It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, January 22, 2021
Top Iran leader posts Trump-like golfer image, vows revenge
DUBAI (Reuters) - The Twitter account of Iran’s Supreme Leader on Friday carried the image of a golfer resembling former President Donald Trump apparently being targeted by a drone, vowing revenge over the killing of a top Iranian general in a U.S. drone attack.
The post carried the text of remarks by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in December, in which he said “Revenge is certain”, renewing a vow of vengeance ahead of the first anniversary of the killing of top military commander General Qassem Soleimani in the attack in Iraq.
“Those who ordered the murder of General Soleimani as well as those who carried this out should be punished. This revenge will certainly happen at the right time,” Khamenei tweeted on December 16, without naming Trump, who had ordered the strike.
Earlier this month, Twitter removed a tweet by Khamenei in which he said U.S. and British-made vaccines were unreliable and may be intended to “contaminate other nations”. The platform said the tweet violated its rules against misinformation.
There was no apparent immediate action by Twitter over the Persian-language tweet on Friday by Khamenei, Iran's highest authority. (here)
Tensions rapidly grew between Tehran and Washington since 2018, when Trump exited a 2015 deal between Iran and six world powers that sought to curb Tehran’s nuclear programme. Washington reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy.
Iran called for action and “not just words” shortly after Joe Biden was sworn in as U.S. president on Wednesday. Biden has said Washington will rejoin the nuclear deal if Iran resumes strict compliance. Twitter takes 17 hours to mobilize after tweet threatening Trump
It took Twitter 17 hours to suspend an account bearing the name of Iran leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for posting a death threat to former President Trump.
The hateful tweet came from @khamenei_site on Thursday — an account later determined to be bogus — and depicted the likeness of Trump on the golf course being targeted by a drone flying overhead.
“Revenge is inevitable,” said the post, translated from Farsi.
By mid-Friday morning, @khamenei_site was suspended for violating Twitter rules, with the social media giant later clarifying that the account was fake.
Several Twitter accounts under Khamenei’s name are currently active — and none are verified.
The post came a little more than a year after Soleimani, head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, was killed in a US airstrike ordered by the Trump administration.An account bearing the name of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tweeted this image, which depicts the likeness of Donald Trump on a golf course being targeted by a drone.Twitter
The tweet from the yanked account included the same language found in a Dec. 16 tweet from @khamenei_ir, which appears to be the leader’s official account.
“Those who ordered the murder of General Soleimani as well as those who carried this out should be punished,” the post said. “This revenge will certainly happen at the right time.”
Earlier this month, Twitter blocked a tweet from the Khamenei account that cast doubt on the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines and called the ones made in the US and UK “completely untrustworthy.”
Twitter took the step earlier this month, following the Capitol riot, of banning Trump’s account from the platform “permanently” because of how his posts were “being received and interpreted on and off Twitter.”The tweet read: “This revenge will certainly happen at the right time.”Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The tweets from Trump that triggered the ban were an announcement that he would not be attending President Biden’s inauguration, and another saying, “The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”
“[W]e have determined that these Tweets are in violation of the Glorification of Violence Policy and the user @realDonaldTrump should be immediately permanently suspended from the service,” Twitter said in a statement at the time.
In recent days, the platform has also vowed a larger “global” crackdown on conspiracy theorist accounts following the Jan. 6 siege.
Ted Cruz's Paris Climate Agreement Tweet Bashed by Greta Thunberg and AOC
\Despite the fact that less than a day has transpired since President Biden's term as commander-in-chief of the nation began, political adversaries such as Senator Ted Cruz have wasted no time in slamming the earliest decisions the new administration has made.
Of course, this type of rhetoric against left-leaning policy changes is nothing new to the senator, who has been marred in controversy since he took office, and more recently, since defeating Democratic candidate Beto O'Rourke to uphold his seat and a Republican Senate majority under the Trump presidency. But, how long is Cruz to hold such a powerful government position? Here's a breakdown of his time in the Senate and when his term is supposed to end.
SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES Although he has had a storied involvement in local politics for much of his adult life, Cruz didn't undertake his most notable endeavor as a U.S. Senator until 2012 (with some assistance from GOP Tea Party members) who he secured a nomination through.
Once elected, Cruz went on a mission to undo Barack Obama's famed Obamacare plan, becoming the key figure in a 2012 government shutdown that stemmed from deliberations regarding the healthcare effort.
In 2016, Cruz mounted a Republican primary presidential campaign against Donald Trump, who he lost to in a landslide. Two years later, he was pitted against Democratic nominee Beto O'Rourke for his seat in the Senate, a campaign Cruz decisively won. Beyond his hard-fought political battles, the Texas representative's current term is set to end on Jan. 3, 2025.
Senator Ted Cruz is adamantly against rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement.
SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES
Most recently, Cruz made headlines for a statement and subsequent tweet he penned directly criticizing one of President Biden's first executive actions, rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement
"By rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, President Biden indicates he’s more interested in the views of the citizens of Paris than in the jobs of the citizens of Pittsburgh. This agreement will do little to affect the climate and will harm the livelihoods of Americans," Cruz slammed the president's decision by writing to his constituents, including a link to a document that described his stance in more detail.
The information that Cruz provided essentially suggests that rejoining the agreement would be detrimental to American citizens' earning power and ability to find jobs in the energy sector. The analytics he linked in the press release claim that "the regulations necessary to meet the original commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement would result in the loss of 400,000 American manufacturing jobs and would cost families of four $20,000 in lost income over a nearly 20-year period."
Democratic representation criticizes Cruz for questioning climate policies.
SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES
Since speaking out with his disagreement regarding rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, Cruz has been met with pushback by prominent left-leaning political figures such as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and climate activist Greta Thunberg. The former decided to quote Cruz's original tweet about wanting to remain out of the agreement with her own response, questioning her colleague's ethics and referencing the events that transpired on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021.
"Nice tweet Sen. Cruz! Quick question: do you also believe the Geneva Convention was about the views of the citizens of Geneva? Asking for everyone who believes US Senators should be competent and not undermine our elections to incite insurrection against the United States," Ocasio-Cortez wrote to Cruz, garnering hundreds of thousands of likes.
Meanwhile, Greta, who has made a name for herself over the past few years as the youngest and most vocal opposition to climate change, mocked Cruz's statement with her own tweet, "So happy that USA has finally rejoined the Pittsburgh Agreement. Welcome back!" She wrote in response to the Senator's claims that the Pennsylvania city's manufacturing jobs would be deeply affected by the nation rejoining the agreement.
QAnon Supporters Think Donald Trump Will Be Sworn in as President on March 4
Many QAnon believers felt a major shock on Jan. 20 when Joe Biden was successfully sworn in as the 46th president of the United States, replacing Donald Trump. This is in part because most assumed that Trump had some secret plan to maintain power, even after he lost the election and his efforts to overturn the results failed in courts across the country. Now, QAnon believers think something major is in the works.
What is happening on March 4, 2021
After Biden was sworn in as president, QAnon supporters began to focus on a new date: March 4, 2021. According to a new theory, this is the day when Biden will be deposed and replaced by Donald Trump, who will be once again sworn in as president. This theory is provably false and is not based in any sort of reality. For Trump to be sworn in as president on March 4, the current U.S. government would have to be forcibly overthrown.
SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES
Although an armed mob did descend on the Capitol in order to prevent Congress from certifying the election results on Jan. 6, the election was nonetheless certified, and security in Washington, D.C. has been beefed up substantially in the aftermath of the event. There has also been no indication that military leaders are inclined to throw their support behind former President Trump.
Why do QAnon believers think Trump will be sworn in?
Although the beliefs of QAnon supporters can sometimes take on qualities that are more similar to faith than anything else, the March 4 conspiracy stems from a convoluted scenario involving the military. In this scenario, after Trump's challenges were tossed out of the Supreme Court, and after Congress certified the election, Trump went to the military to present his case for election fraud.
