#assault on us capitol by pro-trump terrorists

[tomorrowusa]

Regardless of emoluments, Justice Alito has shown that he's the most fervent MAGA justice on the US Supreme Court. He now even beats out Justice Thomas.

Samuel Alito Can’t Even Lie Properly About That Upside-Down Flag

At the very least, Alito needs to recuse himself from all Trump-related court cases. Though frankly, he should be impeached.

Alito was appointed to SCOTUS by George W. Bush. Bush won the 2000 election after the Supreme Court stopped vote recounting in Florida as Democrat Al Gore was closing the gap with Bush. And we remember that Alito wrote the majority opinion in the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Think of Alito when you're tempted to waste a vote on an impotent third party candidate who has no chance of getting elected president and appointing Supreme Court justices.

[tomorrowusa]

Two years ago today: Trump-inspired opponents of democracy failed to take over the government.

It seems that they’re still failing.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

The Proud Boys are back: How the far-right domestic terrorist group is rebuilding to rally behind Trump

Aram Roston at Reuters:

A dark SUV cruised past former President Donald Trump’s supporters near his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey on a windy April afternoon. Billowing from the vehicle were three flags: one for the Trump campaign, two others with the initials “PB” – the insignia of the far-right Proud Boys movement. Through the open windows, three Proud Boys flashed the “OK” sign with their hands, a gesture often associated with white supremacy and the far right. Trump’s fans cheered. Four men dressed in the signature black-and-yellow shirts of the Proud Boys spilled out of the SUV and began glad-handing the crowd like homecoming heroes. The Proud Boys are back. Four years after the failed effort to overturn Trump’s 2020 electoral defeat, the violent all-male extremist group that led the storming of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, is rebuilding and regaining strength as Trump campaigns to return to the White House, according to interviews with eight Proud Boys, two U.S. law enforcement officials and four experts who track the group’s online activity.

Since the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, four former Proud Boys leaders have been convicted in federal court of seditious conspiracy, each sentenced to 15 or more years in prison. At least another 70 members were charged with participating in the violence. But that crackdown hasn’t stopped the Proud Boys. Some Proud Boys say they are preparing to emerge once again as a physical force for Trump, drawn to his hardline nationalism and convinced their leaders will be pardoned if he wins. Trump himself promises to pardon convicted Jan. 6 rioters if he’s elected. After last Thursday’s historic guilty verdict against Trump, an Ohio Proud Boys chapter vowed “war” and posted a video of Proud Boy street brawls that ended with the message, “Fighting solves everything.” A Miami chapter said, “Now, more than ever, we are recruiting!” Some posted images of the upside-down American flag symbolizing the “Stop the Steal” movement that falsely claims Trump won the 2020 election. One Proud Boy told Reuters that America is in a period of “calm before the storm.”

The group’s main Telegram channel, however, posted a message urging Proud Boys to stay calm and not get drawn into a trap and risk arrest. “Trump is, of course, getting railroaded but we will not be walking into any honey pots over this.” In recent weeks, the group has become more prominent at pro-Trump events, highlighting the risk of renewed violence in this year’s presidential election. Dozens of Proud Boys – some in body armor and helmets – marked the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection with a show of force at the statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. On April 20, nearly a dozen gathered at a rally for Trump’s Republican campaign in Wilmington, North Carolina.  More recently, groups of Proud Boys from two chapters mixed with tens of thousands of Trump supporters at a campaign rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, in May.

On a boardwalk near the entrance of the Wildwood rally, several Proud Boys identified themselves as members of the “New Jersey State” chapter. One said they were there to provide security and stop agitators from “disrespecting or assaulting everybody.” Inscribed on his wraparound sunglasses were the initials “POYB” – short for “Proud of Your Boy.” He wore a ring with the initials “PB” and a black shirt with the yellow laurel wreath of the Proud Boys. Three men from another chapter greeted them, their faces hidden by gaiter masks. The re-emergence of the Proud Boys at Trump’s political rallies and events coincides with polls showing a majority of Americans fearing political violence will flare around November’s election. It also comes when Trump’s use of incendiary rhetoric is inspiring his supporters to target his opponents – including judges, prosecutors and political rivals – in a wave of threats that’s unprecedented in modern American politics.

Trump himself has not ruled out the possibility of political violence if he loses in November. “If we don’t win, you know, it depends,” he said when asked by Time magazine in April if he expected violence after the election. If he’s jailed or put under house arrest, “I’m not sure the public would stand for it,” he said in a Fox News interview that aired on Sunday. “At a certain point there’s a breaking point.” Before the last election, Trump told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” Three months later, federal prosecutors say, the group’s leaders plotted and led the insurrection of the U.S. Capitol. Trump’s baseless, rigged-election claims inspired the gathering, and Trump himself urged the assembled crowd to march on the Capitol as Congress certified Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.

A spokesperson for Trump did not respond to questions for this story about his rhetoric, Jan. 6 and the Proud Boys. As the Proud Boys regroup, they’ve made changes designed to make them less vulnerable to law enforcement scrutiny, including doing away with layers of top leadership, according to interviews with members. The Proud Boys now operate with self-governing chapters in more than 40 states, with little apparent central coordination, members said. While the group’s structure has changed, its Canadian founder remains an inspirational figure to today’s Proud Boys. Gavin McInnes, a British-born far-right commentator who lives in New York, announced his resignation from the Proud Boys in 2018. But he remains deeply involved with the group, according to interviews with Proud Boys.

[...]

After McInnes stepped down, his successor, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, raised the Proud Boys’ profile, pulling them from the fringe of the far-right toward the center of Trump-era Republican politics. Tarrio, a Floridian of Afro-Cuban descent, was sentenced last September to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy, defined as an effort by two or more people to overthrow the government or use force to hinder its operations, and other charges related to the Capitol riot. He has appealed.

Two criminal defense attorneys for Tarrio did not respond to emailed questions and phone calls. In the past, McInnes, Tarrio and a group of leaders dubbed “Elders” spoke publicly on the group’s behalf, set the agenda and guided its confrontations with left-wing groups around the country. They sat atop a formal structure and could disband Proud Boy chapters or expel members. Now, members say, the chapters are largely independent of each other and ban communications with the media. Most members who spoke to Reuters for this report did so on condition of anonymity. The group’s resilience has surprised some extremism experts. “The amazing thing is that so many people from the Proud Boys can be in jail and yet you have these active chapters,” said Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the nonprofit Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. “Traditionally when the head of a neo-Nazi or white supremacist group goes to jail or dies, the organization will collapse, but that does not seem to be happening with the Proud Boys.”

[...]

During the Trump administration, the Proud Boys engaged in large-scale street brawls with antifa – antifascists – and other leftist groups across the country, typically by taunting demonstrators to instigate a fight. They adopted the slogan “Fuck Around And Find Out,” and emblazoned the letters “FAFO” on hats and t-shirts. Some historians compare the Proud Boys to fascist European militias of the 1920s and 1930s such as the Brownshirts, a Nazi paramilitary group that helped bring Hitler to power in Germany. Proud Boys say they’re nothing like the Brownshirts and bear no resemblance to fascists. But street violence and extreme nationalism are features of both groups. In the weeks before the Capitol riots, some wore a patch inscribed with “RWDS,” short for “Right Wing Death Squad,” a term used to describe Central and South American paramilitaries who supported right-wing governments and dictatorships. [...]

After Trump left the White House, the Proud Boys turned to America’s culture wars. They clashed with supporters of abortion rights and vaccine mandates, and harassed organizers of Drag Queen Story Hours, where female impersonators read at libraries or bookstores to children. Fights often ensued. Since the 2021 Capitol attack, Reuters identified 29 incidents of political violence involving the Proud Boys, almost all of them centered around social issues. All but one of the eight cases in 2023 involved clashes between Proud Boys and left-wing activists at demonstrations supporting LGBTQ+ rights. The tally was based largely on news reports and court records of fights, assaults and other physical confrontations. This year, the Proud Boys have returned to politics. In the first three months of 2024, there have been far fewer Proud Boys public events than in the same period last year. But half of them have been pro-Trump and the rest have been political in nature, related to guns or immigration, said Kieran Doyle of the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit that monitors political violence.

On April 24, Proud Boys founder McInnes appeared at Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian protests. He told Reuters that the Proud Boys were not getting involved in the anti-Israel unrest, saying he was there to “ridicule” liberals by pretending to be a left-wing journalist. It didn’t work, he said, because people saw him and posted alerts on social media. “They recognized me and were scared.” There’s no authoritative count of Proud Boy members. McInnes claims there are about 5,000, down from 8,000 during Trump’s presidency but up from lows after the Capitol riot arrests. Official estimates of the Proud Boys’ strength vary widely, from 300 to 3,000 members, said a law enforcement source who has monitored the group. Reuters could not independently corroborate its numbers. Some former Proud Boys have abandoned the group for other, more overtly racist and violent groups, including the neo-Nazi Blood Tribe and the underground “Active Club” scene, a white supremacist male movement, one Proud Boy told Reuters.

Reuters has an informative article about far-right domestic terrorist group Proud Boys is rebuilding to rally behind convicted felon Donald Trump.

After the January 6th Insurrection, the group turned towards right-wing culture war items to launch protests, such as COVID mitigation measures (esp. vaccine mandates), drag story hours, and abortion access.

Read the full article at Reuters.

[jkottke]

Scenes from the Second Civil War

In the hours after the January 6th terror attack on Congress, it seemed as though the early understanding was that a bunch of giddy goofballs -- oops! -- forced their way into the Capitol Building for funsies and photo ops. The stupid coup. As time passes and more photos & videos are released and reporting is done, the picture emerging is of a violent attack on members of Congress, their staff, and Capitol Police & other law enforcement officers by an armed & savage mob who narrowly missed assaulting, kidnapping, or even murdering members of Congress by mere minutes.

This is an account of the rioters' siege of the Capitol Building from the perspective of the DC police. The terrorists likened their actions to those in 1776; it certainly was a war-like atmosphere:

"We weren't battling 50 or 60 rioters in this tunnel," he said in the first public account from D.C. police officers who fought to protect the Capitol during last week's siege. "We were battling 15,000 people. It looked like a medieval battle scene."

Someone in the crowd grabbed Fanone's helmet, pulled him to the ground and dragged him on his stomach down a set of steps. At around the same time, police said, the crowd pulled a second officer down the stairs. Police said that chaotic and violent scene was captured in a video that would later spread widely on the Internet.

Rioters swarmed, battering the officers with metal pipes peeled from scaffolding and a pole with an American flag attached, police said. Both were struck with stun guns. Fanone suffered a mild heart attack and drifted in and out of consciousness.

All the while, the mob was chanting "U.S.A." over and over and over again.

"We got one! We got one!" Fanone said he heard rioters shout. "Kill him with his own gun!"

This was a "coordinated assault":

Looking over the chaotic scene in front of him from the Capitol steps, Glover grew concerned as the battle raged. There were people caught up in the moment, he said, doing things they would not ordinarily do. But many appeared to be on a mission, and they launched what he and the police chief described as a coordinated assault.

"Everything they did was in a military fashion," Glover said, saying he witnessed rioters apparently using hand signs and waving flags to signal positions, and using what he described as "military formations." They took high positions and talked over wireless communications.

Authorities would later learn that some former members of the military and off-duty police officers from across the country were in the pro-Trump crowd. Glover called it disturbing that off-duty police "would knowingly and intentionally come to the United States Capitol and engage in this riotous and criminal behavior against their brothers and sisters in uniform, who are upholding their oaths of office."

Blue Lives Matter...until they have the gall to get in the way of what you feel entitled to:

"The zealotry of these people is absolutely unreal," said Hodges, who suffered from a severe headache but otherwise emerged unhurt. "There were points where I thought it was possible I could either die or become seriously disfigured."

Still, Hodges said, he did not want to turn to his gun.

"I didn't want to be the guy who starts shooting, because I knew they had guns -- we had been seizing guns all day," he said. "And the only reason I could think of that they weren't shooting us was they were waiting for us to shoot first. And if it became a firefight between a couple hundred officers and a couple thousand demonstrators, we would have lost."

Two of the officers interviewed for this story spoke to CNN for this report:

Officer Michael Fanone found himself in the midst of the insurrectionists and then briefly shielded from harm by some of the rioters after shouting "I have kids". He had this to say to those who protected him: "Thank you. But fuck you for being there."

[patriotsnet]

Will Any Republicans Vote To Remove Trump

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/will-any-republicans-vote-to-remove-trump/

Will Any Republicans Vote To Remove Trump

Capitol Police Chief Apologizes For Security Failures During The Assault Including A Delay In Calling For Guard Troops

The acting chief of the Capitol Police apologized to Congress on Tuesday for the agency’s extensive security failures on Jan. 6, acknowledging during a closed-door briefing that the department knew there was a “strong potential for violence” but failed to take adequate steps to prevent what she described as a “terrorist attack.”

Yogananda D. Pittman, the acting chief of police, also confirmed that the Capitol Police Board, an obscure panel made up of three voting members, had initially declined a request two days earlier for National Guard troops and then delayed for more than an hour as the violence unfolded on Jan. 6 before finally agreeing to a plea from the Capitol Police for National Guard troops, according to prepared testimony obtained by The New York Times.

In an extraordinary admission, Chief Pittman, who was not the acting chief at the time of the siege, told members of the House Appropriations Committee, which oversees funding for the agency, that the Capitol Police “failed to meet its own high standards as well as yours.” She added, “I am here to offer my sincerest apologies on behalf of the department.” Chief Pittman’s predecessor, Steven Sund, resigned after the riot.

Chief Pittman’s comments offered the fullest detailed account to date about police preparations for Jan. 6, when thousands of angry protesters, believing false claims that the election had been stolen, marched on the Capitol at the behest of former President Donald J. Trump.

Janet Yellen The First Woman To Be Treasury Secretary Is Sworn In By The First Woman To Be Vice President

Janet L. Yellen was sworn in as the secretary of the Treasury Department on Tuesday by Vice President Kamala Harris, a history-making moment as both are the first women to hold two of the most powerful jobs in the United States government.

