January 9, 2021

From now on, I will refer to the Republican Party as the Terrorist Republican Party

and the GOP as the Terrorist GOP
and Republicans as Terrorist Republicans

January 9, 2021

The Capitol Riot Is Over. But the Search for Booby Traps Could Take Weeks.

By Elaine Shannon

The U.S. Capitol is not safe.

It’s safer than it was Wednesday, when a mob stormed it shortly after 1 p.m. The Capitol complex was declared secured by the police by 5:40 p.m.

And it’s safer after U.S. Capitol Police discovered a red GMC Sierra 1500 pickup parked near the Capitol which, according to an affidavit filed by a U.S. Capitol policeman, contained a handgun, an M4 carbine assault rifle, magazines of ammunition and 11 mason jars filled with a gasoline-Styrofoam mix, that, when detonated, would act like napalm, sticking to and ferociously burning any surface or human body where it landed.
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There are innumerable potential hiding places for lethal devices that can be activated later, by a remote trigger such as a cell phone, or by a vibration-sensitive device like the one that sets off a car alarm when a vehicle rumbles by or honks. Or somebody could have stuck a handgun inside a vase or hollow lamp or behind a toilet, à la Michael Corleone’s first hit, intending to return later as a tourist, reclaim the gun and assassinate some lawmaker.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-capitol-riot-is-over-but-the-search-for-booby-traps-could-take-weeks?ref=home

January 9, 2021

Fire at India hospital ward kills 10 babies

Source: BBC

Ten babies, some them days old, have been killed in a fire at a hospital in India as members of staff rushed to evacuate the ward early on Saturday.

Seven infants were rescued from the blaze before firefighters arrived at the Bhandara District Hospital in the western state of Maharashtra.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the incident as a "heart-wrenching tragedy".

The cause of the fire is not yet known and an investigation is under way.



Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-55599672

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January 9, 2021

Virginia Gubernatorial Candidate Faces Facebook Restrictions

NBC4Washington
By Alan Suderman • Published January 9, 2021 • Updated on January 9, 2021 at 12:17 am

A Virginia gubernatorial candidate who is an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump has had new restrictions placed on her Facebook account after falsely blaming antifa activists for Wednesday’s deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Democrats, meanwhile, called on her to resign.

Republican state Sen. Amanda Chase said Facebook has blocked her from making posts or comments on the social media site for 30 days. She said she's also banned from doing live video or buying advertisements for 60 days.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/politics/first-read-dmv/virginia-gubernatorial-candidate-faces-facebook-restrictions/2535033/

January 8, 2021

CNN Democrats plan to introduce articles of impeachment as early as Monday

Democrats plan to introduce articles of impeachment as early as Monday

From CNN's Lauren Fox, Manu Raju and Jamie Gangel

House Democrats are currently planning to introduce articles of impeachment against President Trump as soon as Monday, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

That could set up a vote in the House early to the middle of next week. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has not explicitly said when this will go to the floor.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/washington-dc-riots-trump-news-friday/index.html

January 8, 2021

Tennessee House Speaker on FBI raid: Those subject to search warrants on 'administrative leave'

Federal agents descended on multiple Tennessee Republican House members' homes and state offices on Friday, collecting evidence while executing search warrants.

At least 10 agents from the FBI entered the Cordell Hull legislative office building just before 8 a.m., fanning out to multiple offices carrying empty boxes with them.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Tennessee confirmed the FBI visited the homes of former House Speaker Glen Casada, R-Franklin; Rep. Robin Smith, R-Hixson; Rep. Todd Warner, R-Chapel Hill; and former Casada aide Cade Cothren.

According to multiple people with knowledge of the investigation, agents searched their homes.

The FBI also searched the office of Rep. Kent Calfee, R-Kingston, though House Speaker Cameron Sexton said he understood that Calfee "is not part of the investigation." Calfee's legislative assistant, however, has been placed on administrative leave in connection with the inquiry.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/08/fbi-agents-search-offices-multiple-tennessee-republicans-capitol/6593526002/

January 8, 2021

Pence arrives at White House for first time since Capitol riot

From CNN's Betsy Klein

Vice President Mike Pence has arrived at the White House for the first time since the insurrection at the US Capitol incited by President Trump and since he certified the 2020 election results for President-elect Joe Biden.

