Ahhh, here it is, January – and a time for reflection. When some of the most memorable anniversary dates, like Dec. 7, 1941 (Pearl Harbor) and 9/11 come to mind, we of course get to dip back into memory of Jan. 6, where videos of MAGA hat-wearing mothers and crazy looking shamans wander through the Capitol taking selfies of themselves. When I was looking at the videos of inside the Capitol, that is what it looked like.

Funny thing, even after repeated requests by congressional members, they still haven’t released security videos of everything that took place inside and out.

I watched the rally before the Capitol incident. It was a peaceful gathering of people. Families and older couples were holding hands and singing patriotic songs. An estimated 30,000-plus people attended.

There were several speakers followed up by President Trump himself, who told the people, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”

The rally, at this point, was running about an hour behind schedule. In the meantime, there was what appeared to be an organized group of people already working on taking down barricades and the signs around the Capitol that stated it was a restricted area — likely meaning unwary rally goers, as they came onto Capitol grounds, were unaware they were trespassing until they reached the barricades and police officers stationed closer to the Capitol building.

At that point, people with bullhorns were telling protestors to keep moving forward, to go on into the building, packing them tighter and tighter until they entered the Capitol (some videos even show the police letting people in and talking with them).

Inside, I’ve seen footage of people holding flags and talking quietly. I remember one person accidentally knocking over a stand of velvet ropes and quickly picking it up again.

Four hours later, it was all over, and everyone had left the building and order had been restored.

There was only one person killed, and that was a pro-Trump supporter, who did a very stupid thing and tried to climb through a broken window and get into the chamber where Congress members were at.

Acting decisively, the FBI and DOJ identified and arrested over seven hundred people. Over the months, most of those people have either been released, or charged for trespassing or destruction of government property. But there are around 40 Jan. 6 detainees that are still locked up in solitary confinement. They are still, a year later, in pre-trial detention, kept in 7’x 10’ cells, where they must stay in there for 23 hours a day. They have been denied bail, and they do not get private meetings with their lawyers. Many of them have told of beatings and malnourishment. One article that I read, said that at 9 p.m., they all say the Pledge of Allegiance as a group.

President Biden, on his inauguration speech, said that the Jan. 6 riot, was the “worst attack on our Democracy since the Civil War.” Possibly due to his age, he was forgetting such things like 9/11 and Pearl Harbor.

Even the FBI Director Christopher Wray admitted that it could not call Jan 6th a “insurrection”, as that is a specific legal term. In other words, if five hundred people stormed into the Capitol with guns, that would be a insurrection.

Instead, there were hockey sticks, and a crutch, and bear spray, and some flag poles — the only gun fired belonged to the Capitol police officer who shot Ashley Babbitt (there were five people arrested for having firearms, but those were mostly found in outside the Capitol, in their truck or at their hotel room).

Overall, the “crimes against Democracy” levied at protesters were trespassing and entering a government building. The guy that took a picture of his feet on Nancy Pelosi’s desk, grabbed one of her letters off her desk, is being charged with “theft of government property.”

In short, Jan. 6 was a protest that went bad.

But the mainstream media loves to throw around the word “insurrection” for the shock value and the papers it sells — after all, there is power in words. If you say something over and over, and say it loud enough, then the perception of those hearing them, over time, changes and is accepted as truth.

And I’m willing to bet the Jan. 6 Commission, with all its digging, will come up with some mud to sling, just in time for the 2022 midterm elections.

Now for the “crazy conspiracy” stuff —thousands of people have been going over the incident and reviewing the videos that people took, and they produced some interesting material.

For example, a number of the people that the FBI originally posted as their “Most Wanted” in relation to the Capitol event were removed from the list months later, without being arrested or charged. One such individual — called “Suspect #16” by the FBI — appeared to have a large role in directing people to enter the Capitol, but after he was identified, he was never arrested, and the FBI stopped looking for him.

This suspect, as well as others, were seen at the Capitol before the Trump rally-attendees were due to show up, removing police barricades and “restricted area” signage, so that when the people got to that point, they would not think anything was wrong. Yet, it does not appear many of these instrumental people were even put on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list. Even though they were key figures in the process of getting people to enter the Capitol.

Tucker Carlson and others have brought up the fact that it appears some of the leaders of the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and other key players who attended the rally were FBI informants. Many suspect the FBI of knowing more about these activities, and that there is a reason that they are specifically not looking for these key players. I leave it to your imagination to produce your own ideas.

This was a protest that got out of hand. There are unnamed players that ramped up the seriousness of the situation. But an armed insurrection? Despite the left screaming that it was the worst attack on Democracy since the beginning of time, I don’t think so.

The summer of 2020 — the “Summer of Love” — saw $2 billion dollars of property damage in riots and looting took place, more than a dozen protestors killed, dozens of officers injured, maimed, or killed, federal court houses and police stations burned, and nobody whispered “insurrection”. They were just poor frustrated people, using their First Amendment rights. But the DOJ and FBI appear to send the message, that if you go against the party in power, then you will be punished.

I once read something under the category of “A Conspiracy Theorist”: a derogatory name for a person who researches a subject, then uses logic and critical thinking to form an educated opinion, instead of blindly believing what they see and hear on television.

As stated before, when Dorothy went to Oz, she was told to “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!”

I hope all of us can keep inquiring and taking peeks behind the curtain.