Ms. Yellen is the nation’s 78th Treasury secretary and the first woman to head the institution in its 232-year history. She is also the first woman to have held all three top economic jobs in the government, having served as chair of the Federal Reserve and the Council of Economic Advisers.

She is taking the job at a time of economic crisis, with millions still out of work and the recovery slowing as the coronavirus persists. Ms. Yellen will quickly be thrust into fraught negotiations over how to design and pass a robust stimulus package to help revive an economy that has been hammered by the pandemic.

Standing outside the White House, Ms. Yellen took the oath of office with her husband, the economist George Akerlof, and her son by her side. At the conclusion of the ceremony, Ms. Harris said, “Congratulations, Madam Secretary,” to which Ms. Yellen replied, “Thank you, Madam Vice President.”

Ms. Yellen said on Twitter that she was proud to be joining the Treasury Department and described the field of economics, and the agency’s mission, as one that can “right past wrongs and improve people’s lives.”

transcript

Gop Senator Ted Cruz Says It’s ‘certainly Possible’ That ‘a Couple’ Republicans Will Vote To Remove Trump

U.S.Ted CruzDonald TrumpImpeachmentSenate

Republican Senator Ted Cruz said that some GOP senators may vote to remove Donald Trump from the White House in a pending Senate trial. However, he argued such a decision wouldn’t match the facts of the impeachment case against the president.

Cruz, who represents Texas, made the remarks during an interview with Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures. He first asserted that he doesn’t personally think any Republican senators will vote against the president, but then admitted that it could happen.

“It is certainly possible,” the senator noted. “And there are a couple that could vote that way. But I think anyone voting on the facts, anyone voting on the law, this is a very easy vote,” Cruz said. “What they have alleged is not a high crime or misdemeanor,” he continued, referring to the articles of impeachment passed by the House of Representatives as “weak.”

Texas Church Minister Thanks Government For Chance to ‘Protect Ourselves’

A few GOP senators have expressed concern about the president’s actions–as well as criticism of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, and his decision to coordinate the trial with White House counsel. However, Republican lawmakers in Washington have largely remained defensive of the president, with the vote for impeachment passing largely along partisan lines in the House of Representatives, without any GOP members voting in support.

Capitol Riot Investigation Will Slow As Officials Work To Build More Complicated Cases Justice Dept Says

Justice Department officials said on Tuesday that the fast-moving federal investigation into the assault on the Capitol is expected to slow as investigators turn their attention to more complex matters such as conspiracy and sedition cases, the investigation into the death of Officer Brian D. Sicknick of the Capitol Police and violent attacks on members of the press.

In the 20 days since rioters stormed the Capitol, the F.B.I. has received over 200,000 digital media tips and identified more than 400 suspects. Federal prosecutors quickly charged 150 criminal cases, many of which have now been elevated to felonies.

But the manhunt and investigation is expected to “reach a period of a plateau,” said Michael R. Sherwin, the U.S. attorney in Washington, as investigators shift from identifying and rounding up individuals to putting together more complicated conspiracy cases related to possible coordination among militia groups and individuals from different states who had planned to travel to the Capitol and engage in criminal conduct before the attack.

“We have to have the proper evidence to charge these, and we’re going to get it,” said Steven M. D’Antuono, the F.B.I. assistant deputy in charge of the Washington field office. “All these cases are not based upon social media and Twitter and Instagram posts. We also have traditional law enforcement tools we need to use — grand jury subpoenas search warrants — and you don’t get that overnight.”

Senator Patrick Leahy 80 Is Briefly Hospitalized As A Precaution After He Reported Feeling Unwell

Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the longest-serving senator and the president pro tempore, was briefly taken to a hospital in Washington for observation early Tuesday evening after he reported not feeling well, his spokesman said. He returned home a few hours later after an evaluation.

Mr. Leahy, whose position in the Senate puts him third in line for the presidency, oversaw the start of the impeachment proceedings against former President Donald J. Trump earlier on Tuesday. At 80, Mr. Leahy is one of the oldest senators and has served in the Senate since 1975.

After he reported not feeling well in his office, Mr. Leahy “was examined in the Capitol by the attending physician,” said David Carle, the spokesman. “Out of an abundance of caution, the attending physician recommended that he be taken to a local hospital for observation, where he is now, and where he is being evaluated.”

Mr. Leahy was taken to George Washington University Hospital, where he received tests and “a thorough examination” before being released, Mr. Carle said.

The senator “looks forward to getting back to work,” Mr. Carle said.

Mr. Leahy has received both vaccine shots for the coronavirus, and it was unclear what his symptoms were.

Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa and Mr. Leahy’s predecessor as president pro tempore, was among those who wished Mr. Leahy well in a tweet Tuesday evening.

The Insurrection At The Capitol And Trumps Unsteadiness Have Weakened Gop Support In The Senate

Sen. Mitt Romney is considered the most likely Republican to vote for conviction in a second impeachment of President Trump.

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In President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial early last year, Sen. Mitt Romney was the lone Republican vote in favor of conviction. That seems unlikely to be the case should there be another such vote.

Romney has voiced his anger over the Wednesday invasion of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, many of whom were violent. Having voted for removal last year, he’s an odds-on favorite to do so again, alongside, at least publicly, a mere handful of other Republicans.

Across the aisle, so far no prospective defectors have arisen publicly.

“In light of today’s sad circumstances, I ask my colleagues: Do we weigh our own political fortunes more heavily than we weigh the strength of our republic, the strength of our democracy, and the cause of freedom? What is the weight of personal acclaim compared to the weight of conscience?” Romney asked his fellow senators when the Senate reconvened after the hours-long interruption Wednesday.

Since then, a few — but far short of the 17 that would be needed — Senate Republicans have expressed either outright support for impeachment or openness to the idea.

“I want him out. He has caused enough damage,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, told the Anchorage Daily News Saturday.

Democratic Lawmakers Press Ahead With Efforts To Remove President Following Riot At Us Capitol

rebecca.ballhaus@wsj.com

WASHINGTON—Congress careened toward a fresh showdown with President Trump, as House Democrats said they plan to vote on impeaching him Wednesday over accusations he incited supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol.

House Democrats introduced an article of impeachment on Monday morning and said they would move ahead regardless of tepid Republican support. While some Republicans have condemned the president for encouraging his supporters to march to the Capitol as lawmakers were voting to ratify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, only a handful have backed removing him from office through impeachment or other means, while some have floated censure as an alternative.

Democrats, who have unsuccessfully pressed Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office, are expected to have enough votes to impeach in the House, which requires only a simple majority. A two-thirds supermajority in the Senate would then be required to convict Mr. Trump. The single article of impeachment alleges “incitement of insurrection.”

Nearly All Gop Senators Vote Against Impeachment Trial For Trump Signaling Likely Acquittal

All but five Republican senators backed former president Donald Trump on Tuesday in a key test vote ahead of his impeachment trial, signaling that the proceedings are likely to end with Trump’s acquittal on the charge that he incited the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

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The vote also demonstrated the continued sway Trump holds over GOP officeholders, even after his exit from the White House under a historic cloud caused by his refusal to concede the November election and his unprecedented efforts to challenge the result.

Trump���s trial is not scheduled to begin until Feb. 9, but senators were sworn in for the proceedings Tuesday, and they immediately voted on an objection raised by Sen. Rand Paul questioning the constitutional basis for the impeachment and removal of a former president.

“Impeachment is for removal from office, and the accused here has already left office,” he argued, adding that the trial would “drag our great country down into the gutter of rancor and vitriol, the likes of which has never been seen in our nation’s history.”

But Democrats argue that Trump must be held accountable for the riot, which saw the Capitol overrun and resulted in the deaths of one police officer and four rioters. Paul’s argument, they said, suggests that presidents can act with impunity late in their terms.

The final vote was 55 to 45 to kill Paul’s objection, with GOP Sens. Susan Collins , Lisa Murkowski , Mitt Romney , Ben Sasse and Patrick J. Toomey joining all 50 Democrats.

Biden Calls Putin To Discuss Navalny Government Hack Ukraine And Malign Actions By Russia

President Biden called President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Tuesday to address a long list of grievances — from the hacking of U.S. federal agencies, to the poisoning and detention of the Russian dissident Aleksei A. Navalny as well as a host of other “malign actions by Russia,” Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said.

Mr. Biden struck a more confrontational tone — a sharp break from former President Donald J. Trump’s chummy approach to Mr. Putin — committing to the protection of Ukraine’s “sovereignty,” and pressing for the extension of the New Start treaty for five years, which would limit both countries to 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear weapons.

“President Biden made clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to actions by Russia that harm us or our allies,” according to a White House readout of the conversation. “The two presidents agreed to maintain transparent and consistent communication going forward.”

When Mr. Biden was asked at an event at the White House on Tuesday what Mr. Putin had to say, the president joked, “He sends his best!”

Mr. Biden attacked Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin with abandon during the 2020 campaign. But although he was able to mock Mr. Trump’s relationship with the Russian leader when he was a candidate, as president he must keep the peace between uneasy nuclear rivals.

But he quickly pivoted to the need for cooperation in “mutual self-interest,” and the treaty.

transcript

Lloyd Austin The New Defense Secretary Prepares To Address Sexual Assault In The Military

After years of failure to curb the scourge of sexual assault in the military, Lloyd J. Austin III, the new secretary of defense, is open to to how those crimes are prosecuted, a potential sea change that generations of commanders have resisted.

Overhauling the way the military handles sexual assault cases — by taking them outside the chain of command and assigning them to prosecutors with no connection to the accused — would need approval by Congress, where some legislators have long pushed for such a system.

President Biden has been a vocal proponent of these changes, even as general after general has gone to Capitol Hill to argue against them over the past decade. “I had a real run-in with one of the members of the Joint Chiefs in the cabinet room on the issue,” Mr. Biden said last year at a fund-raiser.

Mr. Austin’s first act as secretary was to order a review of how the Pentagon has been handling sexual assault cases. He is also being pushed by Congress. Senators repeatedly asked him how he planned to handle the problems of sexual harassment and assault in the military during his confirmation hearing this month.

If Mr. Austin, a retired four-star army general, were to embrace these changes, he would be the first secretary to do so, a major shift in position for the Pentagon.

There Are Still Far Too Many Political Incentives For The Gop To Stick With The President

When President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen testified before Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing, his revelations about his ex-boss seemed explosive. Cohen depicted Trump as a racist con man and a mob chieftain, and implicated the president in crimes including witness tampering, campaign finance violations and even potentially conspiring with Russia to promote his business interests and defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016. But the near-uniform hostility from Republicans who tangled with Cohen during the hearing — a day after 13 House Republicans voted to nullify Trump’s national emergency declaration — were stark reminders that anyone who thinks impeachment is near has misjudged the GOP.

With much of Capitol Hill awaiting the release of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report into the Trump campaign’s role in Russian election interference, the talk of impeachment, on a low burn for two years, is finally heating up. Op-eds have urged members of Congress to consider impeaching Trump , while hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer opted against a presidential bid so he could concentrate on his media campaign to persuade lawmakers to launch impeachment proceedings. First-term Rep. Rashida Tlaib promised a gathering of progressive activists that the new Democratic House majority would do just that. Two House members have already formally introduced articles of impeachment.

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Even with evidence of ‘high crimes,’ impeaching Trump would probably fail

House Democrats To Vote To Remove Gop Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene Of Committee Assignments

House Democrats are set to push ahead with stripping Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments after Republicans opted not to punish the Georgia congresswoman for past comments she’s made in support of harmful conspiracy theories.

Greene has claimed that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and high-profile school shootings like the Sandy Hook Elementary attack are hoaxes and has called for the execution of prominent Democrats. 

The Rules Committee Wednesday voted to bring the matter to the full House for a vote Thursday that will decide whether Greene can stay on her committees for the rest of her term.

More:Donald Trump’s backers failed to take down Liz Cheney. But the GOP’s ‘civil war’ is nowhere near over.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of the Democrats Greene had said should be killed, denounced Republicans for not expelling Greene from the caucus. “McCarthy has chosen to make House Republicans ‘the party of conspiracy theories and QAnon’ and Rep. Greene is in the driver’s seat,” Pelosi said in a statement Wednesday that identified McCarthy’s party identification as “Q.” 

“We had hoped that the Republican leadership would have dealt with this. For whatever reason, they don’t want to deal with it. And that’s unfortunate. So we are taking this step,” said Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass, who chairs the Rules Committee. “The question we all have to ask ourselves is what is the consequence of doing nothing.”

– Matthew Brown

The Capitol Attack Wasnt A False Flag Gop Officials Continue To Spread The Theory Anyway

In the hours after supporters of President Donald J. Trump engaged in a violent assault on the U.S. Capitol, some Republicans began advancing a fantastical alternative theory: that the attack was actually led by far-left activists trying to frame Republicans.

The outlandish claims have been widely discredited by the authorities, and some of the faces in the Capitol crowd were recognizable right-wing figures. The numerous arrests since the assault have overwhelmingly involved devoted Trump supporters and far-right adherents. But despite the clear evidence, the so-called false flag theory continues to persist in Republican circles.

Last week, the Oregon Republican Party passed a resolution falsely claiming that there was “growing evidence that the violence at the Capitol was a ‘false flag’ operation designed to discredit President Trump, his supporters and all conservative Republicans.” Bill Currier, the chairman of the Oregon Republican Party, said in a video discussion that state party officials were working with counterparts across the country to “coordinate our messaging” around the Capitol attack, the response to it and the continuing efforts to impeach the president.

Mr. Currier said other states would be adopting similar resolutions. “There will be many states doing this,” Mr. Currier said. “We’re not the only ones.”

Twice As Many Republicans Vote To Impeach Trump Than Democrats Voted To Remove Clinton

Newsweek

More Republicans in the House voted for the second impeachment of President Donald Trump on Wednesday than Democrats voted in favor of impeaching President Bill Clinton in 1998.

The House voted to impeach Trump in the aftermath of riots at the U.S. Capitol in January, an event many have said Trump incited, by a vote of 232-197. Four Republican members of the House declined to vote. While a majority of Republicans chose to stand behind Trump and his baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, 10 GOP members decided to break ranks with Trump and call for his impeachment.