Because the fraud implicates China, the theory goes, the military will side with Trump. In order to avoid an armed revolt, though, Biden has to be sworn in, but only as a formality. Then, Trump and the military will present their case for the fraud, and the result will be overturned with Trump sworn in on March 4. That date is significant because, until FDR's second inauguration, it was the date for the swearing in ceremony for new presidents.
This theory also relates, in some loose way, to the belief that America is no longer a true democracy and is instead a corporation. The theory, as strange as it sounds, suggests that Biden was actually sworn in as CEO and that when Trump takes power on March 4, he will be restoring America to its democratic roots. Apparently, he'll be the 17th president, because America hasn't been a democracy since the Civil War.
Conveniently, March 4 is a date that is far enough away that it will allow the theory to pick up steam before it is disproved. When March 4 comes, and Biden is still president, some QAnon supporters may be disenchanted. Most, however, will simply glom onto the next conspiracy theory, waiting for one of their prophecies to come true.
A Million More People Watched Joe Biden's Inauguration Than Donald Trump's
CLAIRE REID
Published
More than a million more people tuned in to watch Joe Biden inauguration than Donald Trump's in 2017, according to figures from Nielsen. I'm sure the former POTUS will not be pleased with that news.
Across the six major TV networks, 40 million people watched the coverage of Biden's inauguration, which included performances from Lady Gaga, poet Amanda Gorman and Jennifer Lopez.
The data from Nielsen covers the 30-minute period, kicking off at 11.45am local time when Biden formally took the oath of office and gave his inaugural speech.
Credit: PA
Data from 2017 found that 38.3 million watched the same period during Trump's inauguration.
But the viewing figures pale into comparison when compared with Barack Obama's inauguration, which pulled in a whopping 51.2 million viewers.
The figures include those who watched CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC and Fox News - but don't include anyone who watched it via social media - such as a Facebook or YouTube live stream.
Figures including these numbers are expected to be released in the coming days, the Daily Mail reports.
And, of course, one person who almost certainly didn't tune in was outgoing president Trump, who broke tradition and ditched the ceremony in favour of flying back home to Florida.
Donald Trump being sworn in 2017. Credit: PA
Biden was sworn in as the as the 46th President of the United States, with his Vice President Kamala Harris making history by becoming the first black, the first female and the first Asian American to become VP.
Biden used his speech to tell his country 'democracy had prevailed' after a troubling few weeks and months.He said: "A new America has risen to the challenge today. We celebrate the triumph not of a candidate, but of a cause, the cause of democracy.
"The people, the will of the people has been heard and the will of the people has been heeded.
"We've learnt again that democracy is precious. Democracy is fragile. At this hour, our friends democracy has prevailed."
He went on to urge US citizens to come together to 'do great things'.
Credit: PA
"I ask every American to join me in this cause. To fight the foes we face: anger, resentment and hatred, extremism, lawlessness, violence, disease, joblessness and hopelessness.
"With unity, we can do great things, important things, we can right wrongs.
"We can put people to work in good jobs. We can teach our children in safe schools. We can overcome the deadly virus. We can reward work and rebuild the middle class and make health care secure for all. We can deliver racial justice and we can make America once again the leading force for good in the world."
Featured Image Credit: PA
REPLACE THEM WITH PIRATE CAPTAINS
City of London to Remove Guildhall Statues of Two Historical Figures For Links to Slave Trade
Since the outbreak of the Black Lives Matter protests last year in response to claims of systemic racism and police brutality in the United Kingdom, the London authorities have put together a commission which is meant to review statues glorifying figures involved in the historical slave trade.
Statues of two historical figures will be removed from the City of London and moved elsewhere because of their links to Britain's transatlantic slave trade, the city governing body's Policy and Resources Committee announced on Friday.
Effigies of William Beckford and Sir John Cass will be removed from the City of London Corporation's historic Guildhall headquarters, it has been decided by unanimous vote.
The City Corporation will also establish a working group to consider what could replace the statues, and will also think about putting together a new memorial to the slave trade in London.
“This decision is the culmination of months of valuable work by the Tackling Racism taskforce, which has taken a comprehensive approach to addressing injustice and inequality. The view of members was that removing and re-siting statues linked to slavery is an important milestone in our journey towards a more inclusive and diverse City," said City of London Corporation Policy Chair Catherine McGuinness.
The statue of William Beckford, who twice served as Lord Mayor of London in the late 18th century and accumulated vast wealth from African slave labour on plantations in Jamaica, will be taken down, re-sited, and replaced with new art pieces.
Meanwhile, the representation of Sir John Cass (1661-1718) will be returned to the foundation named after him. This is because of the lucrative involvement in the international slave trade which the merchant, lawmaker, and philanthropist had.
“I’m really pleased the Policy and Resources Committee has agreed what we think is the correct response to a sensitive issue. The slave trade is a stain on our history and putting those who profited from it literally on a pedestal is something that has no place in a modern, diverse City," the City of London Corporation's co-chair of the Tackling Racism taskforce, Caroline Addy, explained.
The move comes after recommendations from the City Corporation’s Tackling Racism taskforce, and it will take place along with new measures intended to increase diversity in staffing, governance, education, business, and policing.
Recommendations from the taskforce include introducing anonymous recruitment for all pay grades, increased training and a "reverse mentoring" scheme that has been given the green light already.
The Policy and Resources Committee will also seek to improve diversity in the Court of Common Council – its top decision-making body – including establishing an officer with the specific responsibilities of ensuring member diversity.
City of London Corporation Tackling Racism Taskforce Co-Chair Andrien Meyers said he is "really proud of the wide-ranging work the taskforce has carried out to promote inclusion in the City Corporation", as well as in "schools and institutions and the City as a whole".
He expressed his support for the organisation's "commitment to ensuring the Square Mile is a place where people of all ethnicities and backgrounds feel safe and welcome".
The Tackling Racism taskforce was set up in June last year after the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests against historical racism and police brutality.
The City Corporation held a consultative exercise asking individuals their views on statues and other landmarks in the Square Mile which have been linked to slavery, which received more than 1,500 responses.
Although much of the anger has been directed towards statues of individuals who profited from slavery, there has been criticism leveled at the BLM movement surrounding allegations of trying to scrub out British history and essential figures from the UK's national past.
Yosemite National Park to remain closed
after wind damage
California Winds-Yosemite
This photo provided by Yosemite National Park shows a boardwalk in the Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park was damaged by a fallen ponderosa pine during the Mono wind event on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. Yosemite National Park will remain closed through the weekend after high winds that battered much of California knocked down two giant sequoias and caused millions of dollars in damage. Yosemite National Park via AP Thu, January 21, 2021, 7:11 PM
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Yosemite National Park will remain closed through the weekend after high winds that battered much of California knocked down two giant sequoias and caused millions of dollars in damage.
The park hoped to reopen Tuesday except for areas south of Yosemite Valley, including one entrance, that will remain shut to visitors, the park said Thursday.
High winds that began Monday swept through the state, toppling trees and power lines and knocking out electricity to about 300,000 homes and businesses. Utilities also intentionally blacked out tens of thousands of customers to prevent fires erupting from damaged or downed electrical equipment.
The winds eased Tuesday in the northern and central areas and Wednesday in the south.
Yosemite was struck Monday night. Two giant sequoias in the lower grove of Yosemite’s Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias were among trees that fell, park spokesman Scott Gediman told the Sacramento Bee.
Trees also crushed trucks and damaged buildings, including employee homes. Also crushed were a boardwalk and bathroom installed during a $40 million restoration that was finished in 2018, Gediman said.
Crews were working to repair downed electrical lines, especially in the Wawona community, a south park area that remained without power on Thursday, Gediman said.
Among the areas closed until deemed safe was the Tunnel View, a scenic viewpoint on State Route 41 in the Wawona area that offers sweeping views of such icons as Half Dome and Bridalveil Fall.
The park is only open to day visitors. Campgrounds and lodges have been closed for several weeks because the park is trying to reduce the chances of visitors spreading the coronavirus.
Marine archeologists discover ancient shipwrecks off island in the Aegean
Nick Squires Thu, January 21, 2021
Divers raise an amphora from the seabed - Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Four shipwrecks, including one dating back to Roman times, have been discovered by marine archeologists off the Greek island of Kasos in the Aegean.
Lying between Rhodes and Crete, the Dodecanese island was on a crucial trade route in antiquity.
Inside the Roman-era shipwreck, divers found amphorae which originated from Spain and what is now Tunisia, the Greek culture ministry said. They would have been used to transport wine, olive oil and possibly garum – a pungent fish sauce that was much prized by the Romans.
The ship has been lying on the seabed for nearly 2,000 years - it is believed to date back to the 2nd or 3rd century AD.
Divers found a Roman-era shipwreck and other wrecks dating back to Greece's classical and Hellenistic eras - Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Of the other three wrecks, one dates back to the first century BC, another is from the 5th century BC, while the third is much more recent.
Underwater exploration of the area began in 2019 and in November of that year archeologists found three wrecks, the oldest of which was a merchant vessel from 2,300 years ago. Divers found five stone anchors around the wreck.
They also discovered iron cannons, pottery, amphorae and other scattered objects, some of which they believe belong to other ships that sunk but have not been found yet.
One of the amphorae found off the island of Kasos - Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Kasos is the southernmost of the Dodecanese chain of islands and was “a crossroads of civilisations, an important navigation route from antiquity to recent times,” the culture ministry said.
In 2018, marine archeologists discovered 58 shipwrecks around the Fourni islands, further north in the Aegean, describing it as possibly the largest concentration of ancient wrecks ever found in the Aegean, even the whole of the Mediterranean.
Most of the wrecks were from the Greek, Roman and Byzantine eras. The ships would have carried goods to and from Greece, the Black Sea, Asia Minor and North Africa.
Transgender youth bills in US states reflect deep divisions
THE REACTIONARY RIGHT NEVER REFERS TO THE EXISTENCE OF TRANS-MEN
- In this Aug. 15, 2019, file photo, is University of Montana cross country runner Juniper Eastwood, center, warming up with her teammates at Campbell Park in Missoula, Mont. Transgender kids would be banned from playing on school sports teams for the gender with which they identify under a GOP-backed bill that advanced Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021, in Montana. The proposed ban is personal for people like Eastwood, a transgender woman and former member of the University of Montana's track and field and cross-country running teams. She said the legislation "would make it impossible for other young Montanans like me to participate in sports as who they are." (Rachel Leathe/Bozeman Daily Chronicle via AP, file IRIS SAMUELS Thu, January 21, 2021
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Transgender kids would be banned from playing on school sports teams for the gender with which they identify under a GOP-backed bill that advanced Thursday in Montana, one of more than a dozen states where lawmakers are proposing restrictions on athletics or gender-confirming health care for trans minors this year.
The proposals run counter to an executive order signed by Democratic President Joe Biden during his first day in office prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity in school sports and elsewhere. The order immediately sparked a backlash from conservative groups, a split that reflects the deep divisions in the U.S. around transgender youth.
Proponents of the Montana bill say allowing transgender athletes to compete can create an unfair playing field in middle and high schools, especially in girls' sports. Opponents say it would hurt transgender kids and could drive business away from the state and make it harder for Montana companies to attract new employees.
“Transgender students, like all students, deserve the chance to learn teamwork and to build self-esteem and a sense of belonging with their peers through sports,” said Sam Brinton, vice president of advocacy and government affairs for The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ advocacy group.
The measure is similar to a 2020 Idaho law that's been blocked by a federal judge as a lawsuit plays out. The American Civil Liberties Union has also pledged to sue if the proposal passes in Montana, a state newly controlled by Republicans in the governor's office and the state Legislature.
The issue is being litigated in Connecticut, where several girls are challenging a policy that allows transgender athletes to compete in line with their identity. The plaintiffs argue transgender female runners have an unfair physical advantage.
