Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Native Americans on police response to Capitol insurrection

“No way would Black or Brown people be treated that way had they attacked a symbol of our democracy.”

January 11, 2021

On Jan. 6, while Congress was certifying the 2020 election results, hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. They smashed windows, broke through doors, breached the building, and ran through it, snapping photos of themselves carting off documents and artifacts. No attacking force has rampaged through the Capitol since 1814, when British soldiers torched it during the War of 1812.

Tasked with protecting lawmakers and the building, the Capitol Police’s response was wildly disorganized. Their actions ranged from shooting a woman dead to taking a selfie with a rioter. Officers were pepper-sprayed and hit with projectiles; one has died of his injuries. The Capitol Police force detained no insurgents that day, though efforts are now underway to identify and charge the rioters, along with those who incited them, including the president. The FBI has offered $50,000 for information leading to the conviction of anyone who placed pipe bombs, now defused, around the city. In response to calls from both Democratic and Republican Congressional leadership, the chief of the Capitol Police and the House and Senate sergeant-at-arms are resigning.

“I felt anger and disgust at the display of privilege showed by—and to—rioters in the Capitol,” says OJ Semans, an enrolled citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and co-executive director of the voting-rights group Four Directions. “No way would Black or Brown people be treated that way had they attacked a symbol of our democracy. … We all can recall the extreme force applied in Washington, D.C., during Black Lives Matter demonstrations this past summer.”

Semans, who is also a former captain of his Nation’s police force in South Dakota, says he is horrified at the unprofessional activities of the Capitol Police and calls the Jan. 6 event a chaotic display of White privilege and its relationship to the country’s dual system of justice.

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris wrote on Twitter that the country has two systems of justice—“one that let extremists storm the U.S. Capitol yesterday, and another that released tear gas on peaceful [Black Lives Matters] protesters last summer.”

“Blood has been spilled in the U.S. Capitol!” exclaims attorney Chase Iron Eyes, citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and lead counsel for the Lakota People’s Law Project, with offices in Bismarck, North Dakota. “Indigenous people or any person of color would never dream of doing that.”

A brutal history

Native people have long experienced the rough side of American justice—from the massacres that started in the 15th century and continued for hundreds of years to the disproportionate police violence and incarceration they are subject to today. “In the nonviolent Standing Rock demonstrations against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016,” Semans recalls, “law enforcement used water cannons in sub-freezing weather, rubber bullets, concussion grenades, and flash bangs powerful enough to blow off one young woman’s arm and blind another young woman.”

Iron Eyes says the stark contrast between law enforcement responses to people of color at Standing Rock and Black Lives Matter gatherings versus that to the White people trashing the Capitol Building shows us “who we are.” He says, “Genocide and racism are worked into the fabric of this country.”

Attorney and Four Directions legal director Greg Lembrich posted on Facebook: “Anyone saying ‘this is not who we are’ hasn’t been paying attention. This is exactly who we have become, and we know exactly how we got here and who is responsible. This president and these ‘protesters’ are not patriots; they are traitors and should be handled accordingly. And to those who have supported this up until now because they wanted their judges and their tax cuts: Your cowardice has brought shame on our country. And we won’t forget.”

Iron Eyes describes the disparities among classes and races in this country as painful. At the same time, he expresses hope that we will work together to move the country in a positive direction. As for the events of Jan. 6, he says, the struggle to protect White supremacy is nothing more than “fighting for first-class seats on the Titanic.”

“We are unarmed”

The Standing Rock demonstrations were held to protest an oil pipeline being built to cross, and thus jeopardize, the tribe’s water supply. They lasted about a year, starting in early 2016. Thousands of Native people and supporters came from around the country and the world to join members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in a prayerful action.

“We are unarmed,” was a repeated, but often futile, cry. During just one 10-hour period on Nov. 19, volunteer physicians and medics attending to the protesters logged about 300 serious injuries resulting from police measures, including severe lacerations, fractures, and internal bleeding.

“If Native people or any people of color had done what those White supremacists did at the Capitol, we’d be filling body bags today,” says Joe Holley, chairman of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone Indians, a coalition of four federally recognized tribes in Nevada. “We are shown an astronomically higher level of brutality.”