NBC News

Trump’s second impeachment was seen as the most bipartisan impeachment in U.S. history. Only 5 Democrats broke ranks to vote for impeaching Clinton. During the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson in 1868, only 7 Republicans joined with Democrats to vote in favor of Johnson’s impeachment.

A majority of the 10 Republicans who voted for Trump’s impeachment represent districts that voted for Trump in the 2020 election.

Ohio Republican Representative Anthony Gonzalez announced his support for impeaching Trump on Wednesday.

“When I consider the full scope of events leading up to January 6th including the President’s lack of response as the United States Capitol was under attack,” Gonzalez wrote, “I am compelled to support impeachment.”

Michigan Representative Peter Meijer, who supported a resolution to censure Trump on Tuesday, voted for impeachment on Wednesday.

Related Articles

Trump Acquitted In Impeachment Trial; 7 Gop Senators Vote With Democrats To Convict

Dareh Gregorian

The Senate on Saturday voted to acquit former President Donald Trump on a charge of incitement of insurrection despite significant Republican support for conviction, bringing an end to the fourth impeachment trial in U.S. history and the second for Trump.

Seven Republicans voted to convict Trump for allegedly inciting the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, when a mob of pro-Trump supporters tried to disrupt the electoral vote count formalizing Joe Biden’s election win before a joint session of Congress. That is by far the most bipartisan support for conviction in impeachment history. The final vote was 57 to 43, 10 short of the 67 votes needed to secure a conviction.

Republican Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania all voted guilty.

The vote means the Senate cannot bar Trump from holding future federal offices.

Moments after the vote concluded, the former president issued a statement praising his legal team and thanking the senators and other members of Congress “who stood proudly for the Constitution we all revere and for the sacred legal principles at the heart of our country.”

“This has been yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our Country. No president has ever gone through anything like it,” Trump said.

The White House Press Briefings Will Include An American Sign Language Interpreter

The Biden administration announced this week that it would include an American Sign Language interpreter in its daily press briefings, a step that the previous administration avoided taking until a court ordered it to do so late last year.

The move is a “historical first,” according to Howard A. Rosenblum, the chief executive officer of the National Association of the Deaf.

Past administrations have occasionally had A.S.L. briefers at some White House events and meetings, Mr. Rosenblum said, but President Biden is the first to make it a fixture.

“The president is committed to building an America that is more inclusive, more just and more accessible for every American, including Americans with disabilities and their families,” Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said during Monday’s briefing. She introduced the interpreter as Heather.

Last year, Mr. Rosenblum’s advocacy group and five deaf Americans sued the Trump administration for holding briefings on the coronavirus without a sign language interpreter present, arguing that it was a violation of the First Amendment.

The government responded that it had provided closed-captioning, but the plaintiffs said that was not an adequate substitute. A federal judge in Washington sided with the plaintiffs, and the Trump administration started including an interpreter in November.

Raskin Compares Trumps Actions On January 6 To Lighting A Fire In Closing Argument

Trump lawyer Michael van der Veen, meanwhile, insisted his client did nothing wrong and maintained he was the victim of vengeful Democrats and a biased news media. He called the impeachment proceedings a “charade from beginning to end.”

While he often seemed angry during his presentation, van der Veen was delighted by the acquittal. Reporters saw him fist bump a fellow member of Trump’s legal team afterward and exclaim, “We’re going to Disney World!”

“While a close call, I am persuaded that impeachments are a tool primarily of removal and we therefore lack jurisdiction,” the influential Kentucky Republican wrote in the email, which was obtained by NBC News.

McConnell, who’d rebuffed Democratic efforts to start the trial while Trump was still in office, had condemned Trump’s conduct after the riot and said he’d keep an open mind about voting to convict — something he’d ruled out entirely during Trump’s first impeachment trial last year.

After voting to acquit, McConnell blasted Trump for his “disgraceful dereliction of duty” and squarely laid the blame for the riot at Trump’s door in what amounted to an endorsement of many of the arguments laid out by House impeachment managers.

“There’s no question — none — that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day,” McConnell said in a speech on the Senate floor.

Cassidy gave a simple explanation for his vote in a 10-second video statement he posted on Twitter.

Fox Gives A Show To One Former Trump Aide But Shoots Down Claims It Hired Another

Larry Kudlow, the former CNBC star who served as director of President Donald J. Trump’s National Economic Council, is returning to broadcasting.

Mr. Kudlow was named the host of a new daily show on Fox Business set to begin later this year, the network said on Tuesday. He will also appear on Fox Business and Fox News as an on-air financial analyst starting Feb. 8.

This is the first major television gig secured by a senior Trump aide who stayed in the White House until the president’s term ended last week. It is also something of a hiring coup for Fox Business, which competes against CNBC and will now feature one of its rival’s longtime featured players.

Fox said that it would provide more information about Mr. Kudlow’s new weekday program at a later date.

Mr. Kudlow’s hiring is the latest example of the revolving door between Fox News and members of the Trump administration. But another prominent Trump defender may not be headed to the Rupert Murdoch-owned network so soon.

Kayleigh McEnany, the former White House press secretary, included an “employment agreement” with Fox News on a federally mandated disclosure form she filed earlier this month, signaling that she had landed a job at the cable channel.

Fox News on Tuesday had a different message for Ms. McEnany: not so fast.

“Kayleigh McEnany is not currently an employee or contributor at Fox News,” the network said in a statement.

Ms. McEnany did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

‘a Win Is A Win’: Trump’s Defense Team Makes Remarks After Senate Votes To Acquit

Despite the acquittal, President Joe Biden said in a statement that “substance of the charge” against Trump is “not in dispute.”

“Even those opposed to the conviction, like Senate Minority Leader McConnell, believe Donald Trump was guilty of a ‘disgraceful dereliction of duty’ and ‘practically and morally responsible for provoking’ the violence unleashed on the Capitol,” Biden’s statement read in part.

The president added that “this sad chapter in our history has reminded us that democracy is fragile. That it must always be defended. That we must be ever vigilant. That violence and extremism has no place in America. And that each of us has a duty and responsibility as Americans, and especially as leaders, to defend the truth and to defeat the lies.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called Saturday’s vote “the largest and most bipartisan vote in any impeachment trial in history,” but noted it wasn’t enough to secure a conviction.

The trial “was about choosing country over Donald Trump, and 43 Republican members chose Trump. They chose Trump. It should be a weight on their conscience today, and it shall be a weight on their conscience in the future,” he said in a speech on the Senate floor.

With control of the Senate split 50-50, the House managers always had an uphill battle when it came to convincing enough Republicans to cross party lines and convict a former president who is still very popular with a large part of the GOP base.

As Many As 8 Republican Senators Could Vote To Convict And Remove Donald Trump

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While it’s hard to envision a scenario in which the GOP-controlled Senate votes to remove Donald Trump from office, there is a growing possibility that a handful of Republicans in the upper chamber could still side with the Democrats.

As MSNBC political contributor Jason Johnson pointed out on Monday, Trump’s impeachment messaging has been a disaster and it’s making it more likely that a substantial number of Republican senators will vote to convict and remove Trump.

“You could see five, six, seven, eight senators – Republican senators – make symbolic votes for impeachment because the president can’t explain himself and they’re tired of taking arrows for him,” he said.

Video:

17

Johnson said:

Pelosi Throws Down Gauntlet In Senate Impeachment Trial: Courage Or Cowardice

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered a fiery justification Thursday for pursuing the Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump after he left office by saying it will reveal whether the Senate has “courage or cowardice.”

The California Democrat was asked at her weekly news conference why House members would bother with the trial after a Senate procedural vote suggested Trump would be acquitted. The Senate rejected a motion to find the case unconstitutional, but the 45 Republicans who supported the motion suggested that Trump will have support from more than 34 needed for acquittal.

Pelosi forcefully rejected that reasoning, saying senators haven’t yet heard the case. A two-thirds majority of the 100 members would be required to convict Trump of inciting insurrection in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. Pelosi said House prosecutors are carefully preparing their case for the court of the Senate, the court of public opinion and for history.

“We’ll see if it’s going to be a Senate of courage or cowardice,” Pelosi said.

Republicans have argued that the trial is divisive. But Pelosi quoted Pope Paul VI and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in saying that justice is required for peace. She said the founders who wrote the Constitution included impeachment as a penalty for wrongdoing.

– Bart Jansen

[deargodsno]

The inaugural hearing of the congressional investigation into Jan. 6 kicked off with a palpable display of anguish from four officers who worked to hold the line that day as pro-Trump supporters sought to storm the Capitol and overthrow the U.S. government. "Terrorists" was the word several officers invoked to describe the perpetrators of the Jan. 6 insurrection, and the four officers left no doubt about who incited them to action: Donald Trump. "All of them—all of them were telling us Trump sent us," testified Sgt. Aquilino Gonell of the U.S. Capitol Police. "Nobody else—there was nobody else. It was not antifa, it was not Black Lives Matter, it was not the FBI. It was his supporters that he sent them over to the Capitol that day."

The vivid testimony left no doubt about the violence the pro-Trump terrorists unleashed on the U.S. Capitol Police and D.C. Metropolitan Police forces laboring to defend the Capitol complex that day. "What we were subjected to that day was like something from a medieval battle. We fought hand to hand, inch by inch, to prevent an invasion of the Capitol," recounted Sgt. Gonell. "I vividly heard officers screaming in agony, in pain, just an arm's length from me," Gonell said, noting that some of those cries were coming from MPD officer Daniel Hodges, who was wedged in a doorway by attackers in video that later went viral. "I too was being crushed by the rioters," Gonell continued, "I could feel myself losing oxygen and recall thinking to myself, 'This is how I'm gonna die.' "Officer Hodges recalled wrestling with a rioter for control of his baton. "I retained my weapon," he said. "After I pushed him back, he yelled at me, 'You're on the wrong team!'... Another [shouted], 'You will die on your knees!'"

The harrowing testimony also made crystal clear that none of what unfolded on Jan. 6 is over for these officers. The weight of hearing each others' testimony appeared to bear down on the officers as they listened to their colleagues’ dramatic accounts. But they not only bear the scars of the violence itself, they also continue to be traumatized by the efforts of GOP lawmakers to gaslight the horrific event out of the nation's conscience. "What makes the struggle harder and more painful is to know so many of my fellow citizens, including so many of the people I put my life at risk to defend, are downplaying or outright denying what happened," explained MPD Officer Michael Fanone, a self-identified Republican who has become an outspoken critic of those trying to whitewash the actions of the mob. "I feel like I went to hell and back to protect them and the people in this room, but too many are now telling me that hell doesn't exist or that hell actually wasn't that bad." "The indifference shown to my colleagues is disgraceful!" Fanone continued, angrily slamming his fist to the desk in one of the most powerful passages during the opening statements. Fanone said his law enforcement training had prepared him to deal with some aspects of the siege and its aftermath. "But nothing—truly nothing—has prepared me to address those elected members of our government who continue to deny the events of that day, and in doing so, betray their oath of office," he added.

Fanone later, without explicitly identifying parties, called the members of government who helped incite the riot and then later tried to whitewash the events "representative of the worst that America has to offer." Capitol Police Pfc. Harry Dunn told the committee he has sought therapy and continues to struggle with emotional scars left by the assault, which became racially charged for him as a Black member of law enforcement. "January 6 isn't over for me," he said bluntly.

At one point, Dunn described the terrorists turning on him after they asserted that "nobody" had voted for Joe Biden. Despite the fact that Dunn said he usually tries to keep politics out of his job, he challenged the assertion. "Well, I voted for Joe Biden," he offered. "Does my vote not count, am I 'nobody?' "That triggered what Dunn described as a "torrent" of racially offensive epithets. "You hear that guys, this n***** voted for Joe Biden," one rioter said. "Boooo! Fucking n****!" they screamed, recalled Dunn. "No one had ever, ever, called me a n***** while wearing the uniform of a Capitol Police Officer," Dunn added. Dunn joined the other officers in urging the panel to "get to the bottom" of what happened on Jan. 6. "If a hitman is hired, and he kills somebody, the hitman goes to the jail," he told the committee. "But not only does the hitman go to jail, but the person who hired them does. There was an attack carried out on January 6 and a hit man sent them. I want you to get to the bottom of that."

While the officers' gripping personal accounts figured most prominently on the day, another notable feature of the hearing was the two Republican members of the committee performing their congressional duties like duty-bound, reality-based individuals. "If those responsible are not held accountable, and if Congress does not act responsibly, this will remain a cancer on our constitutional republic, undermining the peaceful transfer of power at the heart of our democracy system," GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming offered during her opening statement as the hearing began. The other Republican member of the panel, Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, expressed his deep gratitude to the officers in a rare show of emotion. While they may “individually feel a little broken," Kinzinger said, choking up, "You guys won, you guys held. Democracies are not defined by our bad days," he continued, "We're defined by how we come back from bad days—how we take accountability for that."

Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy of Florida also extended her deep gratitude to the officers. She recounted being trapped in a small basement office with another Democratic member, Rep. Kathleen Rice of New York, only 40 feet away from where Gonell and Hodges were working with other officers to hold back the mob. They could hear it all. "I listened to you struggle. I listened to you yelling out to one another. I listened to you care for one another," Murphy said. "I'm telling you, you were our last line of defense," she added. Murphy said their efforts afforded both congresswomen the chance to escape to safety down another hallway. "I think it's important for everybody, though, to remember that the main reason rioters didn't harm any members of Congress was because they didn't encounter any members of Congress," Murphy said. "I have a ten-year-old son and a seven-year-old daughter, and they're the light of my life," she offered on a more personal note. "And the reason I was able to hug them again was because of the courage that you and your fellow officers showed that day, and so just a really heartfelt thank you."

The first hearing of the select committee to investigate Jan. 6 provided a compelling, sometimes excruciating window into the events of that day and its aftermath as experienced by some of the heroic officers who managed to keep lawmakers safe at great cost to themselves. The notable absence of any delusional GOP flamethrowers was a welcome reprieve from the way House Republicans have disgraced nearly every other proceeding over at least the last handful of years. The nation owes these women and men in uniform a profound debt of gratitude for protecting our democracy against the fascist insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol. Four of those officers were able to speak for themselves today—to tell their stories—without the insulting distractions of GOP lawmakers seeking to score political points with Donald Trump. That uninterrupted testimony was made possible by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who blocked GOP attempts to inject the hearing with their usual brand of delusional insolence. Pelosi undoubtedly made the right call by the officers, the congressional members they solemnly worked to defend, and the nation as a whole.

