@ NOT Q

Democrat offices and first-ever Starbucks store damaged in anti-Biden protests
Gino Spocchia, THE INDEPENDENT
Thu, January 21, 2021,


Protesters damage the Democratic Party office building in Portland, Oregon, on Wednesday(Mike Benner / KGW News)

The Oregon office of the Democratic Party and the original branch of Starbucks in Seattle were among several buildings damaged by protesters after Joe Biden was sworn-in as president on Wednesday.

Police arrested around eight people in Portland, Oregon, and at least three in Seattle, while hundreds more were said to have taken to the streets to protest in both cities.

Doors and windows were smashed at the Democratic Party’s offices in downtown Portland, NBC News reported, where a small dumpster was set alight, and “f*** Biden was sprayed on walls, alongside a message that read "Breonna Taylor deserves justice".

At least 150 protesters marched on to Portland's Immigration and Customs Enforcement building, where they called for the agency to be abolished.

According to police, the Portland protesters were carrying weapons such as “Molotov cocktails, knives, batons, chemical spray and a crowbar”.

“We don't want Biden, we want revenge!,” read a banner that was seen by The Oregonian, and appeared to sport an antifascist symbol and another based on the “three arrow” designs used by Social Democrats against the Nazis in the Weimar era.

The same banner also denounced “police murders, imperialist wars and fascist massacres", while another banner read "We are ungovernable”.

In Seattle, around 100 protesters were seen carrying a banner that read “F*** Trump, F*** Biden too, they don’t give a F*** about you.”

According to police, they caused damage at the William Kenzo Nakamura Courthouse, an Amazon Go store, and a Starbucks store on Pike Place which opened as the world’s first ever branch in 1971. Glass was left strewn across the store.

One protester told the Seattle Times that Mr Biden’s appeal to Americans for “unity” was “disgusting” because the Democrat wanted “unity with people who actively want to harm people,” in apparent reference to police and the political right.

Wednesday’s protests came several months after Seattle and Portland saw large demonstrations against systemic racism and police brutality last summer.

They took place after the Minneapolis police killing of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, and the Kentucky police killing of an unarmed black woman, Breonna Taylor.

Portland police arrest 15 alleged Antifa rioters after Democrat HQ attacked 

KOPS STOOD BACK AND LET THEM

Daniel Capurro
Fri, January 22, 2021

Eight mugshots - Portland Police

Police in Portland, Oregon have arrested fifteen suspects after a mob of around 200 alleged Antifa members smashed up the Democrat headquarters and federal immigration offices in the city on Wedensday, while three people were arrested after a crowd in Seattle attacked buildings and burnt a US flag.

The two Pacific Northwest cities have been hotspots for protests and violence since the Black Lives Matter demonstrations began last year in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd.

There were also protests in Denver, Colorado; Columbus, Ohio and Sacramento in California.

Portland Police released photographs of eight of the 15 arrested suspects as well as images of confiscated items including knives, batons and bullet-proof vests.

A group of protesters dressed in black use umbrellas to shield themselves 

- Assfault Pirates via AP

"Some of the crowd had pepperball guns, electronic control weapons, large fireworks, shields and rocks," said Portland police spokesman Kevin Allen.

Federal police, who were initially deployed to the city during the Black Lives Matter protests, were reported to have used tear gas, stun grenades and other non-lethal munitions to disperse the crowd.

The Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement building that the rioters attacked had been a target during previous bouts of violence last year. Demonstrators have demanded that ICE, which enforces immigration law, be abolished.

Police did not comment on the political nature of the crowd, but the violence came on a day when several far-left demonstrations were planned to put pressure on the new Biden administration to swiftly introduce immigration, racial justice and policing reforms.

Gas-masked police using a large device to pump clouds of tear gas -

 Lindsey Wasson/Reuters

According to the Daily Mail, seven of the 15 suspects detained in Portland had been arrested at previous Antifa protests, while The New York Times reported that one flier handed out at the Seattle demonstration attacked Biden over "his stupid" crime bill passed in 1994, which was blamed for leading to mass incarcerations.

The Portland group was also reported to be carrying a banner reading: “We don’t want Biden – we want revenge!” and to have chanted “F---Biden”

The Democratic Party of Oregon said in a statement to AFP that it was "frustrated and disappointed" by the damage to its offices – which were empty – but would not be deterred "from our important work."