The devastating concussion grenades used at Standing Rock were banned in Iraq for fear of harming civilians, U.S. Army veteran Griz Grzywa told Yes! in an interview at Standing Rock in 2016. After multiple tours in Iraq, he joined the many veterans who went to Standing Rock to help protect the demonstrators. He was shocked to see police using weapons the U.S. military would not.

Rubber bullets were never intended for demonstrations, adds Semans. “They are hardened rubber projectiles intended to be used to confront armed hostiles who you want to incapacitate long enough to save a life or stop a hostage situation. They are called ‘nonlethal’ but can create serious injuries.”

Semans, Iron Eyes, and Holley make clear that they would never wish that the Capitol Police had attacked Trump’s mob with the weapons used against Native people. “Native American, Black, Latino, and Asian American people don’t want anyone to suffer the way we have,” Semans says. “Not in any manner, in any situation. We want equal rights. We don’t ask for more. We ask for equality.”

Unequal justice

The gathering of violent Trump supporters in the nation’s capital couldn’t have been a surprise, despite the Capitol Police’s apparent lack of preparation. For days, pro-Trump fanatics were known to have been streaming into town to disrupt Congress’ ceremonial certification of Joe Biden’s presidential win. A Washington, D.C., hotel previously frequented by members of far-right groups closed for a period to avoid housing unruly guests. Trump’s plans for a nearby rally the day of Congress’ election certification had been known for weeks, according to CNN.

Trump’s White supremacist followers felt safe storming the Capitol because he has long encouraged them, including at a rally that very day, Semans says: “The president has destroyed so much of the progress we have made since the ’60s. What he has done is so detrimental to our country. He has so badly damaged America. It is a crime.

“The silver lining is that many Americans have now seen how unequal justice is and how the justice you get depends on the color of your skin. Many are saying heartfelt things about the need for change, and I have patience and will wait for those changes. But I’m not holding my breath.”

“Nor am I,” Holley agrees. “I foresee that White supremacists will keep crawling back out of the gutter they’ve fallen into for a very long time.”

Iron Eyes says he sees the United States as a work in progress. He says what happened on Jan. 6 was the dying gasp of long-term, corrupt, systemic, race- and class-based oppression. And he predicts that positive change will develop in a cyclical fashion.

“More people will work for a country we can be proud of. We’ll address the common foundations of our prosperity—clean water, healthy land, a stable climate, surviving the pandemic.” The radical-right fringe will reappear occasionally, even calling for extremes like civil war, Iron Eyes concedes, but adds that overall the United States will see forward motion.

“We claim we are exceptional. We are not. But we have the potential to be.”

https://www.nationofchange.org/2021/01/11/native-americans-on-police-response-to-capitol-insurrection/

Action required! Stop Site C; save 1000s of acres of prime farmland!

Hi everyone,

In solidarity with BC farmers and Northern communities, NFU members across the country recently voted to pass a resolution to stop the Site C dam.

Pushing forward on Site C risks costly geotechnical catastrophe, dramatically violates indigenous Treaty 8 rights, and will flood 9,000+ acres of precious arable BC farmland.

This week, the BC cabinet is meeting to re-evaluate the project’s viability. Our NFU Women’s President and Peace Region farmer, Bess Legault, has written to BC Agriculture Minister Hon. Lana Popham asking her to stand with farmers nationwide in opposing Site C.

Now is the time to add your voice.

The provincial government can still course correct away from Site C in favour of a thriving and climate-compatible agricultural future in the Peace Region.

Please take a moment to participate in the NFU’s campaign in partnership with Dogwood BC to send a message asking Premier Horgan, Minister Ralston and Minister Popham to #StopSiteC.

Power has alternatives, agriculture does not.

Share on social media!

Stop Site C, save thousands of acres of prime farmland

The rich soil of B.C.’s Peace River valley could grow enough fruit and vegetables for one million people. But if Premier Horgan builds the Site C dam, all that land will be flooded forever.

B.C. imports more than half the food we eat. That food is getting more expensive because of climate change and disruptions caused by COVID-19. Our province urgently needs to protect what little farmland we have left.

We know the construction of the Site C dam will jack up our electricity bills. Building it would flood Indigenous burial grounds and hunting areas, violating Treaty 8. Filling the reservoir will also destroy more than 9,000 acres of prime farmland, permanently undermining our ability to guarantee fresh fruits and vegetables for Northern British Columbians.

