https://politicalwire.com/2021/01/13/biden-picks-samantha-power-to-lead-foreign-aid-agency/

Biden Picks Samantha Power to Lead Foreign Aid Agency
January 13, 2021 at 6:23 am EST By Taegan Goddard

Oh, how long have I waited to see this headline!

https://politicalwire.com/2021/01/13/republican-sentiment-rapidly-turns-against-trump/

Top Republicans Want Trump Done
January 13, 2021 at 6:27 am EST By Taegan Goddard

https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2021/01/they-have-to-acknowledge-biden-won-fair.html


The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
1/12/2021
They Have to Acknowledge Biden Won Fair and Square

snip//

Right now, as more Republicans start to realize that they'd better get off the Trump-tanic before it breaks in two, they need to understand that there is a price to heal, and they have to pay it. Tell the truth. Joe Biden won. You lied about the rest. Say it like the truth you know it is. Or fucking sink.

Oh, and sacrifice the Republicans who fanned the flames most, like devolved cockmites like Mo Brooks, Paul Gosar, Josh Hawley, Ron Johnson, and the mightiest cockmite of them all, Ted Cruz. Purge the government of these bastards. Don't forget to kick out the Q nuts. And then we can get to the healing and unifying over destroying Trump.

That explains it.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/1/12/2008476/-Republicans-across-the-country-are-switching-parties-since-the-Jan-6-terrorist-attacks

Republicans across the country are switching parties since the Jan. 6 terrorist attacks
Dartagnan
Community
Tuesday January 12, 2021 · 10:29 AM EST

snip//

But this latest spectacle from the high-octane deplorables (perhaps a better descriptor would be “despicables?”) who identify with the Republican Party is not gaining any sympathy from the electorate. Even though the insurrection (thus far) was initially viewed by Americans through a partisan lens, as the character of the violence has become more clear, Americans have already sharply reassessed their opinions.

In fact, the little data available thus far (and the outrage, as we know, is ongoing) suggests that these terroristic riots and violent attacks may be permanently alienating many Americans from any further association with the GOP, including some of those who likely voted Republican in the last election.

The impact is only a trickle thus far, but it’s worth noting.

In Florida:



In Pennsylvania:



In Iowa:



These are small numbers, but that is as expected. It’s not as if affirmatively changing their voter registration is at the top of everyone’s mind right now, with everyone anxiously waiting for the Great Orange Shoe to drop before Trump drags the republic any further into the abyss.

The other important thing to keep in mind, while we wait for a trend to develop here, is the impact that the events of Jan. 6 will certainly have on young people, particularly young people of color who might not already be leaning toward exercising their right to vote but may find the shocking events of Jan. 6 more than a sufficient motivator. After all, the white supremacist and neo-Nazi ideology underpinning these riots is now impossible to discount by anyone with a brain and a pair of eyes.

As a parent of school-age children, I can tell you that these events are being discussed this week in public schools nationwide with a view toward easing the trauma on what young people have just been forced to witness, thanks to Donald Trump and his cast of enablers. As powerfully as the 9/11 attacks stuck with a prior generation, the residual impact of these events on young peoples’ attitudes will be profound and long-term, particularly occurring as they have in the context of the enormously stressful backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As painful as this experience is, to say it does not bode well for the future of the Republican party would be an understatement.

https://politicalwire.com/2021/01/12/justice-department-probes-sedition-charges/

Justice Department Probes Sedition Charges
January 12, 2021 at 5:24 pm EST By Taegan Goddard

Finally!!

https://politicalwire.com/2021/01/12/rick-snyder-will-face-charges-in-flynt-water-scandal/

Rick Snyder Will Face Charges In Flint Water Scandal
January 12, 2021 at 2:45 pm EST By Taegan Goddard

Once you and your friends are vaccinated, can you quit social distancing?
Expect life to return to normal in 3 stages — not all at once.
By Sigal Samuel Updated Jan 12, 2021, 2:05pm EST


snip//

The best way to set realistic expectations around what life will look like in 2021 is to think of it in three stages. Stage 1 is what you can safely do once you and your close friends or family are vaccinated. Stage 2 is what you can safely do once your city or state has reached herd immunity, where enough people are protected against infection that the virus can’t easily spark new outbreaks. Stage 3 is what you can do once herd immunity is reached internationally. (Note that there’s a good chance we won’t reach that last stage in 2021.)

