‘Murder the media’: Photographers release terrifying video of the mob attack outside the Capitol gates

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As violent Trump supporters terrorized the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, members of Congress were not the only people they were looking to intimidate. These terrorists also targeted journalists and press under Donald Trump’s message of declaring the news and media an “enemy of the people.”

“Murder the media,” was written on a door of the Capitol while terrorists took over and attacked a group of reporters. In one incident John Minchillo, a photographer of the Associated Press, was attacked by a mob of Trump supporters outside the Capitol building. The violent incident was captured on video and shared by another photographer on Twitter. Local photographers and reporters were present at the break of the horrific violence that took place Wednesday. Footage shared on social media depicts the consequences of words bigots like Trump use to incite violence on communities and spaces.

“Please use this moment to reflect on the importance of journalism as a conduit between us. We tell stories. That’s our mission. We have the privilege to shepherd moments over time and space. Please subscribe to your hard working local papers, support their vocation,” Minchillo replied to the video of his attack being shared on Twitter. Continue reading.

FBI focuses on whether some Capitol rioters intended to harm lawmakers or take hostages

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FBI agents are trying to determine whether some who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday intended to do more than cause havoc and disrupt the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, and they are sifting through evidence to see whether anyone wanted to kill or capture lawmakers or their staffers, according to people familiar with the investigation.

Dozens have been arrested, and Friday, officials announced charges against an Arkansas man photographed in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office chair with a foot on a desk. But investigators also are working to determine the motivations and larger goals, if any, of those who had weapons or other gear suggesting they planned to do physical harm.

Some rioters, for instance, were photographed carrying zip ties, a plastic version of handcuffs, and one man was arrested allegedly carrying a pistol on the Capitol grounds. Continue reading.

America in 2021: Racial Progress in the South, a White Mob in the Capitol

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A jarring juxtaposition is forcing a 244-year-old nation to contend with its original conundrum: Whose democracy is it?

ATLANTA — The day after Georgia elected a Black descendant of sharecroppers and a young Jewish filmmaker to be U.S. senators, underscoring the rising political power of racial and religious minorities, the forces of white grievance politics struck back.

At the “People’s House” in Washington, a predominantly white mob in support of President Trump’s attempts to overturn the election overtook the Capitol building by brute force. Confederate flags flewat the seat of American democracy. A gallows was erected, with a noose hanging in the air. It was as stark a contrast as any, one day that illustrated the nation’s original paradox: a commitment to democracy in a country with a legacy of racial exclusion.

The seeds that led to the insurrection were hidden in plain sight. At Mr. Trump’s rallies, where his supporters set up open-air markets of hate and conspiracy, selling Confederate flags and T-shirts that mock his opponents and the media. In conservative news outlets, where the language of revolution and civil war is commonplace. On Mr. Trump’s Twitter feed, which has amplified white supremacists, anti-Semites and anti-Muslim extremists. Continue reading.

Family member of woman killed at Capitol on Trump: He ‘incited a riot that killed four of his biggest fans’

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The family of a woman killed during Trump supporters’ siege on the U.S. Capitol has released a statement in the wake of her death. On Thursday, Jan. 7, Rosanne Boyland’s brother-in-law, Justin Cave, appeared on FOX-5 Atlanta to read a prepared statement on behalf of the woman’s grieving family

Cave shared the family’s reaction as he criticized President Donald Trump for using his platform to incite violence. He also admitted that the family was against Boyland traveling to Washington for the “Save America” rally, but to no avail. 

“Our family is grieving on every level for our country, for all the families that have lost loved ones or suffered injuries, for our own loss,” Cave read. “We appreciate your prayers and ask for everyone to respect our family’s privacy as we mourn her death.” Continue reading.

Is America Seriously Going to Lecture Other Countries About Democracy Now?

It was not a great day for the image of American democracy. Leaders from New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern to India’s Narendra Modi issued statements decrying the storming of the Capitol as an attack on democracy itself. French President Emmanuel Macron gave an impassioned speech noting how France and the United States have historically come to each other’s aid to fight threats to democracy. Not surprisingly, governments that are usually on the receiving end of human rights criticism from the U.S., such as Turkey and Russia, took the opportunity for some trolling.