It’s not too late to turn back. Farmers across the country have passed a formal resolution with the National Farmers Union to put a stop to Site C. Thanks to plummeting costs in wind and solar, we can generate more energy for less money than it would cost to finish the dam. And we can grow nutritious produce for a million people every year, rescuing the government’s failing plan to feed Northern Canada at a time when food security is more important than ever.

This action is a collaboration between Dogwood and the National Farmers Union.

https://dogwoodbc.ca/petitions/defend-farmland-site-c-nfu/?mc_cid=47856e5f30&mc_eid=8d5df66164

As Pandemic Rages, Trump Admin. Approves Tennessee's "Reckless" Plan to Slash Medicaid

The eleventh-hour safety net attack is being met with outrage from advocates of strengthening the healthcare program.

Andrea Germanos, staff writer

Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, speaks as President Donald Trump listens during an event on lowering prescription drug prices on November 20, 2020, in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Healthcare advocates are criticizing the Trump administration's approval—amid overwhelming opposition, a global pandemic, and as the number of uninsured Americans grows—of Tennessee's plan to overhaul funding of its Medicaid program, calling the decision "reckless" and "irresponsible."

Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown Center for Children and Families, called it "a radical waiver that puts Tennessee's Medicaid beneficiaries at risk."

The state's Medicaid program, TennCare, covers 1.5 million people, or about one in five of the state's residents. The proposal would "fundamentally" transform how TennCare is managed and funded, The Tennessean reported. When Republican Gov. Bill Lee rolled out the plan in fall, the outlet added, the state received 1,800 written comments, of which just 11 were in support.

Kaiser Health News reported:

With just a dozen days left in power, the Trump administration on Friday approved a radically different Medicaid financing system in Tennessee that for the first time would give the state broader authority in running the health insurance program for the poor in exchange for capping its annual federal funding.
The approval is a 10-year "experiment." Instead of the open-ended federal funding that rises with higher enrollment and health costs, Tennessee will instead get an annual block grant. The approach has been pushed for decades by conservatives who say states too often chafe under strict federal guidelines about enrollment and coverage and can find ways to provide care more efficiently.
But under the agreement, Tennessee's annual funding cap will increase if enrollment grows. What's different is that unlike other states, federal Medicaid funding in Tennessee won't automatically keep up with rising per-person Medicaid expenses.
The approval, however, faces an uncertain future because the incoming Biden administration is likely to oppose such a move. But to unravel it, officials would need to set up a review that includes a public hearing.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the approval Friday. "It's no exaggeration to say that this carefully crafted demonstration could be a national model moving forward," said CMS Administrator Seema Verma—a Trump appointed official who's pushed attacks on Medicaid and has been described as "the architect of Indiana's punitive restrictions on Medicaid patients."

Michele Johnson, executive director of the Tennessee Justice Center, said in response to the approval that "no other state has sought a block grant, and for good reason," and warned of its impacts to those "in nursing homes, those struggling with mental illness, diabetes, cancer, and countless other complex conditions."

"Tennessee is one of a handful of states still denying Medicaid to its working uninsured, and the block grant is just another example of putting politics ahead of healthcare during this pandemic," said Johnson. "It's a political gimmick that jeopardizes access to healthcare for hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans by creating a state budget booby trap."

"State officials have an abysmal record of mismanaging programs that help those in need. The block grant will allow these same state officials to inflict further damage on Tennessee's healthcare system," she said.

The approval also drew outrage from a coalition of 21 patient and consumer groups including the American Lung Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, and National Alliance on Mental Illness. They called the plan's approval "a reckless move that would reduce Tennesseans' ability to get needed healthcare" and urged the incoming Biden administration to halt its implementation.

"The approval specifically includes authority to limit prescription drug coverage, a dangerous proposal for patients."
—21 Patient Groups"Our organizations have clearly and repeatedly voiced our deep concerns with Tennessee's proposal, as well as our strong opposition to block grants in Medicaid in general," the groups said Friday in a joint statement. "Per capita caps and block grants are designed to cap or limit the amount of federal funding provided to states, forcing them to either make up the difference with their own funds or make cuts to their programs reducing access to care for the patients we represent."

Such cuts, they warned, "will likely result in enrollment limits, benefit reductions, reductions in provider payments, or increased out-of-pocket cost-sharing for Medicaid enrollees. The approval specifically includes authority to limit prescription drug coverage, a dangerous proposal for patients."

