Category: National Issues

A GOP Event to Support Accused Insurrectionists Went Off the Rails Pretty Quickly

Far-right members of Congress are rallying against alleged mistreatment of Capitol rioters

A small group of Republican lawmakers held a press conference in support of the January 6 arrestees, but it didn’t even last ten minutes. Instead of being met with supporters, the legislators were chased out of their own presser.

Earlier today, other members of Congress teared up while listening to police officers’ gripping eyewitness testimony on the opening day of Congressional hearings about the January 6 insurrection. However, a small group of their far-right legislative colleagues was on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue speaking out about a rather different cause: The alleged mistreatment of the folks who had stormed the Capitol that day.

Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, Louie Gohmert, and Matt Gaetz—all members of the so-called “Sedition Caucus” of legislators, so named because they all voted against the certification of President Joe Biden‘s presidential victory—gathered reporters outside the Justice Department in what they described as an effort to demand answers from Attorney General Merrick B. Garland on the treatment of “January 6th prisoners”. Continue reading.

Five takeaways from a bracing day of Jan. 6 testimony

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The House select committee’s first hearing Tuesday to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol was as personal as it was probing. 

Sober verbal accounts from four police officers who came under physical and psychological attack that day were combined with raw video footage of rioters shouting epithets and using physical force against law enforcement.

The panel hearing the testimony was unusually united — especially for present-day Washington. It included seven Democrats and two Republicans all handpicked by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Continue reading.

States that cut unemployment early aren’t seeing a hiring boom, but who gets hired is changing

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States that scaled back unemployment aid have seen a decline in teen employment and an increase in workers over 25, early evidence finds

The 20 Republican-led states that reduced unemployment benefits in June did not see an immediate spike in overall hiring, but early evidence suggests something did change: The teen hiring boom slowed in those states, and workers 25 and older returned to work more quickly.

A new analysis by payroll processor Gusto, provided to The Washington Post, found that small restaurants and hospitality businesses in states such as Missouri, which ended the extra unemployment benefits early, saw a jump in hiring of workers over age 25. The uptick in hiring of older workers was roughly offset by the slower hiring of teens in these states. In contrast, restaurants and hospitality businesses in states such as Kansas, where the full benefits remain, have been hiring a lot more teenagers who are less experienced and less likely to qualify for unemployment aid.

The findings suggest hiring is likely to remain difficult for some time, especially in the lower-paying hospitality sector. The analysis also adds perspective to the teen hiring boom, revealing that more generous unemployment payments played a role in keeping more experienced workers on the sidelines, forcing employers to turn to younger workers. It indicates teen hiring could slow further in September, as unemployment benefits are reduced across the country and young people return to school. Continue reading.

Biden administration considering vaccine requirements for all federal workers

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President Biden on Tuesday said his administration is considering making it mandatory for federal workers to get the coronavirus vaccine.

The president’s comments, which echoed those of his press secretary hours earlier, came one day after the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announcedit will require its front-line health care workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

“That is under consideration right now, but if you’re not vaccinated, you’re not nearly as smart as I thought you were,” Biden said during a visit to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Continue reading.

Arizona taxpayers could be on the hook for a $9 million bill after GOP subpoenas routers: report

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On Monday night, Bill Gates, a Republican member of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, revealed on CNN that the Republican-controlled Arizona Senate has had Maricopa County officials served with a new subpoena seeking their routers for its audit of the 2020 election.

Appearing on CNN, Gates stated, “Right before I came on here, the board of supervisors received another subpoena from the state Senate ordering us to turn over the routers, in addition to some other information. And they threaten us in these papers that if we do not turn those over by Aug. 2. So that’s next Monday, then we could be held in contempt.”

According to the Washington Post’s Joseph Marks, that could run the bill associated with the audit, seeking evidence that Donald Trump had the 2020 election stolen from him, up to $9 million. Continue reading.

Officers detail violence they faced on Jan. 6

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During hearing, Justice Department announces another arrest

Officers who fought to defend the Capitol from insurrectionists on Jan. 6 recounted in vivid and disturbing detail how close they came to death, what lasting effects they live with and the pain it causes them when the very members of Congress they fought to protect dismiss what happened that day. 

The first public hearing on Tuesday of the select committee to investigate the attack put on display the terrifying brutality they were subject to. Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., commended the four officers who testified. “You held the line that day. I can’t overstate what was on the line: our democracy,” Thompson said. “You held the line.”

Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, who served in the Army in Iraq, said at one point during the fighting in the lower west terrace, he could feel himself “losing oxygen” and recalled thinking, “This is how I’m going to die — defending this entrance.” Continue reading.

‘Kraken’ lawyers attempt to avoid sanctions by citing Trump’s claim of election fraud: report

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According to a report from Forbes, lawyers who brought lawsuits attacking the 2020 presidential election results in Michigan by alleging voter fraud are attempting to use Donald Trump’s words to avoid sanctions.

On the evening before House select committee opens hearings into the Jan 6th Capitol riot that was inspired by accusations that the election was stolen from Trump, the so-called “Kraken” attorneys, including one-time Trump attorney Sidney Powell, made a new filing.

According to the report, the attorney representing the lawyers, Donald Campbell, asserted that, because Donald Trump also made election fraud claims, the attorneys were within their rights to make the same claims. Continue reading.

Swastika found etched into State Department elevator

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A swastika was found on Monday etched into the wall of a State Department elevator near the office of its special envoy to monitor and combat anti-semitism, according to a person familiar with the discovery and a picture obtained by Axios.

Why it matters: The defacement raises troubling questions about security inside the nation’s foreign policy nerve center, and the potential for antisemitism within an outward-facing element of the United States government.

  • Secretary of State Tony Blinken sent an email Tuesday to the entire department that condemned the vandalism. “The hateful graffiti has been removed and this incident will be investigated.” Continue reading.

New Lincoln Project ad blasts corporate donors who bankrolled ‘murderous violence on Jan. 6’

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As a House select committee begins its investigation into the Capitol insurrection, a new ad from the conservative Lincoln Project targets corporations and CEOs who allegedly “helped financed the very structure that led to the murderous violence on Jan. 6.”

“Who funds the politicians trying to cover up the assault on America’s Capitol?” the ad’s narrator asks, following a clip of former president Donald Trump falsely claiming that insurrectionists were “hugging and kissing the police.” 

The answer, according to the ad, includes “leaders of the most respected and successful companies in America,” such as Koch Industries, Cigna, AT&T, and R.J. Reynolds. Continue reading.

VIDEO: Flynn Jokes About Assassination While Brandishing Assault Rifle

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Former Trump administration National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has made more than his fair share of disturbing, jaw-dropping remarks– like telling the former guy he should impose martial law to hold a new election or suggesting a Myanmar-like coup at a QAnon conference in May. But he seemed to reach a new low when he joked about using a newly gifted assault rifle to carry out an assassination in the nation’s capital. 

“We were trying to come up with a rifle that we thought was appropriate for a general, so we went with an old-school Woodland camouflage…one of our top-quality guns,” said Jason Parker, a gun company employee who gifted the weapon to Flynn.

“Maybe I’ll find somebody in Washington, D.C.,” Flynn replied, prompting an uproar of chuckles.  Continue reading.