[tomorrowusa]

The lines at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse.

The Trump hush money trial has become a public grovelling pit for Republicans wishing to be Trump's running mate. These people have lost any remaining dignity they might have still had.

VP wannabees: Be careful what you ask for.

[tomorrowusa]

I hope this is brought up in passing during one of the remaining hearings.

At so-called Truth Social: Don’t say ‘coup’.

The irony is rich: Truth Social, Donald Trump’s Twitter copycat claiming it is “free from political discrimination,” has reportedly banned users who posted information from Thursday’s congressional hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol — in which the former president is a key focus.

That’s according to several posts on Twitter by users who claimed Truth Social was censoring them. Reps for Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns and operates Truth Social, did not respond to a request for comment.

Travis Allen, whose Twitter bio describes him as an information security analyst, on Thursday evening posted a screenshot from the Truth Social app that said “Account suspended,” and he wrote: “My Truth Social account was just permanently suspended for talking about the January 6th Committee hearings.”

[skydancer610-blog]

EARTH ONE CALLING: DISSECTING THE PARALLEL UNIVERSE OF TRUMP’S GOP

Dear GOP:

• You can no longer lecture us about divisiveness, or lambaste the Democrats foR “playing politics” when your warped media ecosystem has disseminated the very GOP talking points that have routinely tarred and feathered anyone left of Karl Rove on the daily for the past three decades.

• You can no longer drone on about why we should not prosecute your dearly departed Fuhrer "For the good of the country" when your elected representatives are focused only on their own narrow self-preservation and fund-raising. Let’s face it: you don’t give a shit about this country. If you did, you would have stood up to a president who has been actively destroying it for five years.

• You can no longer posture about unity or bipartisanship, especially when Trump’s GOP just spent four years exhibiting telltale fascist tendencies in the dogged pursuit of one-party rule, all the while waging a holy war on the main institutions entrusted with discovery and discernment of truth: the media, the judiciary, science, and education.

• You can no longer plead for civility on the part of Democrats when your representatives and media have spent decades shouting down anyone who isn’t on their side (here's looking at you Jim Jordan). And you especially can no longer lecture us about civility in the aftermath of your own supporters openly advocating-and then enacting-Civil War in the failed 1/6 fascist coup designed to keep your exalted Dear Loser as President.

• You can no longer shout from the top your soap boxes about leftist extremists, radicals, socialism, or communism when your party has veered so far to the right over the last three decades that it now teeters on the edge of a nihilist rightward cliff, about to plunge into full-on fascism.

• You can no longer lecture us about the dangers of violent Antifa and BLM protesters, especially given that a) over 95% of BLM protests were peaceful, b) so-called ”lone wolf” assailants have committed horrific acts of violence (i.e. racially motivated mass shootings) in the name of Donald Trump, and especially c) thousands of Trump supporters committed an act of mob violence on 1/6 so heinous that it has traumatized an entire nation and many of its duly elected Congressional representatives, Be there Republican or Democrat.

• You can no longer claim to be the party of "Law and order.” Don't even try it. Not when the leader of your party is a career criminal who spent the entirety of his presidency rigging the legal system to avoid consequences for his neverending litany of crimes, including Bank and tax fraud, conspiring with Russia to get elected, conspiring to withhold much-needed aid from Ukraine unless their president would ”dome a favor though,” committing election fraud in a call with the Georgia secretary of state, and especially for knowingly inciting the violent insurrection that resulted in over 140 law enforcement officers injured and three dead. Add to this Bill Barr’s politicization of the judiciary, the systematic rigging of our legal system at every level, and the countless Trump administration officials who were caught red-handed violating Federal laws and ethical standards, we need to call the GOP what it is: a lawless party led by angry White men to whom the laws of the land do not apply, and whose nakedly partisan judicial Philosophy has become “the law is whatever I say it is.”

• You certainly can no longer continue to demonize the mainstream media, facts and evidence-based reporting as "fake news", particularly since you have created a parallel media universe whose very existence demands that the brains of your legions of supporters must remain steeped in a toxic cesspool of mendacious venom in which warped talking-head drivel has wholly supplanted the reporting of actual news.

• You can no longer continue to channel Reagan’s dictum about how “government I s the problem,” especially since it has become glaringly obvious that most Republican politicians have no interest in governing to begin with, save for overfunding our military and police, under my name a woman’s right to choose, and squandering precious time and resources on such pressing matters as trans bathroom access and an umpteenth hearing on Benghazi. Once elected, GOP legislators routinely produces budgets that starve government agencies of funding, effectively reducing them to the status of a broke and emaciated pauper begging for spare change. These agencies are offered up as sacrifices to the God of lower taxes. Your anti-government rhetoric has thus morphed into a self-filling prophecy: you spout tired talking points that demonize government, then you get elected and cripple government, only to proclaim "look ma, government doesn’t work anymore". Aside from culture wars, your “Governing” it is not limited to gerrymandering, voter suppression, raising funds to get re-elected, and lining the pockets of your rich cronies. As our country rots away and the public good deteriorates, it is not a stretch to suggest that YOU have become the problem.

• You definitely can no longer claim the mantle of pro-life, not when you denounce science, support the death penalty, oppose access to healthcare, restrict funding for social services, and rationalize away the murder of Black Americans by an increasingly militarized police force. Truth be told, yours is a party that has become decidedly anti-life during the pandemic, first by downplaying the severity of COVID, then refusing to wear masks in the face of a deadly pandemic that has now killed roughly 1 in 700 Americans. Add to this a presidential administration that knowingly lied to the public about the risk posed by the coronavirus, and then systematically failed to address it. President Trump opted instead to corrupt the CDC and wage a public relations campaign rather than performing the necessary governmental function of tackling this deadly disease.

• You can no longer position yourself as the party of ”faith” and family values when you openly show hostility toward non-Christian religious and spiritual orientations, demonize entire races of putative “children of God,” or oppose expanding access to healthcare for families across the nation. Whatever God you are serving, it is certainly want for compassion. Additionally, your politicians and conservative media ritually engage in bad faith arguments in lieu of addressing to the many problems that plague our nation.

• You can no longer drone on about patriotism, or label some Americans as patriotic and others as unpatriotic when you have blindly supported and enabled a President who openly conspired with Russia to get elected, and who unflinchingly professed blind loyalty to the leader of the most hostile foreign power facing the US today. When confronted with credible evidence that the Russian autocrat put bounties on the heads of American soldiers in Afghanistan, Trump even refused to hold Putin accountable. Seriously. And of course you can no longer call yourself patriotic when you fan the flames of the Great Lie of a stolen election that gave rise to the seditious assault on the Capitol on 1/6. Then 86% of the GOP Senate Caucus voted to acquit Trump on charges that he incited the insurrection. Let's face it: you only hide behind the flag when it provides you political cover.

• Most importantly, you can NEVER lecture Democrats and their supporters about accountability, or responsibility, or pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps, or traffic in tired caricatures of crime-plagued inner cities and welfare moms. Why? Because the deficit always increases during Republican presidential administrations. Because Congress passed a tax act that will cost American taxpayers $1.5 trillion over the next decade. Because the GOP has shifted from being a party that believes in small government to a party that has ceased even trying to govern. Because the Republican Congressional Caucus fecklessly supported an administration that did virtually nothing about the pandemic, except to claim it was just another hoax, or to state that “one day it will just go away,” or to host super-spreader events in Tulsa and on the White House lawn. How many lives could have been saved by a serious and coordinated federal government response? No GOP, you are neither responsible nor accountable to anyone except the interests of yourselves, the wealthy, and corporate donors you serve.

But nowhere has Republican irresponsibility been more clearly on display then the 1/6 attack on the US Capitol, where the whole world saw a violent mob of conspiracy-driven Trump supporters wage a vicious terrorist assault on the most sacred hall of American democracy and civil parliamentary debate. It is clear that these insurrectionists were spurred on by the spread of the Great Lie that somehow a legitimately conducted election—one that was unsuccessfully challenged in 61 US court cases—had been stolen from their Dear Leader. The Great Lie was supported by the majority of the Republican House Caucus, a dozen US Senators, and a parallel media universe that has become as unhinged as the power-mad President Trump himself—who was visibly pleased as he watched the unrest unfold on live TV. But as the world watched in horror, the whole web of lies undergirding Trumpism was exposed, unraveled, and irrevocably shattered for all to see.

And yet, in the face of overwhelming evidence that Trump’s violent rhetoric led directly routinely insurrection, when the GOP finally had a chance to hold Trump accountable for his actions, 43 out of 50 Republican US senators punted. They abdicated their Constitutional duty to hold the President accountable for the most reprehensible violation of our democracy in our nation’s history. Although Minority leader Mitch McConnell was deeply troubled, and felt that Trump was directly responsible for the insurrection, he characteristically seized upon the wiggle room afforded by a technicality in order to weasel out of performing his Constitutional duty to prevent Trump from ever holding public office again. Like a grocery clerk telling a customer that quote that is not my department,” McConnell—who tried to thread the needle between retaining hi-dollar donors and appeasing Trump’s base—reasoned that the US criminal justice system that Trump just spent four years attacking and corrupting was the more appropriate forum in which to address the former President’s crimes. One can only hope. Finally, even though they amplified the lie that the November election was somehow stolen from the ex-president, it is safe to say that Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Fox News, Alex Jones and their ilk will never assume an iota of accountability or culpability for the nearly diabolical consequences of their words and actions.

• But the lack of Republican responsibility and accountability is most clearly embodied by President King Baby himself. True to form, despite issuing a vitriolic speech that explicitly and repeatedly called for the mob to “fight” for him, Trump claimed no responsibility for inciting the directly consequential insurrection for which he was impeached a second time. Predictably, Trump wrung his hands of this. Moreover, to hear him tell it, it is safe to s ay that Trump has never done anything wrong and never feels the need to atone for anything. Predictably, like many rich and powerful White American men—over the course of his life the silver spoon-fed Trump has seldom had to face the consequences of his actions.

• No GOP, you can no longer do any of these things anywhere that serious people frequent and the pursuit of truth is held to be sacrosanct. You’re probably just have been revoked. 1/6 and its aftermath shall go down in American history the pivotal moment in which your entire parallel universe of bullshit was finally exposed, and where the web of lies upon which it has been built was irretrievably refuted. It is now time to hold you accountable for your systematic, longstanding, and wholesale war on facts, truth, reason, rational discourse, and even reality itself. So no more false equivalencies, whataboutism, both-sides-ism, performative outrage, disingenuous spin, or just plain bald-faced outright lies. This is not simply a matter of opinion. The lies that you have perpetrated and propagated have had deadly consequences, be they for victims of hate crimes, the many people of color murdered by police forces, or the countless additional deaths due to coronavirus misinformation, or the death of three Capital police officers.

• But the GOP will continue to do all of these things and more because their very existence depends on it. Additionally, Fox News, OAN, Newsmax have way too much invested in their viewers for that to ever happen. The disinfo-meter must be cranked up to eleven, because the conservative media ecosystem has reached a point of no return. To call bullshit on their game now would me more than assuming responsibility: it would mean that the whole web of lies upon which the identities and worldviews of those who inhabit the parallel universe of conservative media would have to be debunked. The mass cult of Trumpism-which extends far beyond QAnon-would have to be painstakingly deprogrammed and deradicalized. The fascist White supremacist elements of Red America—including those in our government, military, and law enforcement—would somehow have to come back from the nether reaches of 8chan and Parler to the ostensibly objective, fact-based reality inhabited by the sane. A massive media literacy campaign and cultural inoculation against demonstrable bullshit would be needed, maybe even a wholesale cultural the programming would become necessary. In the meantime, the only way to combat the parallel universe of Trump’s GOP is by holding people accountable in the pursuit of truth and justice—by shedding light upon lies, crimes, misdeeds, and the pathological creation and dissemination of a hostile alternate reality that continues to threaten to tear our country apart.