He emerged from his SUV and walked into the West Wing.

Pence did not come to the White House on Thursday.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/washington-dc-riots-trump-news-friday/index.html

January 8, 2021

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Staffers: Bosses Edited Our Reporting to Be More Pro-Trump

The Daily Beast
Reporters told The Daily Beast that the papers’ editors are “manipulating reality” on behalf of an ownership family that is rabidly Trumpist and believes the election was stolen.

Maxwell Tani
Media reporter
Updated Jan. 08, 2021 12:25PM ET
Published Jan. 08, 2021 12:16PM ET

Journalists at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and sister publication the Toledo Blade say the papers’ top bosses edited coverage of this week’s right-wing riot on Capitol Hill to appear more favorable to Donald Trump, reflecting ownership’s rabid support for the outgoing president.

“You have management manipulating reality, and it’s just so unbelievably unethical,” Jay Skebba, a reporter at the Blade, told The Daily Beast in an interview on Thursday evening. “To know that managers in the newsroom with decades of experience would ever allow something like that to happen is so embarrassing. I’ve worked here for seven years, today was the most upsetting.”

In a news conference on Friday organized by the NewsGuild, the union representing staff at both outlets (as well as others like The New York Times and The Daily Beast), Blade reporters said their editors made specific changes to soften language about the outgoing president’s involvement in inciting Wednesday’s riots on the Capitol, which left five people dead, including one police officer.

According to Skebba, the paper could not refer to the rioters as “Trump supporters,” or “Trump protesters,” which reporters viewed as an editorial attempt to distance the president from the riots that followed an event in which he encouraged his fans to march to the Capitol and “fight” for him.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/pittsburgh-post-gazette-and-toledo-blade-staffers-bosses-edited-our-reporting-to-be-pro-trump?ref=home

They fired their cartoonist a while back too.

January 8, 2021

White House in "crisis management" as it consults with lawyers about potential rapid impeachment pro

White House in “crisis management” as it consults with lawyers about potential rapid impeachment process
CNN
From CNN's Jim Acosta

Outside lawyers are being sought for consultation by the White House about the prospect of a last minute, rapid impeachment of President Trump, a source familiar with the matter said.

The source said at this point lawyers advising the White House believe there is not enough time logistically for Democrats to move articles of impeachment out of the House and into the hands of Senators for a speedy removal of the president before January 20th. But the source said lawyers for the president have started to game out the impeachment possibility as the likelihood of the vice president and Cabinet invoking the 25th Amendment seems remote.

The source added the President’s attorneys have been consulted about the language used in Trump’s video messages in the aftermath of the Capitol riots. During that process, White House counsel Pat Cippolone and chief of staff Mark Meadows went to Trump to urge him to record the videos to save his presidency and hold off efforts to remove him from office.

The White House is in “crisis management” mode following the siege at the Capitol, the source said.

“The lawyers are involved,” the source said.

Meetings have been almost non-stop inside the White House to hash out plans to bring the Trump presidency to an end in the least chaotic way possible, the source said.

“Can you land the plane with 12 days left,” the source said, summing up the goal of the remaining staffers and advisers around the president.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/washington-dc-riots-trump-news-friday/index.html

January 8, 2021

59 Democrats call on Pelosi to reconvene House 'to reckon with the assault on our democracy' - CNN

59 Democrats call on Pelosi to reconvene House ‘to reckon with the assault on our democracy’
By Colby Itkowitz

Dozens of House Democrats sent leadership a letter on Thursday making the case for calling the House back into session to “to reckon with the assault on our democracy that we experienced on January 6th.”

The 59 lawmakers said they should show the American people that they are working to hold accountable those responsible for the attack on the Capitol. The House is currently recessed until Jan. 19, the day before Biden’s inauguration.

“We can and should demonstrate continuity of government at a moment when the President is incapable of leading and the executive branch is in total disarray,” they wrote. “We are the only branch of government that is capable of governing this country and led by sane and competent people. Going home and staying home until the eve of President Biden’s inauguration should not be an option.”

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/washington-dc-riots-trump-news-friday/index.html?tab=all