Portland police arrest 8 after rioters damage Democratic Party office, ICE facility following Biden's inauguration

MORGAN WINSOR, GMA
Thu, January 21, 2021, 

At least eight people were arrested in Portland on Wednesday after rioters damaged both federal and private property, police said.

Dozens of protesters took to the streets of Oregon's largest city following the inauguration of President Joe Biden. Some people were seen carrying Black Lives Matter signs, while others held banners with anti-Biden or anti-police slogans.

Although the demonstrations were largely peaceful, two protest events resulted in property damage and arrests, according to the Portland Police Bureau.

PHOTO: A group of protesters damaged the headquarters of the Democratic Party of Oregon in Portland on Jan. 20, 2021. (Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian via AP)

A crowd of about 150 people gathered at Revolution Hall, a music venue in southeast Portland, and marched to the headquarters of the Democratic Party of Oregon on Wednesday afternoon. Some individuals vandalized the building with graffiti and smashed windows, while others moved dumpsters into the middle of the street and lit the contents on fire, police said.

MORE: Biden promises unity and redemption amid divisions and challenges

Eight people, ranging in age from 18 to 38, were arrested in connection with the event. The charges range from felony criminal mischief to possession of a destructive device. Various weapons were also seized, including Molotov cocktails, knives, batons, chemical spray and a crow bar, according to police.
  

PHOTO: Police detain a person during a protest in Portland, Oregon, on Jan. 20, 2021, after the inauguration of President Joe Biden. (Lindsey Wasson/Reuters)

Later that evening, a group of about 150 people marched to the Portland field office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Some individuals in the crowd were seen carrying pepper ball guns, electronic control weapons similar to Tasers, large fireworks, shields and rocks. Many were also wearing helmets and gas masks, police said.

PHOTO: A demonstrator throws KICKS a tear gas canister back at law enforcement officers during a rally outside the field office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Portland Oregon, on Jan. 20, 2021, after the inauguration of President Joe Biden. (Lindsey Wasson/Reuters)Mo

Within minutes of arriving at the ICE facility, some people began throwing rocks and eggs at the building while others applied graffiti. Federal law enforcement officers responded by launching "crowd control munitions," while Portland police officers "were standing by to address crimes in the surrounding neighborhood," according to police.

PHOTO: Protesters disperse during a rally outside the field office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Portland, Oregon, on Jan. 20, 2021, after the inauguration of President Joe Biden. (Lindsey Wasson/Reuters)

"Details about what munitions were used, and any arrests made, will have to come from federal law enforcement," Sgt. Kevin Allen of the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement early Thursday. "Portland Police did not deploy any CS gas."

ABC News has reached out to the ICE Office of Public Affairs for comment.

"As always, we appreciate those who made your voices heard without resorting to criminal activity," Allen added. "We respect the rights of free speech and assembly."

Oregon Democratic Party offices vandalized amid post-inauguration protests




Caroline Radnofsky and Janhvi Bhojwani and Kimberly Flores Gaynor
Thu, January 21, 2021, 

Police arrested eight people on Wednesday after the Democratic Party headquarters in Portland, Oregon, was vandalized hours after President Joe Biden's inauguration.

The building's doors and windows were smashed, a small dumpster was lit on fire, and graffiti reading "Breonna Taylor deserves justice" and "F--- Biden" was sprayed on the outside walls, according to videos filmed at the scene mid-afternoon by reporters for NBC Portland affiliate KGW.

Portland police said some of the group of about 150 people carried weapons "including Molotov cocktails, knives, batons, chemical spray and a crowbar."

Some members of the crowd met in southeast Portland before heading to the Democratic Party offices dressed in black and carrying banners reading, "We don't want Biden, we want revenge! For police murders, imperialist wars and fascist massacres," and "We are ungovernable," according to a photo published by The Oregonian.

Charges against the eight arrested included felony criminal mischief, possession of a destructive device, and riot, police Sgt. Kevin Allen said in a video statement on Twitter.

At least 150 people later marched on Portland's Immigration and Customs Enforcement building, calling for the agency to be abolished.

A crowd clashed with federal officers outside the building, throwing rocks and eggs and vandalizing the building, Portland police added.

Federal officers declared an unlawful assembly and used munitions and tear gas to disperse demonstrators, according to KGW's Devon Haskins, who was on the scene.

Scattered protests also took place in downtown Seattle, Washington, where multiple locations, including a Starbucks storefront and the William Kenzo Nakamura Courthouse, were also vandalized, the Seattle Police Department reported.

Crowds marched toward the city's Pike Place chanting, "Antifa!" and "No cops, no prisons, total abolition!"

Two people were arrested on charges of property damage and assault respectively, Seattle police said.

Small Inauguration Day protests in Portland, Seattle lead to about a dozen arrests

N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA TODAY
Thu, January 21, 2021

A group of protesters shield themselves from chemical irritants as they demonstrate Wednesday evening, Jan. 20, 2021, outside the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in Portland, Ore.

About a dozen people were arrested during small Inauguration Day protests in the Pacific Northwest intended to pressure President Joe Biden into action on immigration and police reform.

Police in Portland said in a statement they arrested eight Wednesday afternoon on charges of felony criminal mischief, riot and possession of a destructive device after some in a group of 150 people smashed windows and vandalized the headquarters of the Democratic Party of Oregon.

The FBI previously warned of possible armed protests around the inauguration in state capitals by supporters of former President Donald Trump, but these demonstrators were described by local media as "antifascist" and "anarchists."


Demonstrators carried banners that read, "We don't want Biden — we want revenge!'' in response to “police murders” and “imperialist wars," and "We are ungovernable."

The Democratic Party of Oregon said in a statement that none of its staff were in the building and that this is not the first time the building has been targeted.

“We’re frustrated and disappointed about the damage done to our Democratic Party of Oregon Headquarters in Portland this afternoon," the statement said. “None of this should take away from the fact that today is a joyous and momentous day for America as we celebrate the Inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris."

Hours later, a similar sized group gathered at the Federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement building, some of whom were carrying pepper ball guns, devices like Tasers and fireworks, according to authorities. Portland police said federal law enforcement used crowd control munitions and made arrests.

Video taken by a New York Times reporter at the scene shows the crowd chanting an anti-Joe Biden slogan and later being hit with tear gas. The crowd also decried the United States’ detention and caging of migrant children and chanted, “Abolish ICE," the Oregonian/Oregon Live reported.

Portland saw more than 100 days of demonstrations against racial injustice over the summer, some of which drew thousands and resulted in clashes with police.

Police in Seattle said three people were arrested for property damage, burglary and an assault after a group of about 100 people marched and windows were broken at a federal courthouse.

That crowd also called for the abolition of ICE and several people set fire to an American flag outside the federal immigration court, The Seattle Times reported. One protester told the New York Times that Biden needs to know there will be continued pressure for progress on immigration and police reform.

“I came out here because no matter what happens, Biden and Kamala aren’t enough,” Alejandro Quezada Brom, 28, told the Times.

For weeks over the summer, demonstrators in Seattle occupied an area first called the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone or CHAZ, then the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, or CHOP. Mayor Jenny Durkan ordered police to clear the zone after an outbreak of violence.

Some of Biden's first executive orders as president were related to immigration. Biden halted construction of the border wall and revoked Trump's 2017 executive order which broadened the categories of undocumented immigrants subject for removal, restarted the Secure Communities program and supported the federal 287(g) deportation program.

Contributing: The Associated Press; Joey Garrison and Courtney Subramanian, USA TODAY

Follow N'dea Yancey-Bragg on Twitter: @NdeaYanceyBragg

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Inauguration Day protests in Portland, Seattle; about a dozen arrested

PRE BUCKINGHAM /NICKS; PETER GREEN'S FLEETWOOD MAC JAM BAND

New China swine fever strains point to unlicensed vaccines

 Pigs are seen at a backyard farm on the outskirts of Harbin

TORTURED FOR BEING BEASTS OF BURDEN

Dominique Patton
Thu, January 21, 2021,

BEIJING (Reuters) - A new form of African swine fever identified in Chinese pig farms is most likely caused by illicit vaccines, industry insiders say, a fresh blow to the world's largest pork producer, still recovering from a devastating epidemic of the virus.

Two new strains of African swine fever have infected more than 1,000 sows on several farms owned by New Hope Liuhe, China's fourth-largest producer, as well as pigs being fattened for the firm by contract farmers, said Yan Zhichun, the company's chief science officer.