Referencing the coronavirus pandemic, the groups added, "It is irresponsible to approve this waiver during this public health crisis, and especially to do so for an unprecedented 10-year period." Implementation of the plan stands to "limit Tennessee's flexibility in responding to recessions, pandemics, new treatments, and natural disasters," and thus "moves in the opposite direction of the lessons learned from 2020."

The Tennessean further noted:

The block grant approval, negotiated over about a year with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, still must get final approval from state lawmakers before it can be implemented. Lee now intends to present a joint resolution on the plan for the General Assembly's "immediate consideration," according to a news release.

The Tennessee Justice Center is urging its supporters to pressure lawmakers to block the plan.

"We are not surprised but are unsettled by this eleventh-hour action by the federal government during the height of the pandemic," said Jane Perkins, legal director for the National Health Law Program. "The approval raises so many issues," she said, "from the process the government used to approve this project to the specifics of how the government has cut into the healthcare safety net. Our legal team is investigating the enforcement and litigation options at this time."

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid, also sounded alarm.

"This is an illegal move that could threaten access to healthcare for vulnerable people in the middle of a pandemic," Pallone tweeted Friday. He also expressed hope the incoming Biden administration would "move quickly to roll back this harmful policy as soon as possible."

Our work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Feel free to republish and share widely.

Social scientist on failed pro-Trump coup:

'People are mistaking ridiculous with not serious'

Image via Screengrab / Fox News.
Lauren Floyd and Daily Kos January 10, 2021

If anyone is still asking if it's fair to classify Wednesday's attack at the Capitol as an attempted coup, the short answer is yes. But Atlantic magazine contributor Zeynep Tufekci, who has lived through four coups in Turkey, told NPR the public needs to focus less on how to classify what happened and start paying attention to just how close rioters came to achieving their goal.

President Donald Trump called for his supporters to march to the Capitol to block Congress from certifying President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory. "We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn't happen," he said at a Save America rally Wednesday in Washington D.C. "You don't concede when there's theft involved. Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore, and that is what this is all about."

Trump incited a mob that stormed the legislature, where the election was being certified, Tufekci told NPR. "So that is absolutely some sort of coup attempt," she said. Tufekci said that moments of the insurrection Wednesday felt "intimately familiar" and that she's been describing Trump's actions since the election as attempts at a coup.

She said as an academic, she can appreciate Americans debating the best technical term to classify Trump's attempt to overthrow election results. "You know there is some value in the precision there, but that shouldn't overshadow what was coming our way, as I was writing, what is being attempted" she said. "The president of the United States was attempting to steal the election by falsely asserting that he won it and trying to mobilize all the extralegal forces he could muster from his office to try to get them to overturn the election in his favor."

By Merriam-Webster's definition, a coup, short for coup d'état, is defined as "a sudden decisive exercise of force in politics especially: the violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group."

"I think people are mistaking ridiculous with not serious," Tufekci said. Protesters looked ridiculous, angry mobs of people punctuated with those wearing horns and flag capes, "but it's not unserious," Tufekci said. After the mob disrupted the certification process, the majority of the GOP caucus, 138 of 211 Republican representatives, voted to overthrow the results of the Pennsylvania election, "even the Pennsylvania representative who was just elected with those votes," Tufekci said.

"These are not normal hiccups of a transition," she added. "These are attempts to steal an election." Tufekci said there are a lot of ridiculous coup attempts around the world that fail "the first time or the second time, or the third time and then they succeed." GOP legislators voting to throw out legitimate votes even after an attempted coup, "that should scare us," Tufekci said.

Rioters crossed a line in storming the Capitol and so did 65% of Republican legislators who voted to throw out legitimate votes. "It's how we react to that line being crossed that will determine whether they'll try again," Tufekci said. "And there's no reason to assume the next time will be similarly ridiculous or incompetant because this time was very serious.

Yesterday I reported that an insurrectionist at the Capitol on Wednesday had repeated Steve Bannon’s call to put federal bureaucrats' “heads on pikes.”

At the time of Bannon’s remarks, YouTube issued a strike against the former White House chief strategist’s channel and suspended his show War Room: Pandemic from streaming for a week. Twitter removed him from the platform altogether, Bannon’s lawyers dropped him as a client, and Spotify later followed suit.

