ARE THE PATRIOT MILITIAS REALLY SCARIER THAN THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA?

The palace-guard press had us believing that there were actionable threats against the Federal Capitol, connected with the historic Fourth of March inauguration date. until there weren't.

Washington looked on Thursday morning much the way it has for the past two months.

National Guard members armed with M4 rifles braced for rebellion that never came. Razor wire lined miles of steel fencing that went unbreached. [Former president Donald] Trump remained in Florida, where it was 70 degrees and sunny.

No report on whether the former president played golf, or hit on a starlet.

[O]n Wednesday, the U.S. Capitol Police announced it had identified a potential plot by a militant group to breach the Capitol, as hundreds of insurrectionists did on Jan. 6. The threat apparently was credible enough for the House to suspend a Thursday session, though the Senate still convened. And it came just before the Capitol Police sought to extend the Guard’s mission by two more months.

Why do I keep thinking about the terrorist "chatter" years ago, which led to periodic extensions of "yellow" terror alerts or upgrades to "orange," and nothing happened for so long that the security theater types finally abandoned those colored alert levels?  Yes, it took a long time, and air travellers are still taking shoes off at the airport, and the same sort of demoralizing security theater accompanies both the continued garrisoning of Fortress Pelosi, and the continuing alarms about mutations to the Wuhan coronavirus.  Wouldn't a serious plot be something we don't hear about until people are arraigned in court?

Power Line's Paul Mirengoff has had enough.

Why are the troops still here? Why will they remain after yesterday’s false alarm?

One explanation is that Capitol police force officials and others with a say want them here. They don’t want to tolerate any risk, however small, of another January 6. It doesn’t matter to them whether Capitol Hill is oppressively militarized. That’s not their concern.

Another explanation is that some officials want to promote the view that Trump supporters pose an ongoing threat to the Capitol. They want to get all the mileage they can from January 6.

Whatever the true explanation — and both of the two above can be true — I think the oppressive security measures on Capitol Hill are a disgrace.

In the same way that Anthony Fauci keeps moving the goalposts on reopening the country as the vaccines and hormesis do their thing, the political class keeps moving the goalposts on reopening Capitol Hill.

Alex Kaplan, a senior researcher at right-wing media watchdog Media Matters for America, showcased the growing skepticism among QAnon influencers in an ongoing Twitter thread. The thread included screenshots of their posts to various chat platforms, such as Telegram, describing March 4 as a "false flag" constructed by mainstream news organizations and internal double agents to deceive true QAnon proponents.

"Can't help but get the feeling that these 'March 4 true inauguration' stories are planned disinfo being peddled by the [injected] anons to dupe people into spreading probably nonsense theories that make the whole movement look dumb," one QAnon influencer wrote in an online forum early last month, according to a screenshot that Kaplan shared to Twitter on February 10.

That's not well written. Media Matters exist to keep an eye on "right wing" media; they are not a "right wing" organization on the lookout for leftist biases.

Here, though, is what passes for actionable intelligence these days.

Late Thursday, a Telegram subscriber wrote on a popular QAnon channel that people shouldn't be "disappointed" because "the race is not run yet and I have reason to believe March 20 is also possible," according to Business Insider. Another message said "we still have 16 days" and "lots can happen between now and then."

The upcoming date will mark the 167th anniversary of the Republican Party's founding. Former members of the Whig Party are said to have technically established the GOP during a meeting in Ripon, Wisconsin, on March 20, 1854.

What next: Tax Day, April 15? V-E Day, May 8? Independence Day itself?

Between the social media companies acting so aggressively to fact-check inconvenient dissent, and Washington Democrats continuing the security theater and concealing the president^* from unscripted moments, I'm not seeing a lot of confidence on the part of what passes for the current establishment.