Though the strains, which are missing one or two key genes present in the wild African swine fever virus, don't kill pigs like the disease that ravaged China's farms in 2018 and 2019, they cause a chronic condition that reduces the number of healthy piglets born, Yan told Reuters. At New Hope, and many large producers, infected pigs are culled to prevent the spread, making the disease effectively fatal.

Although the known infections are limited now, if the strains spread widely, they could slash pork output in the world's top consumer and producer; two years ago, swine fever wiped out half of China's 400 million-head pig herd. Pork prices are still at record levels and China is under pressure to strengthen food security amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I don't know where they come from, but we find some mild field infections caused by some sort of gene-deleted viruses," Yan said.

Wayne Johnson, a Beijing-based veterinarian, said he diagnosed a chronic, or less-lethal, form of the disease in pigs last year. The virus lacked certain genetic components, known as the MGF360 genes. New Hope has found strains of the virus missing both the MGF360 genes and the CD2v genes, Yan said.

Research has shown that deleting some MGF360 genes from African swine fever creates immunity. But the modified virus was not developed into a vaccine because it tended to later mutate back to a harmful state.

"You can sequence these things, these double deletions, and if it's exactly the same as described in the lab, it's too much of a coincidence, because you would never get that exact deletion," said Lucilla Steinaa, principal scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi.

There is no approved vaccine for African swine fever, which is not harmful to humans. But many Chinese farmers struggling to protect their pigs have resorted to unapproved products, industry insiders and experts said. They fear illicit vaccines have created accidental infections, which are now spreading.

The new strains could proliferate globally through contaminated meat, infecting pigs that are fed on kitchen waste. The virus is known to survive for months in some pork products.

China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs did not respond to two requests for comment.

But it has issued at least three warnings against use of unauthorised African swine fever vaccines, cautioning that they could have severe side effects and that producers and users could be charged with a criminal offence.

In August, the ministry said it would test pigs for different strains of the virus as part of a nationwide investigation into illegal vaccine use.

Any strains with gene deletions could indicate a vaccine had been used, it said. No findings have been published so far on the issue, which is highly sensitive for Beijing. Reporting of the recent African swine fever outbreaks was extensively covered up. For a link to the report, click https://www.reuters.com/article/us-swinefever-china-epidemic-specialrepo/special-report-before-coronavirus-china-bungled-swine-epidemic-with-secrecy-idUSKBN20S189

MAN-MADE STRAINS

After decades of research toward producing a vaccine against the huge, complex swine fever virus, researchers around the world are focussing on live-virus vaccines - the only type to have shown any promise.

But such vaccines carry higher risks because even after the virus is weakened so it does not cause serious illness, it can sometimes recover its virulence.

One such vaccine used in Spain in the 1960s caused a chronic disease with swollen joints, skin lesions and respiratory issues in pigs that complicated efforts to eradicate African swine fever over the next three decades. Since then, no nation has approved a vaccine for the disease.

A vaccine with both MGF360 and CD2v genes deleted is undergoing trials by China's Harbin Veterinary Research Institute after showing promise.

Yan said he believes that people have replicated the sequences of virus strains being studied, which have been published in scientific literature, and that pigs injected with illicit vaccines based on them could be infecting others.

"It's definitely man-made; this is not a natural strain," he said.

Neither Johnson nor Yan have fully sequenced the new swine fever strains. Beijing strictly controls who is allowed to work with the virus, which can only be handled in laboratories with high biosecurity designations.

But several private companies have developed test kits that can check for specific genes.

GM Biotech, based in China's central Hunan province, said in an online post last week it had developed a test that identifies whether the pathogen is a virulent strain, a single-gene deleted attenuated strain, or a double-gene deleted attenuated strain.

The test helps pig producers because the new strains are "very difficult to detect at the initial stage of infection and have a longer incubation period after infection," the company said.

The government has not said how widely used illicit vaccines are or who has produced them. But a "vast amount" of pigs in China have nonetheless been vaccinated, Johnson said, a sentiment echoed by many other experts.

In 2004-5, when the H5 bird flu strains were spreading across Asia, Chinese laboratories produced several unauthorised live bird flu vaccines, said Mo Salman, a professor of veterinary medicine at Colorado State University, who has worked on animal health in Asia, raising fears that they could produce dangerous new variants.