After Bannon made more than a half a dozen calls for violence and revolution, YouTube finally took the long overdue step of suspending his channel.

But it comes too late; YouTube deserves no congratulations.

We’ve now seen how his words have been directly connected to a violent insurrection. Only after the worst possible outcome became a terrifying reality did YouTube decide to enforce its own policies against inciting violence and pushing misinformation related to the 2020 election.

YouTube’s parent company Google must now follow through with its commitment to deplatform War Room: Pandemic. The co-hosts are now directing their audience to watch them on the app for Real America's Voice, the cable network that hosts the show. The app is accessible via Google Play, which has a policy against the incitement of violence on the platform. If the company is serious about preventing further political violence in this country, it must take action to ban this app.

After an insurrectionist at the Capitol repeated Steve Bannon's call for violence, his show is still streaming via Google Play | Media Matters for America

During the insurrection itself, one of the insurrectionists directly echoed Bannon:

In the lead-up to the attack, Bannon used his YouTube channel to repeatedly call for violence and revolution around the 2020 election while spreading false claims that it was being stolen from President Donald Trump. I've compiled a noncomprehensive review of this rhetoric, from before and after the insurrection

With Blood On His Hands, Bannon Loses YouTube Account - National Memo

UPDATED

Capitol attack: the five people who died

Officer Brian Sicknick, 42, was reportedly struck in head during Wednesday’s riot, while four Trump supporters also died

The US Capitol on Friday. Officer Sicknick’s death is being investigated as a homicide. Photograph: Ken Cedeno/UPI/Rex/Shutterstock

Kenya Evelyn in Washington THE GUARDIAN
Fri 8 Jan 2021

Family members and law enforcement have confirmed more details on the now five people who died in an attempted insurrection against the United States on Wednesday, including a Capitol police officer who died from his injuries.

The remaining four were among the supporters of Donald Trump who stormed the US Capitol, attempting to halt counts of electoral college ballots that would formally seal Joe Biden’s victory over the incumbent president.

“Don’t dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob. Insurrectionists. Domestic terrorists. It’s that basic. It’s that simple,” Biden said in response to Thursday’s attack.

Details on the five people killed are below.

Brian Sicknick, 42

According to statement from the US Capitol police, the New Jersey native joined the force in 2008. Sicknick was reportedly struck in the head with a fire extinguisher while “physically engaging” with the rioters. He collapsed soon after returning to his division before being rushed to a nearby hospital. Sicknick died on Thursday night after being removed from life support.

A reported 60 Capitol police officers were injured. According to the Democratic congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio, many were also hit in the head with metal pipes. More than a dozen remain hospitalized.

Sicknick’s death is being investigated as a homicide by federal and local authorities.

Ashli Babbitt, 35

Babbitt, a 14-year air force veteran from San Diego, was among a group of people who could be seen attempting to break down the doors of the US Senate chamber as members sheltered. Cameras captured the moment she was rushed out on a stretcher after being shot by a Capitol police officer. She died at the hospital.

“I really don’t know why she decided to do this,” Babbitt’s mother-in-law told Washington’s WTTG.

Just a day before the rally, Babbitt tweeted the QAnon conspiracy called “the storm”, in which supporters believe Donald Trump will emerge to overthrow and execute corrupt political elites and enemies.

Benjamin Phillips, 50

A computer programmer from Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, Phillips organized a caravan from Pennsylvania to the Capitol grounds for the planned insurrection. Once there, he had a stroke and died, although authorities have not confirmed at what point during the attack.

Witnesses told the Philadelphia-Inquirer he was last seen looking for parking before the president gave his speech at the “Save America March”.

Kevin Greeson, 55

A native of rural Athens, Alabama, Greeson died of an apparent heart attack at an unknown point during the events. His family confirmed in a statement that a history of high blood pressure “in the midst of the excitement” contributed to the medical emergency.

Greeson posted racist diatribes online and associated with the Proud Boys, a far-right group known for enacting political violence and racial terror.

Despite the family’s insistence that “he was not there to participate in violence or rioting” and did not “condone such actions”, Greeson had posted to popular conservative social platforms calling for supporters to “load your guns and take to the streets” in the weeks leading up to the events.

“Let’s take this fucking country back,” he posted to Parler. Like many of the white nationalists who participated, Greeson never specifies from whom the country is being taken.

