there), etc. By all accounts, Bowser had sufficient law enforcement personnel in place to protect non-federal lands in DC on 1/6 and also enough to send reinforcements to the Capitol when they were requested. She. Did. Her. Job. And she went above and beyond (as did Hogan and Northam). I would presume, though I don’t know, that if she requested NG troops in advance with the express purpose of protecting the Capitol grounds, she would’ve been told that that was not an appropriate request from her and such a request would have had to come from the Capitol Police. IOW, Bowser could only request NG troops sufficient to provide support for areas under her control. |
Anonymous
| BTW, I posted the last response and I’m a new poster to this thread. |
Anonymous
Just wanted to add and ask: Where did you get the idea that Mayor Bowser “has the authority...to call up” the National Guard? Words matter, and I take your point. She can "request" NG and describe how she would like them deployed. Let me flip it back to you, do you think she will "request" a larger force in advance of the inauguration and share her views with DOD and any other Federal 3rd Parties on whether they should have riot gear? Or do you think she will shrug and say "whatevs". The 1/6 fiasco will be analyzed. Obviously, the Capitol Police Planning failed miserably and we want to know why. Since the title of this thread is MB however, I don't think she came out smelling like roses. think she could have "requested" r a larger, prepared presence of NG in the city even if she was met with resistance by the Capitol Police. Who is to say the mob would have ended up at the Capitol anyway? They could have just as easily headed elsewhere and destroyed something else. What would the plan have been then? Better to be prepared. Yes, I think that Mayor Bowser will likely request a larger and more well-equipped force. I'm sure that she will request this in advance -- just as she requested NG forces in advance of January 6th. I think this is true in light of the failures of the NCP and other federal agencies and also because the scale of what the Trumpers seem to be planning for Inauguration Day is possibly going to be larger and is more likely to extend beyond the federal jurisdictions into areas of the city that she does control. In response to your "what - ifs" -- in addition to calling up the NG, the first line of defense, obviously, were and are the MPD -- which Mayor Bowser does have the ability to call up immediately in a crisis as well as proactively -- again, as she did last Wednesday. Mayor Bowser has not "shrugged" at any point in this -- in marked contrast to the leadership of the Capitol Police and possibly the DOD. I'm not sure why you're focused on how Mayor Bowser smells. Again, though, I'd like to point out that Mayor Bowser requested forces that actually were adequate for the tasks that they were responsible for. In addition to that, the MPD -- thanks to Mayor Bowser -- ultimately were what kept the tragic fiasco from being even more tragic. |
Anonymous
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Clearer repost of my 13:04 response to the 7:54 comment:
Yes, I think that Mayor Bowser will likely request a larger and more well-equipped force. I'm sure that she will request this in advance -- just as she requested NG forces in advance of January 6th. I think this is true in light of the failures of the NCP and other federal agencies and also because the scale of what the Trumpers seem to be planning for Inauguration Day is possibly going to be larger and is more likely to extend beyond the federal jurisdictions into areas of the city that she does control. In response to your "what - ifs" -- in addition to calling up the NG, the first line of defense, obviously, were and are the MPD -- which Mayor Bowser does have the ability to call up immediately in a crisis as well as proactively -- again, as she did last Wednesday. Mayor Bowser has not "shrugged" at any point in this -- in marked contrast to the leadership of the Capitol Police and possibly the DOD. I'm not sure why you're focused on how Mayor Bowser smells. Again, though, I'd like to point out that Mayor Bowser requested forces that actually were adequate for the tasks that they were responsible for. In addition to that, the MPD -- thanks to Mayor Bowser -- ultimately were what kept the tragic fiasco from being even more tragic. |
Anonymous
Honest answer? I think she did not call up a larger, riot control National Guard presence in advance of 1/6 because of not wanting to be perceived as a hypocrite after complaining about NG in the city during the summer (which she had not ordered). I think she has done a good job in standing up to our City Council sine this summer as they have made some pretty arbitrary decisions about police funding, and putting forth measures to limit MPD their use of riot control methods etc. (And Lo and Behold, the MPD was called in FOR riot control on 1/6! Go figure!!). However, I think she was short sighted in the days leading up to 1/6. It may make people feel better to think I'm criticizing her for her gender or race; I'm not. I wish she had pushed back further against the Capitol Police since she voiced concerns about the measures they were taking, and I wish she had gone ahead and "requested" more NG to simply be on the streets prepared for riot control. Instead, they wasted time having to go to the DC Armory to gear up once they were finally authorized to head to the Capitol. My focus isn't Bowser, I'm not obsessed with her, I think she's a mixed bag. I am also not going to hand her mad props. I hope she does better proactively advocating for security in our city for the inauguration, which is one of her Mayoral roles. |