"The current ASF unlawful vaccine(s) in China is repeating history," Salman said.

(Reporting by Dominique Patton. Editing by Gerry Doyle)

KELOWNA BC; THE MIAMI OF CANADA

‘Cocaine bananas’ accidentally shipped to grocers in bungled drug deal

Investigators said the cocaine had come from Columbia and ended up in Kelowna as a result of a failed drug deal.

Matt Mathers
Wed, January 20, 2021

Packages weighed around 1kg each(RCMP)

Some 21 bricks of cocaine hidden in banana shipments ended up at grocery shops in Canada following a bungled drug-trafficking operation, authorities have confirmed.

A local store owner in Kelowna, a small town in Central Okanagan, British Columbia province, alerted authorities after finding 12 packages of what appeared to be cocaine among a banana shipment on 24 February 2019.

The packages were seized by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for further investigation into their origins and intended destination.

Later that day, a second grocery shop owner contacted RCMP saying they had also discovered what they believed was a haul of the Class-A drug.

Front line officers attended and confiscated an additional nine individually wrapped bundles.

Kelowna RCMP and Canada's Border Service Agency (CBSA) subsequently launched an investigation, which concluded on Tuesday and confirmed the packages, each weighing around 1kg, were cocaine.

Investigators said the cocaine had come from Columbia and ended up in Kelowna as a result of a failed drug deal.

"The drug section of the Kelowna RCMP Street Enforcement Unit worked collaboratively with the CBSA to determine that these shipments originated in Colombia," Cpl Jeff Carroll of the Kelowna RCMP Drug Section said in a statement.

"Our investigation leads us to believe these illicit drugs were not meant to end up in the Central Okanagan and arrived here in the Okanagan Valley as a result of a missed pickup at some point along the way."

Experts estimated that the packages would have introduced upwards of 800,000 doses of crack cocaine into the Canadian illicit drug market, according to Kelowna RCMP.

That's enough for every resident in the City of Kelowna to receive nearly 6 doses each, the force added.

Read More

Over a tonne of cocaine found in banana shipment at London port

NOT WORTH THE PAPER IT WAS WRITTEN ON
Exclusive: Pfizer-BioNTech 

agree to supply WHO 

co-led COVID-19 vaccine 

scheme - sources

  

FILE PHOTO: Vaccination with Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease 

(COVID-19) vaccine of the medical staff, in Brussels

Kate Kelland and Ludwig Burger
Thu, January 21, 2021, 12:47 PM

LONDON/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Pfizer and BioNTech have agreed to supply their COVID-19 vaccine to the World Health Organization co-led COVAX vaccine access scheme, two sources familiar with the deal said, the latest in a series of shots to be included in the project aimed at lower-income countries.

The deal is expected to be announced on Friday, according to the sources, who declined to be named due to the confidentiality of the agreement.

Details on the size of the deal or the price per dose COVAX would pay were not immediately clear, but the sources said the allotment would likely be relatively small. One source said the reason for the limited volume was that the doses were primarily meant for healthcare workers in the countries that COVAX serves.

BioNTech declined to comment while Pfizer did not respond to requests for comment. Spokespeople for the WHO and the GAVI vaccine alliance, which co-leads the COVAX scheme, also declined to comment.

Senior WHO adviser Bruce Aylward said on Monday the COVAX scheme was in "very detailed discussions" with Pfizer, which has already committed hundreds of millions of doses this year to several wealthy nations, and expected to be able to include the vaccine in COVAX "very soon".

The COVAX scheme is set to start distributing COVID-19 vaccines to poor and middle income countries in February.

Ukraine said earlier on Thursday that its first delievery of COVID-19 vaccine under the COVAX scheme could arrive in the first half on February - with 210,000 doses of either the Moderna, Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines.

COVAX has said it hopes to deliver more than 2 billion COVID-19 doses across the world this year. In an updated forecast published on Thursday, it said it planned to deliver around 1.8 billion doses in 2021 to 92 poorer countries, covering around 27% of their populations.

The scheme - led by the WHO, the GAVI vaccine alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI)- was set up last year amid concerns that poorer nations would lose out while rich countries scrambled to procure COVID-19 vaccines to inoculate their populations.

COVAX has so far secured future vaccine suplies from AstraZeneca, working with Oxford University; the Serum Institute of India (SII) as well as with Sanofi and its partner GSK. It also has a memorandum of understanding over deliveries from Johnson & Johnson.

The Pfizer deal would be COVAX's second, after the one with AstraZeneca, that covers a product with regulatory approval in some countries.

The additional commitment by Pfizer comes as frustration grows in European countries over the U.S. drugmaker's unexpected cut in supplies. Pfizer said last week it would reduce deliveries until early February to upgrade production capacity for a later output boost.

The Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is the only shot so far to have WHO emergency use listing approval.

On Wednesday, Reuters reported that the WHO plans to approve several COVID-19 vaccines from Western and Chinese manufacturers in the coming weeks and months as it aims for rapid rollouts in poorer countries.

BioNTech and Pfizer said this month they were aiming to deliver 2 billion vaccine doses this year, up from a previous goal of 1.3 billion.

Their shot is more complicated to transport and store, requiring ultra-cold freezers, which may not be practical for poorer countries with hot climates.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland in London and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt; Editing by Josephine Mason and Hugh Lawson)

SEE

Delay in Pfizer vaccine shipments frustrate Europe, Canada

Israel is warning that a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine is 'less effective than we hoped' 

HERE IS THE REAL CONSPIRACY

Michael Flynn’s brother reveals he was involved in Capitol riot response after Army denied it, report says

ITS A FAMILY MATTER; 

È UNA QUESTIONE DI FAMIGLIA

Gino Spocchia
Thu, January 21, 2021


Lt. Gen. Charles Flynn, deputy chief of staff for operations for the US Army(USArmyWarCollege/Youtube/USArmy)

Army officials reportedly denied that the brother of Michael Flynn, the disgraced former national security adviser, was at a meeting that discussed deploying the National Guard to the Capitol amid the 6 January riot.

The Pentagon, Capitol Police and Washington DC officials were also on the call, which did deploy troops to defend the US Capitol from Donald Trump’s supporters, who had already started to besiege the building.

According to the Washington Post, Army officials on the telephone call were reluctant to deploy troops to the Capitol because their presence would have created a negative “visual” of a heavy military response.


Following the phone call, the troops were deployed and arrived at around three hours after the call, despite pleas for more National Guard troops to be deployed prior to the ‘Stop the Steal’ protest that preceded the assault on Congress.

Charles Flynn, the deputy chief of staff for operations for the US Army, told the Post on Wednesday that he had been on the call – days after the Pentagon denied his participation. It was not clear why they had done so.

"[I] entered the room after the call began and departed prior to the call ending as I believed a decision was imminent," he told the Post, and said he was working to implement the deployment of troops to the Capitol once the call had ended.

That decision was later criticised as having been too slow, with one Washington DC official describing the response on the day as “long” and “tortured”, CNN reported.

There was no indication that Lt. Gen Flynn shares the same views as his brother, Mr Flynn, who promoted the ‘Stop the Steal’ rally in the weeks before the assault on the Capitol.

As ABC News reported, Mr Flynn told the former president’s supporters that they needed "to be fearless as Americans”, and that they had reached a "crucible moment" and "there has to be sacrifice".

Those comments, and his brother’s role in the Army’s response to the riots, are likely to come under further scrutiny amid criticism of relaxed policing on the day, and which the Pentagon has denied.

One Capitol Police officer and four civilians were left dead following the attack.

Read More

Capitol rioters taking selfies leave digital trail of 140,000 images

Capitol police officer who wore MAGA hat at riot says it was a ruse

Two US Capitol Police officers suspended over Trump riot

AFTER FUMIGATION

Biden revamps the Oval Office: President adds bust of Cesar Chavez and removes controversial portrait

Josh Marcus THE INDEPENDENT
Thu, January 21, 2021

The Oval Office of the White House is newly redecorated for the first day of President Joe Biden's administration, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington.((AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The incoming Biden administration isn’t just changing policy: it’s redecorating the White House too. It’s part pageantry, part politics, part personal — like everything about being president.

During Wednesday’s inauguration ceremonies, the 90-person White House facilities staff began moving the Bidens in a process that reportedly took just five hours. While the Bidens planned to move in on 20 January, they reportedly won’t dive all the way into personalising the White House or bringing in an interior decorator.