Rosanne Boyland, 34

The resident of Kennesaw, Georgia, reportedly died of a medical emergency during the riots. Family members later told reporters Boyland had been crushed in the melee.

Boyland, an avid Trump supporter, had a criminal history, including being charged with possession or distribution of heroin “at least four other times” in Georgia. Other past charges include battery, obstruction of law enforcement and trespassing.

According to the Daily Mail, Wednesday’s attack was the first Trump event that Boyland ever attended. Her family told local WGCL that although they understood she “was really passionate about her beliefs”, they were shocked and “devastated” to learn she participated in the insurrection.

“Tragically, she was there and it cost her life,” Justin Cave, Boyland’s brother-in-law, told WGCL.

“I’ve never tried to be a political person but it’s my own personal belief that the president’s words incited a riot that killed four of his biggest fans last night, and I that we should invoke the 25th amendment at this time,” he added.

More Republican Legislators Linked To Violent Assault On Capitol

Emily Singer

January 12 | 2021

Maryland State (R) Delegate Dan Cox
Screenshot from American Independent

Reprinted with permission from American Independent

The number of Republican state lawmakers identified as having either been at Wednesday's attack on the U.S. Capitol or part of the rally that led up to it continues to grow, as photographic evidence helps investigators pin down who was a part of the insurrection.

Four more GOP state lawmakers have been identified as attending either the rally that preceded the attack or the attack itself. They join 12 others who have already been outed as being part of the mayhem, along with a former state legislator.

The newly identified include:

West Virginia state Sen. Mike Azinger: Azinger posted photos to Facebook of being at the Washington Monument on Jan. 6 — the day of the attack — lauding the efforts by Trump supporters, even after knowing that the actions of the pro-Trump mob led to violence, death, and destruction.
00:1501:15

"We're here!" Azinger wrote in a post that included photos of the Washington Monument, which has now been closed to the public due to threats of violence. "Stop the Steal, baby!"

Azinger blamed Antifa for the violence, a baseless lie.

Maryland state Del. Dan Cox: Cox is facing calls to resign after he went to the rally and tweeted that Pence is a "traitor" — at the very same time the violent mobs were marauding through the Capitol.

We've since learned that the terrorists at the Capitol were chanting that Pence should be hung, with a noose and a platform for a hanging spotted outside of the Capitol building.

Rhode Island state Rep. Justin Price: Like the other Republican state lawmakers who attended the rally or the insurrection itself, Price is also facing calls to resign after he marched to the Capitol with the pro-Trump mob.

Price claims he did not enter the Capitol, and also falsely blamed the violence on Antifa and the Black Lives Matter movement, a patently false and racist accusation.

Virginia Del. Dave LaRock: LaRock wrote on Facebook that he was at the Capitol on Wednesday but did not say whether he entered the building.

He, too, falsely blamed outside agitators for the violence, even though the violence was carried out by Trump supporters and "antifa" was not found to be part of the crowd.

So far, at least one GOP state lawmaker has been arrested for their role in the violent attack: Incoming West Virginia Del. Derrick Evans, who took a selfie video of his crimes and shouted, "Derrick Evans is in the Capitol."

The Justice Department announced it was charging Evans with "one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol Grounds."

Evans' video made it easy for law enforcement to determine that it was, indeed, Evans.

Evans "streamed live to his Facebook page a video of himself joining and encouraging a crowd unlawfully entering the U.S. Capitol," the Justice Department wrote in a news release announcing Evans' arrest.

Evans resigned on Saturday, saying "I take full responsibility for my actions, and deeply regret any hurt, pain or embarrassment I may have caused my family, friends, constituents and fellow West Virginians."

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which seeks to get Democrats elected to state legislatures across the country, criticized GOP legislative leaders for not commenting on the number of Republican lawmakers who were part of the mayhem on Wednesday.

"There can be no unity without accountability," Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Jessica Post said in a news release. "Every elected official who betrayed our democracy is unfit to represent their communities. We challenge our Republican counterparts to step up for the country they claim to love and join us in upholding the values that make this nation great. If there was any time to put country over party, it is now."

To date, at least five people died in the attack, including a Capitol Police officer.

And Trump is now likely to be impeached a second time for inciting the insurrection that led to the deaths and desecration of the Capitol.