[nationaltrooper]

Jill Biden brought cookies to National Guard troops to thank them for keeping her family safe

while millions of american citizens celebrated the inauguration of president joe biden this week, the kingdom additionally mourned the truth that, for the first time in modern records, the us did no longer have a non violent transition of strength.

with the violent assault on the u.s. capitol on january 6, while pro-trump insurrectionists attempted to stop the constitutional manner of counting electoral votes and in which terrorists threatened to kill lawmakers and the vice chairman for not maintaining trump in electricity, our long and proud way of life was broken. and even though presidential energy turned into in the long run transferred without incident on january 20, the presence of 20,000 country wide shield troops across the capitol reminded us of the danger that still lingers.

https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/experience-tech-and-society

first female jill biden showed up nowadays with cookies in hand for a group of national shield troops at the capitol to thank them for retaining her family secure. the homemade chocolate chip cookies had been a small token of appreciation, however one that came from the coronary heart of a mother whose son had served as well.

https://www.pinterest.com/amysb963/health-tips/

[bidencookies]

Jill Biden brought cookies to National Guard troops to thank them for keeping her family safe

at the same time as hundreds of thousands of usa citizens celebrated the inauguration of president joe biden this week, the kingdom also mourned the truth that, for the first time in current history, america did no longer have a peaceful transition of electricity.

with the violent assault at the u.s. capitol on january 6, while pro-trump insurrectionists attempted to prevent the constitutional manner of counting electoral votes and where terrorists threatened to kill lawmakers and the vice chairman for now not preserving trump in power, our lengthy and proud tradition changed into damaged. and even though presidential electricity turned into in the end transferred with out incident on january 20, the presence of 20,000 country wide shield troops around the capitol reminded us of the chance that also lingers.

https://www.nytimes.com/column/tech-fix

first lady jill biden confirmed up these days with cookies in hand for a set of national guard troops at the capitol to thank them for retaining her circle of relatives secure. the selfmade chocolate chip cookies were a small token of appreciation, but one which got here from the coronary heart of a mother whose sonhad served as nicely.

https://www.pinterest.com/ladolcevitablog/health-and-fitness/

[orbemnews]

Terrifying scope of Capitol assault turning into clearer as Washington locks down for Biden's inauguration Days after the assault, at the same time as safety reinforcements arrive, some lawmakers inform CNN they now worry for his or her security. Whereas some Republicans argued President Donald Trump’s unprecedented second impeachment will solely inflame divisions, federal officers warned that extremists, after seeing the outcomes of final week’s assault on the US Capitol, at the moment are probably extra emboldened to hold out assaults on the January 20 inauguration and all through 2021. An inside FBI bulletin disseminated to regulation enforcement this week warned that “armed protests” are being deliberate in any respect 50 state capitols and in Washington within the days main as much as Biden’s swearing in. Federal regulation enforcement businesses issued pressing bulletins calling for help securing the nation’s capital, which now bristles with street blocks and metal boundaries to wall off the “Folks’s Home” and can host as many as 25,000 Nationwide Guard — a stronger navy footprint than the US has in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria mixed. By Friday, the FBI had obtained 140,000 digital ideas relating to the assault, together with images and video, federal officers had opened 275 prison investigations, charged roughly 98 people, and brought 100 people into custody. As senior administration leaders who would usually take the lead remained silent for days — together with the heads of the Justice Division, the Division of Homeland Safety and the President himself — federal officers launched the most in depth counterterrorism probe since September 11, 2001, and continued planning to fortify Washington. “Our posture is aggressive. It will keep that means by the inauguration,” FBI Director Christopher Wray mentioned at a Thursday briefing on inauguration safety. He added that the company was monitoring “in depth” on-line chatter about additional potential armed protests and issued a warning to the lads and lady who wreaked havoc on the Capitol. “We all know who you’re, for those who’re on the market,” Wray mentioned, “and FBI brokers are coming to search out you.” The home terrorists struck at a time when the US authorities is confronting the worst recognized cyberattack by a international adversary in its historical past, with Russia suspected of penetrating tons of of companies and quite a few federal businesses. Their bloodshed and destruction come as Covid-19 claims document day by day dying tolls and a jobs disaster is brewing, with practically 1 million folks submitting for unemployment advantages for the primary time final week. The riot, fueled by Trump’s lies about his definitive election loss, uncovered the attain of baseless conspiracy theories which have radicalized Individuals to the purpose that they laid siege to their very own Capitol. The occasions of that day elevate questions on intelligence failures, the navy’s torpid response as panicked lawmakers pleaded by phone for assist, and regulation enforcement’s potential blind spots or willful ignorance concerning the risks posed by white supremacists and right-wing nativists. These teams fashioned a flamable combine with the anti-Semites and QAnon conspiracists rampaging on January 6 to create an existential disaster for the Republican Celebration, which faces the selection of remaining in thrall to Trump and his extra poisonous supporters or breaking away. It creates a problem for the bigger nation as effectively, in accordance with CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein, who mentioned the trajectory of Trump’s “white nationalist extremism has been very clear” for the final 4 years, as are the potential prices to US safety whether it is left unchecked. “President Trump has offered an unlimited quantity of oxygen to this very harmful ideology,” Brownstein advised Jake Tapper on Thursday. “And except everybody concerned, the Justice Division, regulation enforcement, Congress, may be very critical about imposing penalties and taking the menace severely, this might turn out to be a gradual drumbeat by the Biden presidency.” “The query is, can we extra broadly ship a sign that claims we aren’t going to tolerate and look the opposite means as this metastasizes,” Brownstein mentioned. Ideologically motivated violence Already, hundreds of armed pro-Trump extremists are plotting to encompass the US Capitol forward of Biden’s inauguration, in accordance with a lawmaker briefed by safety officers Monday. A joint US authorities intelligence bulletin mentioned the January 6 assault, meant to disrupt the certification of Biden’s victory, could have given extremists of differing ideological stripes a strategy to join. The bulletin warned that the riot “may be very probably a part of an ongoing pattern wherein (extremists) exploit lawful protests, rallies, and demonstrations, and different gatherings to hold out ideologically motivated violence and prison exercise.” A number of protection officers have advised CNN that the Nationwide Guard and regulation enforcement count on explosives like pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails for use in any coming unrest. They’re assuming perpetrators will include excessive “aggression,” mentioned one senior protection official, who added, “their intentions are very critical.” Pipe bombs that would have performed critical harm had been planted outdoors the Republican and Democratic occasion headquarters in Washington final week however did not go off. The experience behind the bombs and the convenience with which the raucous crowd appeared to mill concerning the Capitol complicated with little resistance raised considerations individuals had insider assist and navy experience. Not less than two US Capitol Law enforcement officials had been suspended and at the least 10 extra are below investigation for allegedly enjoying some kind of position, CNN reported. Michael Sherwin, the performing US legal professional in Washington, DC, confirmed Friday that “we’re seeing indications that regulation enforcement officers, each former and present, possibly who’ve been off responsibility, collaborating on this riot exercise.” “We do not care what your career is, who you’re, who you’re affiliated with, in case you are conducting or engaged in prison exercise, we are going to cost you and you’ll be arrested,” Sherwin mentioned. Army members A part of that hunt is for “a number of” folks presumably concerned within the killing of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, in accordance with two regulation enforcement officers. On Friday, Steven D’Antuono of the FBI’s Washington Area Workplace mentioned his investigators are “making progress” on the investigation and are “anybody and everybody” who could also be concerned. He didn’t give specifics on the scope of the investigation. Within the days after the assault, court docket information and information studies additionally confirmed that present and former US navy members participated within the riot. The information triggered unprecedented statements from the leaders of main safety businesses who felt the necessity to remind their women and men their loyalty is to the Structure. On Tuesday, the America’s most senior navy leaders condemned the violent invasion and reminded service members of their obligation to assist and defend the Structure and reject extremism. The Protection Division has noticed a rise in white supremacist ideology amongst active-duty service members and veterans, a senior protection official advised CNN. The following day, US Secret Service Director James Murray despatched company workers a message urging them to recollect their mission and stay skilled through the upcoming inauguration. “We’re anticipated to behave in a non-partisan method,” his memo mentioned. Video pictures of a Capitol Police officer carrying a MAGA hat through the invasion and of one other taking selfies with rioters left lawmakers deeply shaken. In accordance with the Wall Avenue Journal, the officer seen carrying the trademark purple cap put it on as a part of a ruse to rescue greater than a dozen trapped law enforcement officials through the riot. The officer has been suspended and an investigation is underway. “There have been these acts of heroism, however subsequent to that, there have been additionally assaults of betrayal,” Democratic Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez of New York mentioned Tuesday on Instagram Stay. “And to run within the nation’s Capitol and never know if an officer is there that can assist you or to hurt you can be fairly traumatizing.” “I didn’t know if I used to be going to make it to the tip of that day alive,” Ocasio-Cortez mentioned. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that many, many members of the Home had been practically assassinated.” Some members are asking for bulletproof vests, contemplating getting their very own safety and taking different steps, akin to altering their routes to work, lawmakers advised CNN. In the meantime, some Republicans expressed outrage at metallic detectors put in on the entrance to the Home chamber. Many Home lawmakers are contemplating one other appalling risk: that the mob bought help from a few of their colleagues. Thirty-one members of Congress despatched a letter to the performing Home Sergeant at Arms, performing Senate Sergeant at Arms, and the performing chief of the US Capitol Police asking them to analyze “uncommon” and “regarding” excursions they noticed and reported to the Sergeant at Arms on January 5. “Lots of the Members who signed this letter, together with these of us who’ve served within the navy and are educated to acknowledge suspicious exercise, in addition to numerous members of our workers, witnessed a particularly excessive variety of outdoors teams within the complicated on Tuesday, January 5,” the letter states. The teams of six to eight, who wore MAGA attire, in accordance with Democratic Rep. Mary Homosexual Scanlon of Pennsylvania, “may solely have gained entry to the Capitol Advanced from a Member of Congress or a member of their workers,” the letter mentioned. Coordination “I form of assumed it have to be a brand new member who did not know the foundations or one thing,” Scanlon of Pennsylvania, one of many co-signers, advised CNN. “There have been individuals who had been roaming round within the halls, apparently below the steerage of congressional workers” at a time when excursions have been canceled because of Covid. Not less than one right-wing conspiracist mentioned he coordinated the rally the place Trump spoke earlier than the riot with three Home Republicans: Reps. Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs of Arizona, and Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, who spoke earlier than the President took the stage and urged the gang to “begin taking down names and kicking ass.” Brooks, Gosar and several other different Home GOP lawmakers are going through criticism for his or her incendiary language within the hours, days and weeks earlier than the siege. Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who’s affiliated with the QAnon motion and recurrently spreads right-wing conspiracy theories, has additionally come below scrutiny for tweeting about Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s whereabouts because the assault was unfolding. On Friday, Pelosi introduced retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, a former vice director with the Joint Chiefs of workers, would lead a evaluate of the Capitol’s safety. She added that, “if, the truth is, it’s discovered that members of Congress had been accomplices to this riot, in the event that they aided and abetted the crime, there could should be actions taken past the Congress when it comes to prosecution for that.” Later that day, when requested if they’re investigating allegations that Capitol Police and lawmakers had been concerned within the riot, D’Antuono of the FBI’s Washington Area Workplace mentioned they may “go away no stone unturned” and are ” every bit of the puzzle.” Sherwin, the performing US legal professional for Washington, DC, advised reporters earlier within the week that “we’re vital felony instances tied to sedition and conspiracy.” Proof of planning Proof uncovered to date, together with weapons and ways seen on surveillance video, suggests a stage of planning, a federal regulation enforcement official mentioned. And court docket filings are providing stunning new particulars. One memo in a submitting Friday seeks to increase the detention of Jacob Anthony Chansley, the face-painted QAnon believer who rallied folks contained in the Capitol carrying a horned headdress and carrying a six-foot spear and a bullhorn. Prosecutors describe those that took over the Capitol as “insurrectionists” and provide new particulars about Chansley’s position within the violent siege final week, together with that Chansley left a notice on the dais the place Vice President Pence had stood that morning saying, “It is solely a matter of time, justice is coming.” Chansley later advised the FBI he didn’t imply the notice as a menace however mentioned the vp was a “child-trafficking traitor.” Earlier than he was arrested, Chansley additionally advised the FBI he needed to return to Washington for the inauguration to protest. In a separate case, prosecutors in Texas alleged {that a} retired Air Power reservist who carried plastic zip tie-like restraints on the Senate flooring could have supposed to restrain lawmakers. It was one of many many chilling particulars to emerge as investigators tracked down among the most recognizable faces from the riot. Authorities apprehended the person in broadly circulated images carrying a Accomplice flag inside Capitol Hill, one other who had worn a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt and the Olympic gold medalist swimmer Klete Keller. Federal officers additionally charged Peter Stager, a burly bearded man, with beating a DC police officer with a flagpole that had an American flag on it. “Everyone in there’s a treasonous traitor,” Stager mentioned in a video obtained by the FBI. “Demise is the one treatment for what’s in that constructing.” A couple of arrests counsel the obvious murderous intent of some within the crowd. One man from Alabama faces 17 prison counts, largely for possession of a number of weapons, together with a shotgun, a rifle, three pistols and 11 Molotov cocktails, in addition to ammunition and shotgun shells with out registration, in accordance with an indictment. After residing in his truck in DC for a few week, the person parked it a few block from the Capitol on January 6, in accordance with court docket paperwork. Police began looking the truck after recognizing a firearm deal with and located the weapons, in addition to a stun gun, a number of machetes, a crossbow; a number of large-capacity ammunition-feeding units; and tons of of rounds of ammunition, in accordance with a memorandum that prosecutors filed January 12 in assist of his detention. Additionally within the truck: the handwritten notice with Indiana Rep. Andre Carson’s identify and an added commentary that he’s “one among two Muslims in Home of Reps.” The second man is alleged to have pushed from Colorado to Washington, DC, a day earlier than Trump’s rally with greater than 2,500 rounds of ammunition and an assault rifle. He’s mentioned to have texted acquaintances that he needed to shoot or run over Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi and shoot DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, in accordance with court docket information. “If I had a extra regarding threats case come earlier than me, I do not keep in mind it,” Justice of the Peace Decide Michael Harvey of the DC District Courtroom mentioned Thursday. Some lawmakers’ experiences made them fear that the rioters had a stage of cautious preparation that belies the narrative of a protest that wheeled uncontrolled. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a Massachusetts Democrat, advised CNN that somebody eliminated panic buttons put in all through her workplace that had been recurrently examined and maintained. An investigation is underway, mentioned Pressley, who mentioned the invention was “definitely unnerving.” Carson, whose identify was on the notice discovered within the automobile stuffed with weaponry and ammunition, is amongst a rising record of lawmakers vital of regulation enforcement’s dealing with of the insurgency. “This can be very disturbing to study from press studies that I used to be one among a number of people recognized in an inventory of ‘good guys’ and ‘dangerous guys’ focused for assaults,” Carson mentioned in an announcement offered to CNN. “As a former regulation enforcement officer, it’s particularly disappointing to see the failure of regulation enforcement officers, together with the U.S. Capitol Police, to inform people like myself that we had been focused and in danger from the indicted terrorist and his co-conspirators.” Failures Investigators will probably be asking how federal authorities missed so many purple flags, why they had been so underprepared and gradual to react. The FBI and the Division of Homeland Safety did not problem menace assessments concerning the potential of violence on the US Capitol forward of final week’s lethal assault, in accordance with a supply conversant in the matter and a senior DHS official. Sometimes, the FBI and DHS will produce a joint menace evaluation for high-profile occasions and ship it to regulation enforcement officers and related stakeholders. However no such report was compiled by both company for the January 6 certification of Biden’s victory, a controversial occasion for the President’s followers. The Washington Put up reported Friday that three days earlier than the assault, an inside Capitol Police intelligence report warned that offended Trump supporters may assault “Congress itself.” The 12-page report describes a state of affairs eerily just like the one which unfolded, with the President’s enraged backers attempting to cease Biden’s certification and overturn the election outcomes. A day earlier than the chaos erupted, an FBI outpost in Virginia issued an inside warning that extremists had been coming to Washington ready to commit violence. The Put up additionally reported that dozens of individuals on a terrorist watch record got here to Washington for the January 6 occasions. The vast majority of them had been suspected white supremacists with monitor information so disturbing they had been placed on the nationwide Terrorist Screening Database as potential safety dangers. 4 federal businesses introduced Friday they’re opening investigations into their very own roles on January 6. The Division of Protection, Division of Homeland Safety, Division of Justice and the Inside Division will all study their preparations for the occasions in Washington that day which will have performed an element in permitting rioters to breach the Capitol. These businesses and others at the moment are getting ready for rioters to descend on the Capitol once more. The Secret Service is taking the lead on Biden’s inauguration safety planning. The Nationwide Mall will probably be closed to most of the people on Inauguration Day, in accordance with an official conversant in discussions. There will probably be no massive screens, no bathrooms and the general public won’t be able to get right down to the Mall the place historically hundreds collect to look at the brand new president be sworn in, the official mentioned. The President-elect and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are nonetheless anticipated to take their oaths of workplace on the West Entrance of the US Capitol throughout a considerably scaled-down occasion. Biden mentioned this week that his group had been receiving briefings within the wake of the violence and that he was “not afraid of taking the oath outdoors.” CNN’s Katelyn Polantz, Christina Carrega, David Shortell, Marshall Cohen, Nicky Robertson, Ellie Kaufman, Geneva Sands, Zachary Cohen, Oren Liebermann, Barbara Starr, Jamie Crawford, Jamie Gangel, Jake Tapper, Alex Marquardt, Jeff Zeleny, Kate Sullivan, Ryan Nobles, Annie Grayer, and Brian Todd contributed to this report. Supply hyperlink #attack #Bidens #Capitol #clearer #inauguration #locks #Politics #scope #Terrifying #TerrifyingscopeofCapitolattackuncoveredasWashingtonlocksdownforBiden'sinauguration-CNNPolitics #Washington

[tomorrowusa]

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD-08) is a living national treasure of democracy.