Still, that hasn’t stopped the new first family from adding a few new touches, and they’ll eventually get more than $1 million to rework one of the most famous buildings on Earth. Here’s what they’ve done so far:

A statue of a civil rights icon

One notable addition is a bust of legendary farm workers’ rights organiser Cesar Chavez installed behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.

"Placing a bust of my father in the Oval Office symbolises the hopeful new day that is dawning for our nation," Chavez's son Paul Chavez, president of the Cesar Chavez Foundation, told NBC. “That isn't just because it honours my dad, but more importantly because it represents faith and empowerment for an entire people on whose behalf he fought and sacrificed.”

Previously, the statue, by sculptor Paul Saurez, was in La Paz, California, at Cesar Chavez National Monument, and was sent to DC at the request of the White House. Chavez died in 1993.

There are also now busts of Rosa Parks and Eleanor Roosevelt in the Oval Office.

Removing a highly controversial populist—and a portrait of one

If the White House is the symbol of the presidency, the Oval Office is the heart of the White House, which is why president Trump’s decision to install a portrait of former US president Andrew Jackson was so controversial.

Mr Trump was probably trying to borrow some populist shine from Mr Jackson, who was president between 1829 and 1837 and famously held a raucous inauguration party at the White House, but for many the picture was a reminder of the native American genocide Mr Jackson helped carry out.

Mr Jackson, who owned enslaved people, signed the Indian Removal Act, which led to the deaths of thousands of native people when they were forcibly marched off their lands to allow for white settlement.

Joe Biden chose a different course, replacing him with the Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, famous for his witticisms and various roles in the creation of the United States.

New campaign photos (featuring masks)

Joe Biden’s campaign was markedly different from Donald Trump’s for its regular mask-wearing during the pandemic, and that’s shown up in the decor, too, with new photos from the campaign trail of the Bidens wearing their protective gear.

And shelter dogs

While not exactly decor, the addition of the Bidens’ dogs, adopted German shepherds Champ and Major, will change the look of the place, after the Trumps were the first first family in years not to have a White House pooch.

The Bidens will also mark a new change because Champ and Major are reportedly the first adopted White House doggos.

Re-invigorate the roses?

While there’s no word yet on whether this will happen, some online are urging the Bidens to restore the White House Rose Garden after controversial renovations from former first lady Melania Trump that included ripping out plants and adding new paved walkways.

Melania under fire again for Rose Garden after JFK decorations

Golf and gold: Trump’s renovations to the White House

There are few things president Trump loved more than golf and gold, and his White House changes reflected that. They included installing a $50,000, room-size golf simulator, upgrading the White House bowling alley, as well as new wallpaper, extra TVs, gold drapes, and bringing in rugs used in pasts Republican administrations.

Biden's new-look Oval Office is a nod to past US leadership

Fri, January 22, 2021, BBC

Annotated picture of Joe Biden's Oval Office

Incoming presidents bring their own personal touch to the Oval Office and much is being read into the way Joe Biden has chosen to decorate his new place of work.

The room has been filled with portraits and busts of some of the most iconic and influential leaders of American history.

"It was important for President Biden to walk into an Oval that looked like America and started to show the landscape of who he is going to be as president," Ashley Williams, the deputy director of Oval Office operations, told The Washington Post during an exclusive tour.

What will Joe Biden do first?

What kind of vice-president will Harris be?

The other women in Kamala Harris' college photo

Gone is the portrait of Andrew Jackson, the 7th president and a populist with whom President Trump frequently identified and who also faced censure although he was never impeached.

His portrait, to the left of the seat of the Resolute Desk, has been replaced with one of Benjamin Franklin, a founding father who was also a leading writer, scientist and philosopher. The Post said Franklin's portrait was intended to represent President Biden's interest in following science as he attempts to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

From his desk, Mr Biden will look up to see, flanking the fireplace, busts of Rev Martin Luther King Jnr and Robert F Kennedy - two men whose impact on the civil rights movement Biden is said to have frequently referenced.

Other busts around the room include another key figure in the civil rights movement, Rosa Parks. There is also an Allan Houser sculpture depicting a horse and Chiricahua Apache rider once belonging to the Hawaii Democrat Senator Daniel Inouye, the Post reports.
Busts of Rosa Parks and Abraham Lincoln are in President Biden's office

Above the fireplace hangs a large portrait of Franklin D Roosevelt, the president who led the country through the Great Depression and World War Two.

