[ExI] what would any of us have done differently?

Tue Dec 13 15:49:09 UTC 2022

On Tuesday, December 13th, 2022 at 10:09 AM, spike jones via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

>>>…I don't use twitter as a news source, but that sounds like a great way to create an echo chamber. People naturally like them because they confirm their biases, but they really aren't a great way to stay informed.-Dave
>
> Mainstream news is better?

I think that's a false dichotomy. There are lots of choices between "a collection of random people on twitter" and "mainstream news". I think it's important to get news from a variety of sources and to not take everything any source says as gospel.

> How? Why are there still so many unanswered questions please?

There will always be many unanswered questions. Law enforcement generally doesn't like to show their hand before they get in the courtroom.

> Such as… the obvious ones regarding that hammer business: why are we not being shown the police video?

I don't know. What do your Twitter sources say about that? Maybe they're trying to respect the victim's privacy. Surely FOIA requests have been filed. Unanswered question don't always mean there's a conspiracy.

> And why do we still have so many unanswered questions about the guy who appears to have led the Jan 6 riot on the capitol, Ray Epps? Where is he, and why can’t the FBI find him? Reporters seem to be able to find him. Mainstream news isn’t asking those kinds of questions Dave.

Seems like the NYT addressed these questions:

Prominent Republicans — including former President Donald J. Trump — have for months promoted a conspiracy theory that an Arizona man named Ray Epps was a federal informant who helped to instigate the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The claims, made in congressional hearing rooms, on Fox News and at Mr. Trump’s political rallies, have largely been based on a video taken just before violence erupted at the Capitol, showing Mr. Epps at the barricades outside the building whispering into the ear of a man named Ryan Samsel.

Within moments of the brief exchange, Mr. Samsel, a Pennsylvania barber, can be seen moving forward and confronting the police in what amounted to the tipping point of the riot. Despite lacking proof for their claims, many Republicans have surmised that Mr. Epps instructed Mr. Samsel to antagonize the officers. They have also pushed the notion that because Mr. Epps has not been arrested, he must have been working for the government.

But for more than a year, well before the name Ray Epps was widely known in right-wing circles,
federal authorities have had information — from both him and Mr. Samsel — suggesting that he
was not a government agent and did not encourage the younger man to engage with the police
that day.

Just two days after the attack, when Mr. Epps saw himself on a list of suspects from Jan. 6, he

called an F.B.I. tip line and told investigators that he had tried to calm Mr. Samsel down when

they spoke, according to three people who have heard a recording of the call. Mr. Epps went on

to say that he explained to Mr. Samsel that the police outside the building were merely doing their

jobs, the people said.

Then in late January of last year, in an interview with the F.B.I., Mr. Samsel said much the same

thing, telling investigators that a man he did not know came up to him at the barricades and

suggested he relax, according to a recording of the interview obtained by The New York Times.

“He came up to me and he said, ‘Dude’ — his entire words were, ‘Relax, the cops are doing their

job,’” Mr. Samsel said.

The theories surrounding Mr. Epps have been debunked before, most notably after[he spoke last](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/11/us/politics/ray-epps-january-6-committee.html)

[year to investigators](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/11/us/politics/ray-epps-january-6-committee.html)working with the House select committee examining the Jan. 6 attack. During

the interview, committee officials said, Mr. Epps said that he was not an F.B.I. informant and denied

reports that he had urged protesters to go into the Capitol at the behest of federal law enforcement

agencies.

Still, the rumors about him have persisted, becoming regular fodder for right-wing politicians and

media figures.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/05/us/jan-6-ray-epps-evidence.html

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> If Twitter echoes questions, well OK then, let them echo until we get some answers.
>
> spike
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