Despite the invasion, Congress did finish certifying the Electoral College count, and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are expected to be sworn in later this month. But the events of this week underscore the difficulties facing the incoming Biden administration, which has vowed to make support for global democracy a centerpiece of its foreign policy. Even before this week’s quasi-coup attempt, global observers were generally in agreement that, at the very least, U.S. democratic institutions have eroded in recentyears, particularly when it comes to voting rights, mass incarceration, the treatment of immigrants, and economic inequality. It was recently announced that the United States had fallen below the “democracy threshold” on the Polity index, a measure of a country’s level of democracy that’s widely cited by political scientists, and is now considered an “anocracy,” a country with both democratic and autocratic features.

Will any country still take the U.S. seriously when it talks about democracy and the rule of law? Continue reading.

GOP Sen. Josh Hawley gets condemned by fellow Republican: ‘ ‘Lies have consequences’

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Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) is still angry about his Republican colleague Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) recent political stunt in support of President Donald Trump’s dangerous coup to challenge the Electoral College certification despite the U.S. Capitol breach that led to the deaths of five people. 

On Friday, Jan.8, Sasse appeared on NPR’s “Morning Edition” with host Steve Inskeep where he discussed the disturbing series of events that unfolded this week. The Republican lawmaker lambasted Hawley for his attempt to invalidate the outcome of the election on behalf of a disgraced president.

Sasse did not hold back when it came to sharing his brutally honest opinion of the Missouri senator. “Senator Hawley was doing something that was really dumbass, and I have been clear about that in public and in private since long before he announced he was going to do this” Sasse said. Continue reading.

Internet detectives are identifying scores of pro-Trump rioters at the Capitol. Some have already been fired.

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As he strolled past gold-framed portraits of past Congressional leaders, one rioter who stormed the Capitol in a pro-Trump mob on Wednesday wore a red Trump hat, a commemorative sweatshirt from the president’s inauguration and a lanyard around his neck.

When a photo of him went viral, it didn’t take Internet sleuths long to realize that the lanyard held his work badge — clearly identifying him as an employee of Navistar Direct Marketing, a printing company in Frederick, Md.

On Thursday, Navistar swiftly fired him.

He’s not alone among the rioters who wreaked havoc in Congress. While police and the FBI work to identify and arrest members of the mob, online detectives are also crowdsourcing information and doxing them — exposing the rioters to criminal prosecution, but also more immediate action from their bosses. Continue reading.

KSTP partially retracts reporter Jay Kolls’ story on Capitol riot

He quoted an expert as saying it was “highly likely” that people aligned with antifa may have been part of the violence at the U.S. Capitol. 

KSTP has partly retracted a story it aired on this week’s riot at the U.S. Capitol that included claims about the involvement of anti-fascist groups.

“On Wednesday night, we broadcast a report focusing on the initial questions of security measures at the U.S. Capitol,” the local ABC affiliate said in a statement that was read during its evening newscasts Thursday. “At the end of that story from reporter Jay Kolls, he quoted Michael Rozin, a recognized security expert, who stated that it was ‘highly likely’ that people who aligned with the antifa group may have been part of instigating the violence at the Capitol. After further review, Mr. Rozin acknowledges his claim was speculative.”

KSTP went on to say that the story did not meet the station’s editorial standards. It pledged to “do better moving forward.” Continue reading.

Trump’s evangelicals were complicit in the desecration of our democracy

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The following commentary by Michael Gerson was published in The Washington Post January 7, 2021.

The practical effects of the fascist occupation of the U.S. Capitol building were quickly undone. The symbols it left behind are indelible.

A Confederate flag waved in triumph in the halls of a building never taken by Jefferson Davis. Guns drawn to protect the floor of the House of Representatives from violent attack. A cloddish barbarian in the presiding officer’s chair. The desecration of democracy under the banner “Jesus Saves.”

This post-apocalyptic vision of chaos and national humiliation was the direct and intended consequence of a president’s incitement. It was made possible by quislings such as Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who turned a ceremony of continuity into a rallying cry for hatred and treason. In the aftermath, Republican legislators who still don’t support President Trump’s immediate removal from office by constitutional means are guilty of continuing complicity. Continue reading.