The portrait of another former president, Thomas Jefferson, has been paired with a man he frequently disagreed with, the former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton as "hallmarks of how differences of opinion, expressed within the guardrails of the Republic, are essential to democracy", the Post quotes Biden's office as saying.

Portraits of two other celebrated former presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, have also been paired.

Portraits of Jefferson and Hamilton (right and left) have remained beside the fireplace, in a different arrangement, but the central portrait of George Washington has been replaced by one of Franklin D Roosevelt

Many on social media noted, on the table behind Mr Biden, a bust of César Chávez, the Mexican-American labour leader who fought for the rights of farm workers in the 1960s and 70s. His bust sits alongside framed photos of Mr Biden's family.

A bust of César Chávez stands near photos of Mr Biden's family

Flags of the different branches of the military have also been replaced with an American flag and another with a presidential seal.

A controversial bust of Britain's wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill has also gone.

President Trump had promised to restore the bust to the Oval Office after it was removed by his predecessor Barack Obama. The then foreign secretary Boris Johnson - now UK prime minister - had at the time accused Mr Obama of having an "ancestral dislike of the British empire". (A PERJORATIVE REFENCE TO HIS FATHERS COUNTRY OF ORIGIN; THE BRITISH COLONY OF KENYA)

This time, his spokesman, said: "The Oval office is the president's private office and it's up to the president to decorate it as he wishes".

Correction: An earlier version of this story said that Mr Biden had replaced the curtains used by Mr Trump in the Oval Office. The curtains have not been changed.

TIME marks start of Biden’s presidency with cover of Oval Office trashed by Trump

Blue Telusma
Thu, January 21, 2021

TIME wrote that Biden now leads a nation that is divided by facts and fellow Americans who distrust them

This week, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris made history, and now TIME Magazine has released their commemorative cover celebrating the first day of the administration, which also sends a clear message about the proverbial mess left behind by former President Donald Trump.

Both Biden and Harris were named TIME’s Person of the Year after receiving a record-breaking 81 million votes.

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks as Vice President Kamala Harris looks on during an event in the State Dining Room of the White House January 21, 2021 in Washington, DC. President Biden delivered remarks on his administration’s COVID-19 response, and signed executive orders and other presidential actions. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

In the cover story for this latest issue, writer Charlotte Alter takes a detailed look at the challenges our new president will face in order to keep his promise of uniting a country that has become increasingly divided.

“Biden now leads a country divided between Americans who believe in facts and Americans who distrust them,” Alter writes. “Between those who want a multiracial Republic and those who seek to invalidate nonwhite votes, between those with faith in democratic institutions and those who put faith only in Trump.”

“At the very least, that faith must be rooted in some sense of shared reality, a willingness to agree to disagree according to the laws laid out in the Constitution,” she continues, noting, “At the dawn of Biden’s presidency, when millions of Republicans believe the false conspiracy theory that the election was stolen, and thousands turned to violence to ‘stop the steal,’ even that simple foundation seems wobbly.”

President Joe Biden signs his first executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Alter surmises that Biden may never be able to bring the country country. But it may not be a lost effort for him to try.

“Joe Biden may never unify America,” Alter concludes. “That may not even be possible in a nation so riven by disinformation and delusion. But if he can get Americans who disagree on everything else to agree on the democratic process, if he can help restore political debate to the realm of truth, if he can deliver enough solutions to restore some small faith in government, that would be a start. America still won’t be united, but it could be united enough.”

READ MORE: House approves waiver for Biden Pentagon pick Lloyd Austin

READ MORE: Fox News host Sean Hannity wasted no time attacking President Biden

President Biden has removed the Diet Coke button

 SERIOUSLY 

See new Tweets

Conversation

Tom Newton Dunn

@tnewtondunn

President Biden has removed the Diet Coke button. When

@ShippersUnbound

and I interviewed Donald Trump in 2019, we became fascinated by what the little red button did. Eventually Trump pressed it, and a butler swiftly brought in a Diet Coke on a silver platter. It's gone now.

8:58 AM · Jan 21, 2021·Twitter Web App