FOX CONTINUES TO BLAME ANTIFA

Republicans Blame ‘Antifa’ For Capitol Assault By Trumpists

Emily Singer
January 07 | 2021

Rep. Matt Gaetz

Reprinted with permission from American Independent

A number of Republican lawmakers and right-wing media personalities are blaming "antifa" for the violent attack by supporters of Donald Trump on the Capitol on Wednesday that led to at least four deaths, ignoring their own responsibility in helping foment the rage underlying the attack.

Some GOP lawmakers did call out Trump and members of their own party for the lies about voter fraud and a stolen election that culminated in Wednesday's failed coup, placing the blame at their feet.

"What happened here today was an insurrection incited by the President of the United States," Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) said in an impassioned speech on the Senate floor after the body reconvened to certify President-elect Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 election.00:3501:15

"You have some senators who, for political advantage, were giving false hope to their supporters. These senators, as insurrectionists literally stormed the Capitol, were sending out fundraising emails," Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said on Fox News.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) had quite literally sent a fundraising text as the Trump-supporting mob ransacked the Capitol.

Some repetitions of the lie that the attack was carried out by so-called antifa and not Trump supporters came from top GOP leadership. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy made the suggestion Wednesday night in an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham.

"People came here to do some damage. I don't know who they were with," McCarthy said of the group, which wore Trump hats, Trump shirts, and carried Trump flags. His comment was followed by a suggestion from Ingraham that "Antifa was in there."

Two other House Republicans, some of the most vocal supporters of Trump's coup, have also falsely blamed antifa for the attacks.

Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, a leader in the failed effort to block the certification of Biden's win, has tweeted numerous times that the attack was a false-flag operation.

"Please, don't be like #FakeNewsMedia, don't rush to judgment on assault on Capitol. Wait for investigation. All may not be (and likely is not) what appears.

Evidence growing that fascist ANTIFA orchestrated Capitol attack with clever mob control tactics," Brooks tweeted, a baseless lie that seeks to absolve Trump supporters of the violence.

ALSO SINCE ANTIFA STANDS FOR ANTI FASCIST IT MAKES NO SENSE

Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, who has previously said his sole purpose in Congress is to support Trump, issued the same lie from the House floor during the debate over certification.

"Some of the people who breached the Capitol today were not Trump supporters, they were masquerading as Trump supporters and in fact were members of the violent terrorist group antifa," Gaetz said.

Other right-wing figures, such as Fox News' Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin, the former vice presidential nominee, also tried to absolve Trump supporters of guilt by falsely pinning the attack on antifa.

Trump knew that the rioters were his own supporters, treating the terrorists with kid gloves in tweets, as members of his current and former staff implored him to send a message to end the attack.

"We love you. You're very special. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil but go home and go home in peace," Trump said.

Antifa has been the go-to boogeyman for Republicans over the 2020 presidential cycle. They blamed the group for violent protests across the country.

Trump himself demanded his administration designate antifa as a domestic terror organization on Tuesday night.

Experts say antifa cannot be deemed a domestic terror organization because it is not an organization at all, but rather a loosely organized movement.

Analysis continues to show that right-wing white supremacist groups and not antifa represent the biggest domestic terror threat the country currently faces.

THAT SOUNDS OMINOUS

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: 'It's time that we simply put wokeism to sleep'

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the remark during a speech at the Voice of America.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Jan. 10, 2020
(Alex Wong/Getty Images)

By Alex Nitzberg

Updated: January 11, 2021 -

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, during a speech at Voice of America in the nation's capital on Monday, said that he had read that some of the organization's employees did not want him to deliver an address.

HE AND TRUMP ADVOCATED AND TRIED TO SHUT DOWN VOA

"I'm sure it was only a handful. They didn't want the voice of American diplomacy to be broadcast on the Voice of America. Think about that for just a moment," the secretary of state remarked during the speech which was also broadcast.

"Look, we're all part of institutions with duties and responsibilities higher and bigger and more important than any one of us individually. But this kind of censorial instinct is dangerous, it's morally wrong. Indeed it's against your statutory mandate here at VOA. Censorship, wokeness, political correctness, it all points in one direction: Authoritarianism cloaked as moral righteousness," he said, noting a similarity regarding "what we're seeing at Twitter and Facebook and Apple and on too many university campuses today. It's not who we are. It's not who we are as Americans. And it's not what Voice of America should be. It's time that we simply put wokeism to sleep. And you can lead the way," Pompeo said.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment