Breaking News Events

[nhplowboi]

Cin I have to agree that this was an orchestrated event especially after reading the Trump administration had decided earlier this week the protection of federal buildings would be the task of civilian law enforcement.

I am likewise angry after seeing the amount of damage, destruction and total anarchy witnessed yesterday, the arrests were miminal and the majority were over curfew violations.

We can only hope video taken will result in officers being terminated and people being charged at a later date.

[Vincent]

Democracy Now

https://www.democracynow.org/

[Cin]

Originally Posted by Vincent

Democracy Now

https://www.democracynow.org/

Thanks for the link. I particularly enjoyed reading this exchange:

Bree, let’s begin with you. You were tweeting up a storm as the storm was unfolding in Washington, D.C., yesterday. You said, “Y’all the DC mayor requested the national guard. The pentagon was discussing the threat long before today. It’s not possible security forces were caught off guard, unprepared or simply failed. Please cease this ridiculous narrative.” So, take it from there, Bree.

BREE NEWSOME BASS: Yes. Thank you for inviting me to join you.

I mean, I was on social media all yesterday and, like everyone else, was just kind of gripped by watching the events that were happening. And one of the things that we saw throughout the day yesterday were people like myself, who have been present for various protests, you know, and mostly people of color, Black people, noting the obvious difference in terms of how police have a coordinated, overtly militarized response to any kind of protest that is challenging racism in policing or racism in the government versus what we witnessed yesterday. And I think that what we saw yesterday is just another one of these kind of flashpoint moments in history that just represents a culmination of everything that came before it, and really shines a spotlight on everything that is fundamentally wrong. And one of those things is clearly policing.

The idea that we had no idea that this was coming, which I think, is, frankly, one of the, like, ongoing, most disturbing talking points that we have gotten throughout the Trump administration — people say, “How could we have gotten here? This isn’t who we are,” which just completely flies not just in the face of American history — right? — but in the face of the events of just the past five years. I mean, everything that we have seen in the past five years pointed to what happened yesterday happening. And so, the idea that security officials, people who are tasked with protecting the Capitol, could not have foreseen the conflict that played out yesterday is clearly beyond belief. I mean, there’s no way to believe that that is the case.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Bree, quite apart from the fact that, you know, it was just an astounding spectacle of all these, I mean, effectively domestic terrorists invading the Capitol, what’s also strange, if not outright stunning, is the fact that there was such little comment from either the Department of Justice or security agencies responding to this extraordinary event, apart, of course, from the FBI asking for explicit help in identifying those who instigated the violence — an extremely bizarre request given that it was quite apparent who the instigators were.

BREE NEWSOME BASS: Absolutely. I mean, again, the central issue here is white supremacy. And white supremacy was foundational to the establishment of this nation. That is the central conflict. I mean, that is the main thing that I continue to say as an activist, is that, clearly, this is the central conflict. It is baked into our institutions. It was baked into our Constitution at the founding. And that continues to be the case. And that explains why — I wouldn’t even describe it as a difficulty in figuring out what is going on. It’s just the fact that it is the defining internal conflict of the nation. So, yes, of course, you have people within the military. You have people within policing. You have people within the government. It was elected officials who initiated the events that led to this riot.

One of the things that was most striking to me yesterday — I was among the people who kind of stayed up into the wee hours of the morning watching how things played out at the Capitol — was, you know, you would see congressperson after congressperson condemning the insurrectionist mob — so you’re talking about, you know, the civilians who showed up — but there was still very little acknowledgment of the fact that the people who led the insurrection, the people who have incited these people to mob the Capitol, were sitting there in the chamber, were still voicing their objection to the election.

So, you know, this idea that we are somehow just going to reach across the aisle and shake hands and carry on as though we did not witness things play out as it did, as though the primary inciter of violence yesterday was not the president of the United States, is just completely unrealistic. And there’s no way that that can happen.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Bree, you also — among your tweets yesterday, you wrote that what was happening yesterday was not the culmination of the last four years, but in fact the culmination of the last five centuries. Could you talk about that?

BREE NEWSOME BASS: Yeah, that was actually me retweeting someone else who made that excellent point. And again, it goes to the heart of this false notion that we could not foresee what was happening or that this is not America. This is absolutely America. We have an ongoing, prolonged history not just of colonization and slavery and genocide in this country, but also this constant back-and-forth where we try to make strides towards having a democracy that truly recognizes the rights and citizenship of all people, and violent, white supremacist backlash against that cause.

I mean, you know, people were bringing up the Wilmington riots — right? — of 1898, which that took place here in North Carolina, another example in the aftermath of the Civil War where you had Black people being elected to Congress, working in collaboration with white elected officials, and they were overthrown. There was a white mob that just came to town, burned down buildings and violently overthrew the democratically elected government. And we are still, in our state, in the year 2021, dealing with the aftermath of that conflict.

So this is not something that is foreign to the United States. This is something that is very much baked into our DNA. What happened yesterday cannot be separated, of course, from the fact that we just had an election that not only ousted a blatant white nationalist president, but we just elected a Catholic president, a vice president who is Black and Indian American, and then we had the Senate just flip, day before yesterday, with the election of a Black man and a Jewish man from Georgia. So, yes, you know, of course we’re going to see white supremacists in the Capitol waving Confederate flags. Of course we have known for years now that the greatest imminent threat to the United States is both white supremacist, far-right terrorists and the current president of the United States.

So, again, for anyone in a position of security or authority who is tasked with securing national security and securing the Capitol and the safety of the people who work and reside there to claim that this was somehow unpredictable, again, flies in the face of any logic. And if we are going to be serious about addressing the threats that we face right now from fascism and from the far right, we have to confront the presence of that element in our police forces, point blank, period. This has been the main point that we have been making in the Black Lives Matter movement, in the call for defunding the police and shifting resources, because it is very clear that the primary function of police forces in the United States is to enforce racism above enforcing public safety.

[PlatinumPearl]

White House Press Briefing with Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany 1/7/21

[homoe]

Originally Posted by PlatinumPearl

White House Press Briefing with Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany 1/7/21

WOW some press conference where no press is allowed to ask questions!

No doubt Trump sent her out after the debacle of yesterday.

On a personal note, I wouldn't believe her even if her tongue came notarized ...

[FireSignFemme]

Originally Posted by homoe

WOW some press conference where no press is allowed to ask questions!
...I wouldn't believe her even if her tongue came notarized ...

LOL too funny

[~ocean]

Originally Posted by homoe

WOW some press conference where no press is allowed to ask questions!

No doubt Trump sent her out after the debacle of yesterday.

On a personal note, I wouldn't believe her even if her tongue came notarized ...

lololololololololol that's all I have to say ! excellent post !

[Cin]

They will be back on January 19. They are cheerfully warning anyone who will listen.

Ron Russell, a Trump supporter from Ohio, told The Dispatch, "I see justice being done. This is our house, our house. We're taking it back. May not be today, but we will take this house back, guaranteed."

Robert Unterzuber, a friend of Russell, predicted that future attacks on the Capitol Building will be even more violent — telling The Dispatch, "We're coming to the Capitol, and we're going to tear her down if necessary and drag them people out of there."

Similarly, Christopher Alberts, a Trump supporter from Maryland, told The Dispatch, "The people that were here today are going to come back even more, and we're not coming back peacefully — and we're not coming back unarmed. America's long overdue for revolution."

Anthony Maffei, another Trumpista, told The Dispatch, "If we have to get violent, then it's time to get violent."

Retired Army Colonel Celestino T Perez wrote:
"Today, January 6, 2021, We patriots by the millions, have arrived in Washington, D.C., carrying banners of support for the greatest President the world has ever known. But if we must... Many of Us will return on January 19, 2021, carrying Our weapons, in support of Our nation's resolve, to which the world will never forget!!!" a colonel who goes by the name Celestino T Perez wrote in a post on Parler, which has become the latest favorite social media platform for the far-right. He continued, "We will come in numbers that no standing army or police agency can match. However, the police are NOT Our enemy, unless they choose to be! All who will not stand with the American Patriots... or who cannot stand with Us... then, that would be a good time for YOU to take a few vacation days." He signed off as "The American Patriot."

After a screenshot of the post went viral on Twitter, people started tagging the FBI and requesting the police to be better prepared than they were to handle the mob that attacked the Capitol. "And remember the Capitol police let everybody who sacked our Capitol go yesterday with a tsk tsk so they’re still at large," one of them said.

I hope law enforcement meets these people on January 19 or 20 with a quarter of the force they use against BLM protests. They certainly can't claim they didn't know about or expect an attack like they did regarding January 6. Although they most certainly did know way ahead of time about the attack January 6, they may not have understood that these people were not peaceful and planned to use deadly violence. Police and military cannot use that excuse this time. They are well aware these people have killed and plan to kill again. I hope for the sake of metro police officers that these agencies will better protect their own this time.

Just as a point of reference here is an excerpt from an article in the Guardian from 2017 regarding how protestors are handled who are just in the vicinity of the Capitol.

"On the morning of President Trump’s inauguration, police in riot gear using sting-ball grenades and pepper spray, trapped and arrested more than 230 people. Some were anti-Trump demonstrators; some were not. The next day, federal prosecutors charged them all with “felony rioting”, a nonexistent crime in Washington DC. The prosecution then launched a sweeping investigation into the defendants’ lives, demanding vast amounts of online information through secret warrants.

Prosecutors eventually dropped a few defendants, like journalists and legal observers, but simultaneously increased the charges against everyone else. The most recent indictment collectively charged more than 200 people with felony rioting, felony incitement to riot, conspiracy to riot, and five property-damage crimes – all from broken windows.

Each defendant is facing over 60 years in prison.

The prosecution next obtained warrants focused on anti-Trump organizers. One sought a list of all visitors to a website that organizers used to promote Inauguration Day protests. A second sought information on all Facebook friends and related communications of two organizers, the host of a coalition Facebook page, and those who simply “liked” that page."

All this from 5 broken windows. On January 6 we had 5 deaths. There is a real problem with law enforcement enforcing laws depending on if they agree with the politics of the law breakers or if they see themselves reflected in a law breaker or not and a justice system who is not blind and far from equitable.

Many of these terrorists are retired army and police from all over the country. They are well armed and understand combat. I hope law enforcement does a better job than they did on January 6. Or they could be pro active and round them all up right now before they do more damage. They are brazenly admitting who they are and what they plan to do. Where is the FBI? Why all this silence and inaction?

[Kätzchen]

I just like her for her stalwart leadership.

Nancy Pelosi is many steps ahead of a potentially threatening nightmare by talking with Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon to head off last minute seditious behavioral choices, made by TP, that could have lasting damage for not only the US, but for our global partners and allies.


https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wire...posts_card_hed

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Twitter has permanently suspended T***p's account. Twitter said that there was a risk the account could be used for violent incitement. He previously had 88 million followers.

[Kätzchen]

Originally Posted by GeorgiaMa'am

Twitter has permanently suspended T***p's account. Twitter said that there was a risk the account could be used for violent incitement. He previously had 88 million followers.

I'm glad to hear that Twitter took action and held him accountable. That is good. I was reading about it over on CNN and I also saw that another app that TP supporters and other right-wing white supremacists use is Parlar and that app was deleted so hate groups cannot access it anymore.

I wonder if some IT expert has developed an algorithm to help catch these people, is what I've been wondering about.


Thanks for posting that Twitter finally banned T---P.

[homoe]

~~~
Bill Belichick turns down Presidential Medal of Freedom from Donald Trump, cites Capitol attack.....

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Originally Posted by homoe

~~~
Bill Belichick turns down Presidential Medal of Freedom from Donald Trump, cites Capitol attack.....

Good, now T***p's friends are seeing and acknowledging him for the lying scum he is.

[homoe]

Forbes magazine’s chief content officer delivered a stark warning to companies that might consider hiring Kayleigh McEnany, Kellyanne Conway, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and other former spokespeople in the Trump White House: Do so and risk losing all credibility given their history of perpetuating “lies-upon-lies, repeated frequently and fervently” on behalf of the president. And what better way to punish those spreaders of untruth than by warning the businesses who hire them in the future?

“Let it be known to the business world: Hire any of Trump’s fellow fabulists above, and Forbes will assume that everything your company or firm talks about is a lie,” Forbes Chief Content Officer Randall Lane wrote in a piece published Thursday. “We’re going to scrutinize, double-check, investigate with the same skepticism we’d approach a Trump tweet. Want to ensure the world’s biggest business media brand approaches you as a potential funnel of disinformation? Then hire away.”

Lane singled out former White House press secretaries and spokespeople such as Kayleigh McEnany, Kellyanne Conway, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Sean Spicer — noting that they have shirked their duty to tell the truth regardless of how uncomfortable that may be.

“As someone in the business of facts, it’s been especially painful to watch President Trump’s press secretaries debase themselves,” Lane wrote. “Yes, as with their political bosses, spins and omissions and exaggerations are part of the game. But ultimately in PR, core credibility is the coin of the realm.”

While Lane said he wasn’t surprised by Trump’s propensity for “shamelessly exaggerating and prevaricating” information, he has been shocked by “the number of people willing to lend credence to that obvious mendacity on his behalf.”

Lane spoke out about the need to come clean following the deadly siege on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. “In this time of transition — and pain — reinvigorating democracy requires a reckoning. A truth reckoning. Starting with the people paid by the People to inform the People.”

The distrust of information coming out of the White House began on day one of the Trump administration, when Spicer exaggerated the inauguration crowd size, demanding people believe what he was saying and not what their eyes were seeing, Lane pointed out. And that was just the beginning.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/...120424630.html

[Cin]

Two US Capitol Police officers were suspended and at least 10 more are under investigation for their behavior during last week's assault on the Capitol, and federal agents will look at whether current and former law enforcement officers played a role in the riot.

At least seven officers in five other departments across the country have come under internal investigations as their presence in Washington during the assault comes to light through social media or other means.

One officer in New York, one in Philadelphia, two in Seattle, two in Virginia and one in Texas are under investigation by their departments for potential rules violations. Additionally, some departments have been contacted by the FBI as part of their criminal investigation into the overrunning of the Capitol.

The number may grow as investigators and the public sift through social media and lodge allegations that officers may have been involved in the siege.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/11/polit...yan/index.html

[homoe]

Former White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, got schooled on the First Amendment by none other than her high school teacher for complaining about losing followers on Twitter.

Ms Sanders wrote: “I’ve lost 50k+ followers this week. The radical Left and their big tech allies cannot marginalise, censor, or silence the American people. This is not China, this is the United States of America, and we are a free country.”

In response, Dana D Deree, who says he taught at Ms Sanders' old high school responded “You were a student at Little Rock Central High when I taught AP Government there, but you didn't take the advanced class. If you had, maybe you would better understand the First Amendment and the difference between limits on government and freedoms for private individuals."


Mr Deree added: “I've taught Sunday School too. You didn't learn those lessons either.”

And she has political aspirations?

[Cin]

Originally Posted by homoe

Former White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, got schooled on the First Amendment by none other than her high school teacher for complaining about losing followers on Twitter.

Ms Sanders wrote: “I’ve lost 50k+ followers this week. The radical Left and their big tech allies cannot marginalise, censor, or silence the American people. This is not China, this is the United States of America, and we are a free country.”

In response, Dana D Deree, who says he taught at Ms Sanders' old high school responded “You were a student at Little Rock Central High when I taught AP Government there, but you didn't take the advanced class. If you had, maybe you would better understand the First Amendment and the difference between limits on government and freedoms for private individuals."


Mr Deree added: “I've taught Sunday School too. You didn't learn those lessons either.”

And she has political aspirations?

Dana D. Deree sounds like she is an excellent teacher too bad some people are unteachable.

I also enjoyed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's response on twitter to Sanders as well.
"Free advice - if you are losing tens of thousands of followers the moment Twitter starts taking down Neo-Nazis and violent insurrectionists, maybe don’t advertise that!"

[Cin]

Speaking of AOC, as well as expending monumental effort to have Trump impeached, she also is working hard to have elected officials such as Senators Cruz, Hawley and Johnson, who were complicit in the insurrection, forced to resign or be removed from office.

She tweeted
"Lies are not differences of opinion

The elected officials who amplified & repeated known lies about our elections served as drum corps to insurrectionists.

The drum major in the House was
@GOPLeader
Kevin McCarthy.

Rep. McCarthy bears unique, elevated responsibility in all this chaos. He must resign."

Unfortunately this will never happen. The Repugs are back on track. Spreading lies and misinformation, making excuses for the attack on the Capitol and now we stand pretty much in the same place as we were before the attempted coup. The Dems are continuing with their endeavors to bring about some kind of justice for what happened while the Repugs continue with bullshit business as usual. The shock of what happened on Jan 6 did dull their sparkle for a bit, but the GOP is back , blinking, winking and twinkling up a storm.

[Cin]

The GOP won't change. Pence and Trump had a meeting Monday and all seems well between them. I guess Pence forgot about the gallows built at the Capitol where Trump supporters vowed to hang him for being a traitor. Or maybe he is remembering it well. I think there is a lot intimidation that happens with these radical right/white supremacist militia type movements. It's all so black and white with them, no grey areas, which is why Christian right groups are heavily involved with these people financially and as members. I don't think the Christian right can see the color grey at all. For all these people, the end justifies the means.

We sure do live in interesting times. I wonder what the inauguration will bring.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/america...tion-1.5261804
Excerpts below:

Democrats' House resolution was blocked by Republicans. However, the full House is to hold a roll call vote on it Tuesday, and it is expected to pass. After that, Pelosi said, Pence will have 24 hours to respond. Next would be the impeachment proceedings.

Pence has given no indication he is ready to proceed on a course involving the 25th Amendment.

He and Trump met late Monday for the first time since the Capitol attack, a senior administration official said.

Trump and Pence had a "good conversation" in the Oval Office discussing the week ahead, and they pledged to continue working for the remainder of their terms, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting.

No member of the Cabinet has publicly called for Trump to be removed from office though the 25th Amendment.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., offered the 25th Amendment resolution during Monday's brief session. It was blocked by Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., as other GOP lawmakers stood by him.

Pelosi said the Republicans were enabling Trump's "unhinged, unstable and deranged acts of sedition to continue. Their complicity endangers America, erodes our Democracy, and it must end."

However, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, a Trump ally, said in a letter to colleagues that "impeachment at this time would have the opposite effect of bringing our country together."

[Kätzchen]

Funny how the Democrats always roll up our sleeves and go to work repairing the damage to our country caused by the Notorious Shit Shovelers (aka, the GOP).

H e l l o.

Even corporate America is cutting off the cash cow ventures by TP (et al).

And, the voting machine company in Canada is suing key figures of the Shit Shoveler Party for defamation damages.

Just remember, all of you who follow TP blindly, no matter the cost to our nation.

We're all watching you commit these crimes against the US.

Your time will come for you to account for your harmful actions. Soon. Very soon.

Remember: no one is above the law. Not even TP.