monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

getting kinda delusional here, eh?

Three days before thousands of rioters converged on the U.S. Capitol, an internal Capitol Police intelligence report warned of a violent scenario in which “Congress itself” could be the target of angry supporters of President Trump on Jan. 6, laying out a stark alert that deepens questions about the security failures that day.

In a 12-page report on Jan. 3, the intelligence unit of the congressional police force described how thousands of enraged protesters, egged on by Trump and flanked by white supremacists and extreme militia groups, were likely to stream into Washington armed for battle.

This time, the focus of their ire would be members of Congress, the report said.

“Supporters of the current president see January 6, 2021, as the last opportunity to overturn the results of the presidential election,” according to the memo, portions of which were obtained by The Washington Post. “This sense of desperation and disappointment may lead to more of an incentive to become violent. Unlike previous post-election protests, the targets of the pro-Trump supporters are not necessarily the counter-protesters as they were previously, but rather Congress itself is the target on the 6th.”

The internal report — which does not appear to have been shared widely with other law enforcement agencies, including the FBI — was among a number of flags that security experts say should have alerted officials to the high security risks on Jan. 6.

The internal report — which does not appear to have been shared widely with other law enforcement agencies, including the FBI — was among a number of flags that security experts say should have alerted officials to the high security risks on Jan. 6.

To whom or to what did your "Motherland" refer?

News broke today that prosecutors in Georgia appear to be considering a criminal investigation against Trump for his efforts to bully election officials in the state into changing the results of the election. Michael J. Moore, the former United States attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, told New York Times reporters Richard Fausset and Danny Hakim: “If you took the fact out that he is the president of the United States and look at the conduct of the call, it tracks the communication you might see in any drug case or organized crime case. It’s full of threatening undertone and strong-arm tactics.”

The sacking of the Capitol is proof positive that what we thought was dangerous is indeed very much so. Those outlets that propagate lies to their audience have unleashed insidious and uncontrollable forces that will be with us for years.

“I hope that those people who didn’t think it was that dangerous now understand, and that they stop.”

Spreading disinformation – whether about the election, public health or climate change – has real world consequences. Many media property owners have as much responsibility as the election officials who know the truth but instead choose to propagate lies.

We hope the awful scenes we have all been seeing will finally convince those enablers to repudiate the toxic politics they have promoted once and forever.

As the Biden administration prepares to take leadership of a nation in turmoil, Vice President Mike Pence telephoned Vice President-elect Kamala Harris Thursday to congratulate her and offer his belated assistance, according to two officials briefed on the call, which was described as gracious and pleasant. It is another instance of Mr. Pence filling a leadership role that President Trump has all but abdicated.

Mr. Pence will also be stepping in for the president on the day of Mr. Biden’s inauguration — although it is traditional for the outgoing and incoming first families to meet at the White House on the morning of the inauguration, Mr. Trump has said he will not meet with Mr. Biden nor will he attend the swearing- in ceremony.

He is instead planning to take off from Joint Base Andrews before Mr. Biden’s inauguration, in a relatively low-key conclusion to one of the most tumultuous terms of any president in history. But Mr. Trump does hope to depart to the blare of a military band, with a red carpet and military honors, those briefed on the planning said.

As Mr. Trump plans his departure, in the wake of a second impeachment, Ms. Pelosi declined to provide an official timeline for his Senate trial. The case is likely to advance even if Mr. Trump has already left office, with Democrats and some Republicans aiming to prevent him from holding public office again.

[...]
It marks a notable break in the so-called “blue wall of silence,” an aspect of police culture that encourages officers to turn a blind eye to misconduct by fellow officers. Craig Futterman, who directs the University of Chicago Law Civil Rights and Police Accountability Project, said the Capitol riot was different.

“The ‘Code of Silence’ is fundamentally about loyalty to your fellow officer and that ‘no one understands what we’re going through but us,’ ” Futterman said. By contrast, there’s something “fundamentally anti-police” about storming the Capitol, he said.

That fellow police officers were the target of much of the mob’s brutality is another important factor that may have prompted whistleblowing. U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian D. Sicknick was among the five people killed as a result of the riot. Dozens of other police officers were injured.

While some officers have said they were merely at the rally, rather than participating in the riot, others were found to have gone farther.

In Rocky Mount, Va., the presence of two officers in the riot, which included displays of the Confederate battle flag, came to light after a colleague and another city official leaked photos of them inside the Capitol during the riot to an area activist. The president of the local Black Lives Matter chapter posted them on her Facebook page and one of the officers quickly defended himself and threatened future violence.

“A legitimate republic stands on 4 boxes,” Officer Thomas Robertson, 47, wrote in response on his Facebook page. “The soapbox, the ballot box, the jury box and then the cartridge box. We just moved to step 3. Step 4 will not be pretty...I’ve spent most of my adult life fighting a counter insurgency. Im about to become part of one, and a very effective one.”

Robertson and fellow officer Jacob Fracker, 27, were both arrested Wednesday by the FBI and are so far the only law enforcement officers facing federal charges, which include one count each of “knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority” and one count each of “violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.”

A Washington Post analysis shows that at least 29 current and former officers attended the Jan. 6 rally, with some proceeding to the Capitol, according to a review of officers’ social media accounts, FBI reports and news reports.

Of those, at least 13 officers are under investigation for possible participation in the rioting, as well more than a dozen Capitol Police officers who may have assisted the mob that seized the Capitol.

The officers — and at least one police chief — came from tiny departments with less than a handful of officers to large agencies with thousands on their force.