Rep. Raskin visited with Alicia Menendez, Michael Steele, and Symone Sanders-Townsend at MSNBC's The Weekend to talk about a number of issues.

He said Trump "came back to the scene of the crime" with his first visit to Capitol Hill since 06 January 2021. Trump met with GOP members of both chambers who ignored the fact that he put their lives at risk with his coup attempt.

Of course Trump offered no apology for his endangerment of their lives or for his damage to American institutions of democracy. It says a lot about the mindset of most Republicans these days that they will suffer no humiliation too great to show their grovelling loyalty to wannabe dictator Trump.

Rep. Raskin also talked about the GOP Supreme Court's NRA-friendly approval of the use of "bump stocks" – devices that permit assault rifles to be converted into machine guns.

Republicans willingly gave up their claim to being the party of law and order so they could incessantly pander to Trump's lust for dictatorship and to empower the NRA's goal of putting machine guns in the hands of every nutjob in the country.

This election requires more personal effort than previous ones. Be willing to do more grassroots work and make our case to low-information voters you may know.

[tomorrowusa]

Stephen Colbert referred to Hawley as “Fascist Gump”.

The must-have garment of summer of 2022 is a Josh Hawley shirt. They come in a variety of designs and captions.

[seriousbusinessforhumans]

Jan. 14, 2021 

Dozens of people on a terrorist watch list were in Washington for pro-Trump events Jan. 6, a day that ended in a chaotic crime rampage when a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, according to people familiar with evidence gathered in the FBI’s investigation.

The majority of the watch-listed individuals in Washington that day are suspected white supremacists whose past conduct so alarmed investigators that their names had been previously entered into the national Terrorist Screening Database, or TSDB, a massive set of names flagged as potential security risks, these people said. The watch list is larger and separate from the “no-fly” list the government maintains to prevent terrorism suspects from boarding airplanes, and those listed are not automatically barred from any public or commercial spaces, current and former officials said.

The presence of so many watch-listed individuals in one place — without more robust security measures to protect the public — is another example of the intelligence failures preceding last week’s fatal assault that sent lawmakers running for their lives, some current and former law enforcement officials argued. The revelation follows a Washington Post report earlier this week detailing the FBI’s failure to act aggressively on an internal intelligence report of Internet discussions about plans to attack Congress, smash windows, break down doors and “get violent . . . go there ready for war.”

Since its creation, the terrorist watch list, which is maintained by the FBI, has grown to include hundreds of thousands of names. Placing someone’s name on the watch list does not mean they will be watched all of the time, or even much of the time, for reasons of both practicality and fairness, but it can alert different parts of the government, such as border agents or state police, to look more closely at certain individuals they encounter.

Several law enforcement officials said they are shocked by the backgrounds of some individuals under investigation in connection with the Capitol riot, a pool of suspects that includes current and former law enforcement and military personnel as well as senior business executives and middle-aged business owners.

The TSDB, often referred to within government as simply “the watch list,” is overseen by the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center, which was created in the wake of the 9/11 attacks carried out by al-Qaeda. The watch list can be used as both an investigative and early-warning tool, but its primary purpose is to help various government agencies keep abreast of what individuals seen as potential risks are doing and where they travel, according to people familiar with the work.

Before the Jan. 6 gathering of pro-Trump protesters, FBI agents visited a number of suspected extremists and advised them against traveling to the nation’s capital. Many complied, but according to people familiar with the sprawling investigation, dozens of others whose names appear in the terrorist watch list apparently attended, based on information reviewed by the FBI.

FBI investigating whether some rioters aimed to kill or capture lawmakers

Separately, while the FBI is hunting hundreds of rioting suspects who have dispersed back to their hometowns, federal agents are increasingly focused on alleged leaders, members and supporters of the Proud Boys, a male-chauvinist group with ties to white nationalism, these people said. Proud Boys members participated in last week’s protests, and FBI agents are taking a close look at what roles, if any, the group’s adherents may have had in organizing, directing or carrying out violence, according to people familiar with the matter.

The group’s chairman, Enrique Tarrio, had planned to attend Trump’s Jan. 6 rally but was arrested when he arrived in D.C. and charged with misdemeanor destruction of property in connection with the burning of a Black Lives Matter banner taken from a Black church during an earlier protest in Washington. He is also accused of felony possession of two extended gun magazines. Tarrio told The Post on Wednesday that his group did not organize the Capitol siege.

Tarrio said he’s actively discouraging members from attending planned armed marches scheduled Sunday, and the Million Militia March next week when Biden is inaugurated. Proud Boys, he said, are on a “rally freeze and will not be organizing any events for the next month or so.”

It is unclear how many Proud Boys devotees will abide by the freeze, or if such a shutdown might lessen the FBI’s interest in the group. Even before the Jan. 6 riot, federal and local investigators were working to understand the group’s plans, goals and activities. Privately, some federal law enforcement officials have described the group as roughly equivalent to a nascent street gang that has garnered an unusual degree of national attention, in part because Trump mentioned them specifically during one of his televised debates with Biden during the campaign. Other officials have expressed concern that the group may be growing rapidly into something more dangerous and directed.

The FBI has already arrested dozens of accused rioters, and officials have pledged that in cases of the most egregious conduct, they will seek to file tough, rarely used charges such as seditious conspiracy, which carries a potential 20-year prison sentence.

The bureau continues to face blowback over its handling of a Jan. 5 internal report warning of discussions of violence at Congress the next day. Steven M. D’Antuono, the head of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, claimed in the days after the riot that the bureau did not have intelligence ahead of time indicating the rally would be anything other than a peaceful demonstration.

The Jan. 5 FBI report, written by the bureau’s office in Norfolk, and reviewed by The Post, shows that was not the case, and the Justice Department took other steps indicating officials were at least somewhat concerned about possible violence the next day. The Bureau of Prisons sent 100 officers to D.C. to supplement security at the Justice Department building, an unusual move similar to what the department did in June to respond to civil unrest stemming from racial-justice protests.

Mindful of the criticism that law enforcement took a heavy-handed, all-hands-on-deck approach to Black Lives Matters protests in D.C. in the spring and summer, Justice Department officials deferred to the Capitol Police to defend their building and lawmakers. Some former officials have questioned whether the FBI and Justice Department should have done more.

“It would not have been enough for the bureau simply to share information, if it did so, with state and local law enforcement or federal partner agencies,” said David Laufman, a former Justice Department national security official. “It was the bureau’s responsibility to quarterback a coordinated federal response as the crisis was unfolding and in the days thereafter. And it’s presently not clear to what extent the FBI asserted itself in that fashion during the exigencies of January 6 and in the immediate aftermath.”

(selected segments of the article)

[backstorywithdanalewis]

Assault on Democracy Back Story with Dana Lewis podcast link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1016881/7253866