A lot will depend on the answer to a crucial open question: Are the vaccines only good at preventing symptomatic disease, or are they also good at preventing infection and transmission?



Bloom and other experts are optimistic that the vaccines help reduce infection and transmission, but nobody knows by how much. “We just need more data on transmission,” he said. “Hopefully it will come out of the trials in a couple of months.”

In the meantime, even vaccinated people have to assume they can still become infected and pass along the virus. That means they need to keep wearing masks and social distancing whenever they’re around unvaccinated people.

more...

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22219362/end-of-covid-19-pandemic-social-distancing-masking

The case for consequences
Why Republicans have to be held accountable for the attack on Capitol Hill.
By Zack Beauchamp@zackbeauchampzack@vox.com Jan 12, 2021, 12:50pm EST


It’s been less than a week since a mob whipped up by President Donald Trump attacked the US Capitol in his name, and Republicans in Congress are already telling Americans to move on. What’s needed now is not punishment for insurrection, they say, but rather “healing” for a country rent by partisan fissures.



But there has not been a “peaceful transition.” Five people are dead, and dozens injured, because the president’s supporters attacked Congress in an effort to disrupt its confirmation of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.

Had such an attack been perpetrated by jihadists or a foreign power, Republicans would not want to simply move on: They would demand consequences, action to ensure that it never happened again. The reason they are not now is that it is their party, from President Trump on down, that bears responsibility for inciting this mob by insisting that the 2020 election was fraudulent. McCarthy himself voted against certifying Biden’s Electoral College victory — even after the House was attacked by marauders with zip ties and a hanging noose.

It is true that America needs healing, but of a very different kind. The country requires an aggressive treatment regimen to fight the illness at the heart of American democracy: the Republican elite’s willingness to stoke paranoid and violent fantasies prevalent among its base. It is not just Trump to blame, but also those Republicans who led the charge in trying to overturn the election result: people like Sens. Josh Hawley (MO) and Ted Cruz (TX), and Reps. Mo Brooks (R-AL), and Andy Biggs (R-AZ).

The clearest and simplest path forward is to hold these elites accountable: to punish them for what they’ve done, sending a signal that such behavior will not be tolerated in a democracy.

more...

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22222056/trump-republicans-impeachment-case-capitol-fourteenth-amendment

Posted on Mon, Jan 11th, 2021 by Sean Colarossi
Maxine Waters Warns That MAGA Terrorists Are Plotting Nationwide Pre-Inauguration Attacks


As the country continues to reel from a violent coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol that was incited by the sitting president of the United States, there is a growing possibility that other MAGA attacks are being plotted all across the country in the run up to Joe Biden’s inauguration.

During an interview on Monday, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said she wasn’t at all confident that Biden‘s swearing-in would be secure. She also warned that other acts of MAGA violence and terrorism could target other states.

“Some of our state legislative offices are also targeted,” the Democratic lawmaker said. “They may have an operation that’s going on all over the country at one time, where they are being attacked.”

“I think we’re in a very dangerous time in the history of this country,” she added.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1348810061288714242

Rep. Waters said:



New reporting from The New York Times sheds light on why Rep. Waters and others are concerned about future attacks, particularly in Washington D.C. on inauguration day.

According to the Times, “Another Defense Department official said that law enforcement agencies were planning for any number of possible events, some of them horrific. Worst-case scenarios include snipers targeting inauguration dignitaries, ‘suicide-type aircraft’ entering Washington’s restricted airspace and even remote-powered drones attacking the crowd.”

“The officials said they were particularly worried about multiple active-shooter situations flaring up simultaneously,” the report added.

more...

https://www.politicususa.com/2021/01/11/maxine-waters-warns-that-maga-terrorists-are-plotting-nationwide-pre-inauguration-attacks.html