Dana Lewis - Host: (00:00) A general thought that these people are fringe and, you know, crazy and live up in a forest somewhere. I mean, it's obviously much more serious than that and much more serious cost. Dana Lewis - Host: (00:13) We are seeing the cost of underestimating these groups now that are being called to the street by Trump. Kellie Carter Jackson: (00:19) Yeah. These, I think these groups have never really been Fringe That is what to me is most terrifying is that this group is made up of people who are educated, who have jobs, who have careers, who have families and thought that what they were doing was acceptable. If not necessary. Dana Lewis - Host: (00:42) Hi everyone. And welcome to backstory based in London. I'm Dana Lewis. What madness is unfolding in America? An American president has launched an all out assault on while pretty much everything. Trump came to power in 2016, calling mainstream media, fake news, and this done everything to undermine the public's confidence in journalism. That is not pro-Trump. He has called out the FBI and the courts for being part of the dark state and against every political opponent that is not on his side is later berated in tweets and rents that they are stupid or disloyal or losers. Same with anyone who was worked for him and later left and then came the election in a country admired for its democracy and rule of law. Trump started saying the election was false from the beginning. And if he didn't win the result, wouldn't be fair. He lost and then called it a massive fraud up to 70 court cases. Many by judges, he appointed said there was no evidence of cheating, but Trump won't concede and won't participate in a peaceful transition of power. And then he called a rally on the day, the us Congress was set to ratify the voting and he led his dogs off. The leash calling demonstrators to March to Capitol Hill were a riot occurred. Trump: (02:08) Never concede. It doesn't happen. You don't concede with step. Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore. And that's what this is all about. And to use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with. We will stop the steel Dana Lewis - Host: (02:38) It's incitement to insurrection. Here's some of the violent imagery Mr. Trump used in his speech. Quote, Republicans are constantly fighting like a boxer with his hands tied behind his back. It's like a boxer and we want to be so nice. We want to be respectful of everybody, including bad people. And we're going to have to fight much harder. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore. We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn't happen. You don't concede when there's theft involved, our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore. And that's what this is all about. We are going to try give our Republicans the weak ones. Cause the strong ones don't need any of our help. Trying to give them a kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back. Our country, unquote, it was an attempt to overthrow the government protestors called for actually their terrorists called for the lynching of the vice-president and finding and holding accountable. The speaker of the house, Nancy Pelosi. They looked for her throughout the building and then occupied her office. Sadly, Nancy Pelosi: (03:53) The person who's running the executive branch is a deranged unhinged, dangerous president of the United States. And up only a number of days until we can be protected from him. Uh, but he has done something so serious that there should be prosecution against him. Dana Lewis - Host: (04:15) Trump is in the white house plotting what next he has been silenced by Twitter and Facebook. He's announced that he won't attend the inauguration and his supporters convinced the election wasn't free and fair vow to carry out more marches. And God knows what else on this backstory, why when social media was full of threats to the Capitol were DC. Police caught flat-footed American democracy today is badly bruised and maybe broken. All right, joining me now is Kelly Carter Jackson, uh, an assistant professor of Africana studies at Wellesley college in Massachusetts and the author of force and freedom black abolitionists and the politics of violence. Hi Kelly. Hi. How are you very well. I mean, you wrote a great article in the Atlantic and that's what led me to ask you to do the interview with us. So the, the headline is the inaction of Capitol police was by design. Are you suggesting some conspiracy here? Kellie Carter Jackson: (05:22) I, I'm not suggesting so much as a conspiracy, as I am suggesting the double standard that happens in American policing when it comes to black protesters, as when we're dealing with white protestors, we see a clearer, um, response that happens with marginalized groups of people and white people that is completely, um, different from what we saw earlier this summer. Dana Lewis - Host: (05:50) I mean, you're not the only, the only one, a lot of people that said did police very harsh in places like Portland and in Washington all over the country Dana Lewis - Host: (05:58) When it came to the BLM, uh, black lives matter protests and here you had white terrorists. Some of them, not all of them outside the Capitol and then push and then the terrorists pushing their way inside that building and policemen. I mean, the videos are perplexing. I have to tell you, I've, I've a correspondent. Kellie Carter Jackson: (06:22) We see police officers opening up the Gates, you know, which makes no sense. We see police officers taking selfies. I find that a port, you know, we see police officers who were grossly unprepared, grossly outnumbered. Um, and that, to me, I think the optics of the entire insurrection was the hardest to, to grapple with how is it that the Capitol police, the DC Metro police, you know, the FBI, everyone who could have been involved in was involved, did not, um, meet the resistance with equal fervor. Dana Lewis - Host: (06:59) I mean, out of respect for some of the police officers and their families, I mean, you see some officers fight valiantly to stop people from entering that building. Uh, one of them is, is beaten and dragged down the steps, uh, beaten with an American flag. And then you also see this black policeman Kellie Carter Jackson: (07:20) That was the most terrifying, heroic, Dana Lewis - Host: (07:22) Where the crowd is coming at him. Obviously he's not going to be very friendly to him and he kind of leads them, you know, he glances towards the door to the Senate floor and then in the end, leads them the other way to buy time for people inside Kellie Carter Jackson: (07:38) [inaudible]. But it just, I mean, that's one of the images as well, that has just stuck with me the most the, because I had fear for him when, when you see him sort of coming down the steps in that the mob turns the corner and sees him and he's like I'm outnumbered. And all he has is like, uh, like a Baton. Um, and it was also clear that like his badge, his uniform would not protect him from the mob, that there was no, um, civility or level of deference that was owed to him as his position as a police officer. And in that moment, I think he realized I'm not just a cop, I'm a black cop and that this is going to be a problem. Dana Lewis - Host: (08:24) So there's a lot of speculation. I mean, we're still coming to terms with what happened remarkably after spending my career covering big events like this, where there are repeated news conferences afterwards by the FBI, by the white house silence national guard was delayed and installed at one point Capitol police. As you mentioned, standing back in some of the videos, well coordinated with pipe bombs, being placed at the DNC and the RNC headquarters to maybe to distract police, uh, protesters armed with handcuffs and maps of the building who was pulling the strings. Kellie Carter Jackson: (09:03) I mean, we won't completely know that until we have a full investigation of what took place. But what I think is remarkable is that these fringe groups have been telling the public for months, what they intended to do, what their plans were. They, I saw, you know, a news footage of them showing like showing off their arsenal and showing, you know, when he gives the signal, we're speaking of Trump and he gives the call, we're ready. We're going to be ready. And you know, I think people didn't really believe them. I think people thought, Oh, who's got time. They're not serious. But people had orchestrated buses to come to DC. And this was not just, you know, for a protest. Dana Lewis - Host: (09:46) I think it was orchestrated by Donald Trump's white house. Kellie Carter Jackson: (09:49) Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think, I think that you cannot separate Donald Trump's leadership or lack thereof. Um, and these aport actions, uh, their circuit Lee certainly working in tandem Dana Lewis - Host: (10:05) New York times or putting the cops, cops policemen from Texas, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, uh, as well as other States are now under scrutiny after scrutiny, after social media posts placed the mirror and in the riots that took place at the nation's Capitol in some policemen reporting that they were fighting off a policemen who were not in uniform, but people who were flashing badges saying, we're doing this for you as they punched him in the face. Kellie Carter Jackson: (10:34) Yeah. That's, that's the irony of this is that when you look at that crowd, you know, a lot of, one of the things that I wanted to say, but you only have a limited amount of space in the op ed, is that people think that these people are, are some French crazy radical group. Um, but this is us, that group of people was made up of off duty officers, veterans, soccer, moms, college students, elected officials. So when we think of who's present, I think we really have to have also another honest conversation about, um, who is, who is a part of the police force. And, and have we allowed the police force to somehow become co-opted, but also these, these radical groups as well. I've also read reports about white supremacists and Klan members, you know, um, actively gaining, um, you know, police Academy training and joining police Academy forces so that they can have more influence. That's scary to me, Dana Lewis - Host: (11:35) Reports from the, um, you know, that have been prepared by all sorts of people, but, uh, Michael German, a former FBI special agent has written extensively in the ways us law enforcement have failed to respond to far-right domestic terror groups concludes the us law enforcement officials have been tied to racist militant activists in more than a dozen States since 2000. And that hundreds of police officers have been caught posing a racist that posting racist and bigoted social media content use his words. What's your reaction to that? Kellie Carter Jackson: (12:11) I mean, this goes back to also what I said in the op-ed that the inception, the Genesis, the creation of the police force, uh, was developed out of slavery, was established during the institution of slavery to prevent runaway slaves from escaping the plantation. And that police force has evolved over time, but the white supremacists or anti-black sentiments have been, you know, sort of inculcated into the institution since its inception. So it's not surprising to me to see these things, given the history of policing in the United States of America. But what I do think is intolerable, that is how we have allowed for this to continue and that we have never really seen substantial police reform that would allow for, you know, these particular groups of people to be, um, ostracized from, uh, um, a police Academy. Dana Lewis - Host: (13:02) I mean, you said earlier, there's kind of a, a general thought that these people are fringe and crazy and live up in a forest somewhere. I mean, it's obviously a much more serious than that. And what is the cost? I mean, we are seeing the cost of underestimating these groups now that are being called to the street by Trump. Kellie Carter Jackson: (13:24) Yeah. These, I think these groups have never really been friends. You know, Kenneth, Kenneth Jackson is amazing historian at Columbia university and he wrote earlier about the history of the Klan. And he talked about it as an urban phenomenon. He says it was, you know, filled with police officers and judges and elected officials and businessmen and ministers. And that there's this superficial myth that, you know, the person who's in this group is like, you know, Bubba for Mississippi, or like some, you know, we think of some ignorant person, some uneducated person, but that is not the case. And that is what to me is most terrifying is that this group is made up of people who are educated, who have jobs who have careers, who have families and thought that what they were doing was acceptable, if not necessary. Dana Lewis - Host: (14:13) Do we know have to go in, in all the lessons learned from this and by the way, it's ongoing, right? Because there are marches that are called for on the, on the 17th. There were marches that are called for on the 20th day of inauguration. Um, do you think we have to go and look at the screening again and the recruitment again, in all these police departments, minimal minimally, and try to get these, you know, P Q unknowns and Nazis, uh, and clearly, you know, people who are racist out of those departments somehow Kellie Carter Jackson: (14:47) We do. And I, and I think that requires more reform. I think we have to completely redo the system. You know, I, I studied the abolitionists and the abolitionists were not trying to reform slavery. They were trying to abolish slavery. And I think that when we look at the institution like the police and we see all of its systemic, structural corruption and racism, you can't reform that away. You actually have to create something new in its place. And I think drastic change is needed if we're ever going to move forward from where we are right now, Dana Lewis - Host: (15:24) Kelly, what are Afra African-American saying right now after, you know, seeing what happened at the Capitol, what what's, what's the chatter? Kellie Carter Jackson: (15:34) I mean, it is a range. I have friends who have called me in tears, people who are so disturbed, they're, they're considering pulling their children out of school during the day of the inauguration, or not sure what's going to happen. I have friends who have made this somewhat comical and that it's not funny, but pointing out the double standard and finding ways that these white people look at this craziness, look at what we have allowed, who can help black people wouldn't ever be able to do this, you know, pointing out the double standard. I think there's a range, but for what most people feel is grief and anger and, um, a profound sense of disappointment at what this country is and what it's headed toward. Dana Lewis - Host: (16:28) Can I ask you what you are feeling on ongoing after ongoing, after president Trump, um, is, you know, th the two school of thoughts seem to be emerging. One is let's not further inflame how divided the country is. Let's start towards reconciliation, let them leave on the 20th, he's off Twitter. Now, you know, let's just push through this and forget about it. Well, you know, to some extent, you know, um, and there are others that say, no, no, no, this was a crime against the nation. Uh, and we have to bring these people to justice, including the president himself. Kellie Carter Jackson: (17:07) Absolutely. You know, I feel the letter, I feel you cannot simply cause harm and, and then apologize and keep it moving. You have to go about repairing the harm that you caused, and you have to be honest about your actions and then you have to face consequences. Um, I mean, these are lessons. We teach our children how we behave and how you apologize, and then how after that we should see changed behavior. Um, and I think one of the things that we've never really seen is repentance. We've never really seen a meta Copa, um, on both sides of the, and I don't think that we have yet to see real accountability. And so that's what I want more than anything. You know, I think that if we allow president Trump to just sort of fade away into the darkness and not have to answer to the damage and the harm that he has caused, then all we will be doing is preparing another person to come in and do it even worse at an even more astronomical level. Dana Lewis - Host: (18:14) And he's probably not going to, he's probably not going to fade away in the dark anyway, but Alabama Congressman Barry Moore has only been in office for a week. He's already had the delete, his own Twitter account, his official account, the Republican called Capitol riots, a disgrace. Um, but then in his personal account, he says, we have more arrest for stealing a podium, which was, you know, pictured in all of those, those very high profile photographs on January the sixth. And we do for stealing an election on November the third. So there's no repentance there, certainly. And then he says, I understand it was a black police officer that shot the white female veteran. You know, that doesn't fit the narrative. What's he saying there, Kellie Carter Jackson: (18:55) Oh my gosh. I mean, there's, there's so much there in terms of the duality of what he is presenting. And so much of what he said has also been not substantiated. There is no, um, fraud. Yes, it's, it's absolutely racist. And what he's also trying to do is in using the race card to flip these arguments around as to make this idea as though reverse racism is a thing it's not, it does not exist. Um, the racism is about power and black people don't have power. So, um, he can't make those arguments. And I think we have seen sort of like the verbal and intellectual gymnastics of how people have tried to maneuver themselves and to making an argument that they feel like there's merit that has no ground to stand on. And it's really disturbing to hear him say that. Dana Lewis - Host: (19:48) I just want to come back to where we started. The inaction of Capitol police was by design. If that had been a black lives matter protest with, you know, days in advance of threats on the internet about violence. Um, and as they approached to breach the doors of the Capitol, what would have happened? Kellie Carter Jackson: (20:09) Well, it wouldn't have happened. I think, I think we're clean. We should be clear on that. I don't think this would have ever happened if this were a black lives matter protest. Um, I think on par black lives matter protests have been peaceful. Um, and I think that deserves to be stated again and again, but I also think that had it gone crazy, you would have seen much more bloodshed. You would have seen more than five people killed. And I don't say that to dismiss the deaths of the five people, but I think we would have seen those numbers in the double digits, if not triple digits, we would have seen tear gas. We would have seen tanks. I mean, think about Ferguson. It wasn't that long ago with Mike Brown and we saw an army meet protestors and armies, what, um, and that was, you know, because they had burned down a, a quick trip. So a gas station, I can't imagine how much more before she would see with the nation's cat, Dana Lewis - Host: (21:07) The chief of police in the Capitol has resigned. And he's kind of shifting the debate to what happened with the calling in of the national guard. And, um, do you think that that's just smoke and mirrors that in fact, you know, they, they had a very good idea that this was going to happen and they just maybe decided not to be ready. Kellie Carter Jackson: (21:27) I think everybody a good idea of what was going to happen. I think again, I said this before, we've been warned for months since the election, not even since the election, before the election, Trump had primed people that this was going to go bad and if it goes bad, be ready. So I think there was no excuse to say that you were not expecting, you know, a crowd of this size that you would not be expecting resistance. Um, that makes no sense to me. And again, it goes back to this idea that we have to be honest with ourselves about, um, what we were up against there. I think part of the problem is that no group both the left or the right has, um, has really a monopoly on truth right now. And, and I feel like we have two narratives that are circulating and, um, and we can't seem to find common ground on the truth. Dana Lewis - Host: (22:16) Last question to you in the New York times today, I'm sorry for quoting the New York times so much, but Timothy Snyder writes that Trump's focused on alleged irregularities and contested States comes down to cities where black people live and vote at bottom. The fantasy of fraud is that of a crime committed by black people against white people. Kellie Carter Jackson: (22:38) Facts, short answer. I cannot there. I mean, you CA this is not a coincidence. It's not a coincidence that this happens the day that Georgia gets the first black Senator first Jewish American Senator. That's not a coincidence. It's not a coincidence that in places like Detroit and Philadelphia and Atlanta, you know, where large populations of black people live, that these votes are contested. I mean, and it's also historically consistent with the fact that black people's voting efforts and their votes have constantly faced suppression and opposition to not count into not matter. Um, and so in that sense, I think it is, it is absolutely racist and we need to be able to call a space. Dana Lewis - Host: (23:26) And the voter suppression was, uh, hard to watch people waiting and hours and hours making it so difficult, but, Kellie Carter Jackson: (23:32) Oh my gosh, it makes no sense. Dana Lewis - Host: (23:35) Kelly Carter Jackson assistant professor of studies at Wellesley college, and she's the author of force and freedom, black abolitionists and the politics of violence. Kelly wrote a great article in the Atlantic . I suggest you read it. Thank you so much, Kelly. Thank you for having me. All right. Joining me now is Dr. Darren Porcher. He was formally a Lieutenant with the N Y P D in New York, obviously. And he handled a lot of crowd control situations. There is that right, Darren. That is correct. Was the response by Capitol police designed to fail? Dr. Darrin Porcher: (24:08) I wouldn't say it was designed to fail. I don't think that they, uh, they pre-planned appropriately. When I say pre-planned appropriately, whenever you have a large scale demonstration of the magnitude of what we saw on the, um, the capital you need the focus on certain factions. The first thing is who is the group that's intending the protest. Number two, what is this group's ideology? And number three, how many people are going to come? You want to triangulate those three components. And that's how you'll assess which a personnel couple with technological innovations that'll partner in Dana Lewis - Host: (24:45) Those three things. And I think you would be hard pressed not to say that it was an, it was an Epic fail. Dr. Darrin Porcher: (24:53) It was a colossal failure to say, Hey, we clearly saw it mainstream American television up. And you know, the problem with that was mayor Bowzer. Um, Washington DC mayor was offered the resources of the national guard and she rejected it. And then she in turn focused on having national guard members that were not in uniform and they would not arm and placing them on the periphery, meaning behind the demonstrations, not behind the demonstrators, not upfront. And I just think that omnipresence is necessary when you have a demonstration of that magnitude, because it was clear that the intelligence reflected that this was going to be a hostile crowd and they were coming to invoke a level of violence, which we clearly saw manifest as a result. Dana Lewis - Host: (25:43) Would you agree with me now, as we know, more and more about this, that, I mean, given the digital traffic, I mean, who these people are and the calls to violence and the calls to arms and the calls to overthrow the government, the calls to take lawmakers and lynched them, um, that all the Intel was there. I mean, the, the Capitol police, absolutely. Should've known what was coming at them like a freight train, Dr. Darrin Porcher: (26:12) You know? Absolutely. I think what happened was there was a sense of, I don't think I know what happened was there was a sense of complacency on the part of the Capitol police. Oftentimes you have these demonstrations and a lot of law enforcement practitioners will take that road of look, probably nothing is not going to happen. Therefore we want to reserve the budget and we don't want to overreach and can take in connection with the expenditures that we apply to this particular demonstration. And it turned around in a bit them in the rear end. And when you speak to the traffic, um, on social media, it was clearly apparent that you had people that were coming with a specific agenda and that was the reap havoc. And that's what we saw. However, the Capitol police did not a plant did not plan accordingly. And as a result, this is what occurred. Dana Lewis - Host: (27:00) Can I ask you how you feel personally, when you look at some of these videos, you know, and especially that one where they, they grab a policeman by the helmet and they drag him down the steps and beat him with an American flag pole. Um, just tell me how you feel as an American and how you feel as an ex policeman. Dr. Darrin Porcher: (27:22) Well, as an Alexa, as an ex police officer, I felt that Harvard, I thought this was, I was horrified in the, um, the visions that were, um, revealed to me in connection with cops being beat up and just this overall overarching act of anarchy that plague that Capitol complex. It really begged the question of why didn't we have the necessary fortifications in play. I mean, this is troubling, especially when we look to what the agenda of this group was and Wu they were, and I blame the president for a lot of this because he was the person that ginned up the base on false claims of election fraud and had these people assemble at the Capitol. And this was specifically from a selfish perspective. When I say selfish perspective, meaning it was all about him. There was no election fraud, but he still felt as if his, his, his time in the white house was permanent, not temporary. And this is what happened as a result. So I think he bears a tremendous brunt of responsibility. Dana Lewis - Host: (28:25) No, you are very careful what you say and you appear on places like Fox news. If you've been saying what you just told me now, in places like that now, Dr. Darrin Porcher: (28:33) Yes, I will. Um, the day after. So I'm going to say on Thursday, when I came on Fox, I spoke to the specifically and how the president showed that a lot of the blame for this. And th the term that I used on Fox news was this was Charlottesville book too, for president Trump. Because when we look at the statements that he made, um, the inflammatory statements, that connection with what happened in Charlottesville, Virginia, coupled with there being good people on both sides, it was clearly his inability to make a proper assessment of what the situation was and put forth the NES necessary protocols. So I, you know, I spoke to this the same way I was speaking to you about this Dana Lewis - Host: (29:12) Police departments across the country have open investigations into policemen, uh, among their ranks to find out how they were involved, not whether they were there. We know that they were there involved in the siege on the U S Capitol on Washington. On January, the sixties are off duty officers who have gone to the demonstration. Let me read you a quote from, uh, one of the policemen that was interviewed by media there. And he says, they're extraordinary scenes with protesters holding blue lives matter flags launched at police officers, quote, we're telling them to get back up and get away and stop. And they're telling us, they're on our side, they're doing this for us. These are policemen who are showing a police ID showing badges. Uh, off-duty in the protests. They're, they're saying this as I'm getting punched in the face by one of them that happened to a lot of us were getting pepper sprayed in the face by these protesters. I'm not going to call them protesters, even their domestic caters. I mean, what's your reaction to that? There was so many, and I can't put a number on it, but there were a number of policemen that went to that protest and were involved in entering the Capitol building. Dr. Darrin Porcher: (30:27) Give me an example here with the NYP has one officer under investigation for actually going into that Capitol complex. When they, uh, when, when they breached the doors, we had members of the FDN, Y you know, the fire department of New York that also traveled to DC and, and were a part of this demonstration. We had a West Virginia legislator that did the same thing. He also, um, committed to when those doors were fracturing, entering their Capitol. Dana Lewis - Host: (30:59) Yeah, I mean, the FBI, uh, former FBI agent Michael German says, um, that the far right domestic terror threats have infiltrated many police departments across the country. There are, we know that there are police officers who have carried these Q Anon, uh, badges. And, uh, and then now they're participating in, you know, what an act of terrorism against the nation. Dr. Darrin Porcher: (31:26) This is actually an act of domestic terrorism. The Southern poverty law center has spoken to these far right groups for a period of time. And we haven't taken them serious. Now is the time that we need to read the tea leaves and address with this is a group that we need to have an active presence in law enforcement. Um, looking towards this is a problem, and it has to get done and needs to be proactive, not reactive on the part of law enforcement. This was an atrocity. This was an act of Arne Archy, and it shouldn't happen in the country like the United States, Dana Lewis - Host: (32:03) Weed, those people out of a police department, Dr. Darrin Porcher: (32:07) You have an applicant process in, um, division that investigates, uh, police candidates prior to coming into the department. Now, one of the things that they'll often do is they'll look to, uh, an individual social media and they'll knock on doors in that area. And that's where you can gain somewhat of a background assessment as to who this person is from a social perspective. But that being said, um, we need to, we need to look at this for what it is, and this is an act of domestic terrorism, and it needs to be, and it needs to happen now, not yesterday, not the day it happened. It needs to happen now, not a week from today, not a month from now. We need to ramp up resources and focus on this threat that is putting our country in jeopardy. As a result, Dana Lewis - Host: (32:55) It's interviewed a professor who wrote for the Atlantic magazine, Kelly, Carter, Jackson, um, and she really makes the case in the Atlantic that, um, and she, she teaches on, uh, force and freedom, black abolitionists and politics of violence at Wesley college in Massachusetts. She really makes the case that this is a racist response that had this been a black lives matter protest with all the Intel about what was coming, how many were coming, what they might be ready to do that police would have the police numbers and the police actions would have been very, very different. You're African-American, you're also an ex police policemen. What, what do you say about the racist element? Dr. Darrin Porcher: (33:40) Well, I challenged that narrative on several fronts because when we look at, uh, what happened with these black lives matter protest, what the course of the summer, they denigrated a lot of the large cities in the country. So it was clear that you didn't have a sufficient police presence. I give you an example. I live in New York city and a lot of the protests that subsequently placed the city under siege fell, what they bifurcated into, whether it was black lives matter, whether it was Antifa, or you even had common citizens that were protesting. We clearly didn't put forth the necessary resources in a place like New York city, as it related to these protests. And we subsequently paid the price for it because we saw the denigration of infrastructure we saw officer's assaulted, et cetera. So I've heard that narrative in that it would have been different if it was a black lives matter protest, but that didn't appear to be the case. When we look at the demonstrations that plague places like New York, Chicago, Portland, and Seattle, we clearly saw that the police didn't put in enough fortifications to ensure that population was safe. When we look at what happened in Seattle, for example, they even erected a no police zone, which they referred to as the Chaz zone. Whereas they literally took over a police precinct and it became an autonomous zone where citizens were basically there. So that being said, when you do the contrast and comparison, the quantitative statistics don't add up, Dana Lewis - Host: (35:09) Can I ask you just your personal view on taking Trump off his Twitter account and more importantly, and more broadly that they have suspended some of these new internet sites that, um, where there's a really, a lot of hate messaging back and forth. And, you know, on one hand you have the debate about freedom of speech and is that the right thing to do? But on the other hand, you have growing calls for people to go to the streets and carry out violence. What do you do? Where do you line up on it? Dr. Darrin Porcher: (35:41) It's a slippery slope. This is one of the things that the ACO was actually addressing in connection with president Trump being removed from Twitter. And it begs the question of free speech. I bill I'm affirmed, not, not just in my affirm proponent, but one thing that I do know is freedom of speech is not guaranteed. When you have an inflammatory content such as let's see if you go into a movie theater in New York fire, because you want a better, see, this is something which requires cause you to be held accountable. That being said, Twitter, ejected, president Trump, because he used Twitter as a platform to gin up the base and direct them towards the Capitol. And he specifically stated that I'm going to be there with you. That being said, Twitter was the vehicle of access that promoted this right now. I don't want to completely blame Donald Trump for all it is, but he does level a shoulder level of responsibility. So when you mentioned, um, social media platforms, such as parlor, which is a conservative, a social media platform that has since come under fire, one can argue that the regulatory process within the framework of parlor is not sound because they're allowing threats or inappropriate material. The B w Dana Lewis - Host: (37:01) I'm going to expect, we criticize those social media companies, the tech giants, if they can't police things like child porn, or if they can't police, uh, hatred and racism. And so we're demanding, they do that suddenly. Now they have taken down the one that you just mentioned, and, uh, there's a lot of criticisms. So I'm not, it's, it's a, it's a foggy situation. But I think, I think on the, you know, giving my own opinion, which I'm not, I generally don't do as a journalist, but I think when you're right there between the assault on the capital and inauguration, and there are more calls for violence on the 17th and on the 20th. And there is the, the, the media companies are not policing that they simply can't in some ways, in other ways, they just turned a blind eye to it. But in order for, to have law and order and not to really have the street on fire, I guess you, you have to trade some of that off in the short term. Dr. Darrin Porcher: (38:04) Yeah. I agree with you. And it goes back to what my, what I mentioned earlier, freedom of speech is not absolute. And therefore, I think that it's necessary that you have an entity, the marshal in to ensure that the content is sound such as child pornography threats, to one's life things, to that effect, those things need to be marshaled in. And it was questionable in connection with what was occurring on the platform of parlor. It may be, it may be a situation where Parla may be now forced to put forth in integrity cause, or, or, you know, some level of oversight Dana Lewis - Host: (38:41) Chip. But Dr. Darrin Porcher: (38:43) Yeah, but I, well, you know, that, that may be true, but I'm just saying that we're using that as an example, because that's what's happening right now. Future sites will develop and come to fruition. This is not the end of this. And so that being said, I think there needs to be a clear lane of oversight within that social media platform to ensure that hate speech or things that are illegal and not transferred on that, um, that platform as a result, Dana Lewis - Host: (39:11) Do you think this was pretty well organized? My last question to you, uh, the assault on the capital, when you take a look at the fact that pipe bombs were placed outside the democratic headquarters and the Republican headquarters, probably to distract police, um, people in there with the zip lock rings that I've seen a lot in Iraq and Afghanistan, military uses them to handcuff people. They knew where the offices were. I've seen maps that were put on the internet prior to the March where they said where Pelosi's office was, where vice-president Pence could be. Um, I mean, th this goes beyond a little demonstration that got out of control. Dr. Darrin Porcher: (39:49) I, I think quite the opposite. I don't think that this was organized. I think that what you had was you had, you know, thousands of people that converge on that capital, um, compound, and within that group, you had people that had their D their own internal agendas that they went in. They, they drift towards such, such as people that had zip ties. And, you know, why would you bring a zip tie to a protest other than looking to take people into custody Dana Lewis - Host: (40:18) Lynch Lynch? The vice-president Dr. Darrin Porcher: (40:20) Clearly believed that there was nefarious behavior, uh, you know, um, at the foundation of a lot of this. But I also think that whenever you have these protests, I think the, the organizers of the protest, I think it should be incumbent upon those individuals, the pre, the people that are bestowed upon the permit for a particular, um, demonstration, they should be held accountable for marshaling in the people that are coming in to, um, to protest, uh, demonstrate. And I don't, I don't believe they had a member. I don't think I know they did not have a permit for this. They just converged on the, uh, on the property and they committed to Dana Lewis - Host: (41:01) It is the words of the president they're in, right? I mean, he's telling them to go down there and he's telling them, Rudy Giuliani, all this stuff, Dr. Darrin Porcher: (41:15) Right. One can argue that the president gave people a fast pass to go out there and do that. But it goes back to where you asked the initial question that I think this was organized. No, I think this was more like, um, abstract. And you had different components of people, uh, Rose on that capital complex. And they looked for, or a set forth to advance their agendas. I don't think it was uniformly everyone that was there, but one person is too much. Dana Lewis - Host: (41:45) I lie to you sometimes. I tell you, it's the last question, and then I give you another one. Right? All right. So I'm pleading guilty and I'm just going to have one more question. You worried about the 17th and the 20th, and are we going to be prepared this time or they're going to get it right? Dr. Darrin Porcher: (41:59) They'll get it right. There's going to be overkill, to be honest with you, you know, you probably got to have F 16 fighter jets, Harrier jump jets. I've got to fly over the Capitol to make sure that there's going to be an air presence. There's going to be a ground presence to ensure that there is no repeat to what happened on Wednesday. Dana Lewis - Host: (42:20) Some of the calls are for legislatures across the country as well. Right? So people who don't necessarily go to Washington may show up, you know, in Virginia or in anywhere. And so the threat is still huge. Dr. Darrin Porcher: (42:33) Well, I think a lot of the, uh, the legislators such as be it, Josh Holly, or Ted Cruz that align themselves with the selection fraud. In many instances, people would say, Hey, look, you championed that cause. And so I don't want to say that there'll be held accountable from, uh, from a law enforcement perspective, but I think that the voter ship will hold them accountable. Moving forward. You know, one thing I give you an example, Lindy Lindsay Graham, who was a diehard supporter of Donald Trump, he put the brakes on this and said, look enough is enough. We need to cut the crap. We need to have a civil change of power. This was just too much. Dana Lewis - Host: (43:13) He said, he said enough. And, uh, he looks scared to me. He looked like he looked like he suddenly understood what the rest of us could see coming for a long time, that if you de-legitimized election and tell people that they'd been cheated and that the system doesn't work for them anymore, they are going to go to the screen. They're going to be angry. Dr. Darrin Porcher: (43:34) Yeah, absolutely. Right. You know, uh, words matter, especially when they're echo from the president of the United States or the leader of any country for that matter. Um, we had 75 million people that voted for Donald Trump. So the followship was wide and deep. Therefore you need to stay abreast of the fact of what you say matters, and you can put forth an agenda that can possibly create a toxic environment that can cause someone to either lose their life or become injured. And that's what we saw here. I, you know, right now, you know what the million dollar question is. I wonder what's going through Donald Trump's mind right now, looking at what happened, you know, and saying to himself, you know, cause this is what his legacy is going to be based on that for years, because I'll be the first to tell you, I fought. There was some phenomenal things that happen under the Trump umbrella, more so specific to the, the us dollar and the stock market, but do a lot of things that didn't go good. But more importantly, when you look at how he went out of the presidency, that's how he's going to be judged for eternity. And there's nothing that he can do to change that, Dana Lewis - Host: (44:46) To, to use your words, you know, toxic, it's a hell of a legacy Dr. Darren portrait there. And I really appreciate talking to you. Thanks so much Dr. Darrin Porcher: (44:54) As always Dana. I appreciate it. Dana Lewis - Host: (44:56) And that's our backstory on this a week when Democrats seek a second impeachment of Trump, the first president in history to be impeached twice, Joe Biden received 80 million votes, but Trump got 74 million. That's an awful lot of people were told the election was stolen. It's a lie, but they were told that by a president, many beliefs. And where does that leave the country now? And how does Biden govern in this climate of division Trump won't slink away easily. We'll be there to disrupt and divide and light a match to whatever bonfire he can set dangerous days ahead in the U S please subscribe to this podcast and share our link. That's this backstory, I'm Dana Lewis. And I'll talk to you again soon.