Christiana Holcomb, legal counsel at the conservative nonprofit organization Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents the plaintiffs in the Connecticut suit, said she is seeing a growing trend where lawmakers across the country are recognizing that it’s “a real problem” when state athletic associations or school districts allow transgender women to compete in women’s sports.
This year, state lawmakers also want to restrict transgender students’ sports participation in Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Dakota, and New Hampshire.
Several more states are weighing separate proposed bans on certain medical treatment for transgender minors, including Alabama, Indiana, Missouri, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas.
In Montana, a House committee will vote this week on a proposal to prohibit doctors from providing transgender youth certain gender-related medical treatment.
The Montana bill targeting transgender youth sports participation now heads to the House floor, after passing a panel of lawmakers Thursday with an 11-8 vote. It was largely along party lines, though the committee's youngest Republican, recent high school graduate Rep. Mallerie Stromswold, also opposed the measure.
Democrats pointed to Biden's order and said passing the law could put federal funding for education in Montana at risk.
The proposed ban is personal for people like Juniper Eastwood, a transgender woman and former member of the University of Montana’s track and field and cross-country running teams.
She said the legislation “would make it impossible for other young Montanans like me to participate in sports as who they are.”
“Participation in sports is about more than winning and losing,” she said. “It’s about community and personal development.”
___
Samuels is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Off-duty officers were part of the Capitol mob. Now police unions face a dilemma.
THEY ARE WHITE FRATERNAL ORDERS NOT UNIONS
FOP OUT OF AFL/CIO
Janelle Griffith
After an FBI and Houston Police Department investigation determined that veteran Officer Tam Pham had participated in the deadly breach at the U.S. Capitol this month, his departure from the department was swift.
He was placed on administrative leave and resigned, with no pushback from the group that would usually advocate on behalf of an officer accused of wrongdoing.
The president of the union at the time called the firings of four officers in September "unjust and deplorable" and said the organization would represent them at their arbitration hearings.
The union's response has been markedly different in the case of Pham, who faces two federal misdemeanor charges related to entering the Capitol.
Anyone who breached the Capitol "should be charged and receive whatever punishment is assigned to that," said Douglas Griffith, who is now the union president. "No matter if they're a police officer or not."
Pham has not yet entered a plea. His attorney said Pham "is deeply saddened to be associated with the domestic terrorists who attacked our Capitol" and "believes strongly in the rule of law."
Griffith said that what separates what Pham is accused of from the charges other officers have faced in unrelated incidents is that the Capitol riot "was an attack on our democracy" that led to the death of an officer and to others' being seriously injured. Five people, including a Capitol Police officer, died in events related to the attack.
IMAGE: Houston police Officer Tam Dinh Pham in the Capitol on Jan. 6 (FBI)
"As an officer, I would expect, if I saw some officers being attacked, I'd be stepping in between them," Griffith said in an interview. "I wouldn't be participating in that kind of activity."
In Chicago, for example, the union president initially defended the mob before backing down. And in Seattle, the union head is under administrative investigation after he falsely claimed that Black Lives Matter was responsible.
Kalfani Ture, a former police officer in Georgia who is an assistant professor of criminal justice and policing at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, said the growing number of off-duty police officers who are suspected of having taken part in the riot creates an interesting paradox for police unions, which have largely shielded bad cops from accountability.
"When we see an officer lose his life, when we see other officers injured, when you see these figures attacking other police officers, how do you justify that?" Ture asked.
"If it wasn't for the optics, if it wasn't for the loss of life, if it wasn't for 50 police officers, both Capitol Police officers and Metropolitan Police, being injured — severely injured — to the extent that it removed them from duty, if it wasn't for all of that, I wouldn't be surprised if the various police unions" said: "No one was really hurt. It was just an exercise of their First Amendment rights that essentially got out of hand.
John Catanzara, the president of Chicago's Fraternal Order of Police lodge, initially defended the mob that stormed the Capitol at President Donald Trump's behest.
"There was no arson. There was no burning of anything. There was no looting. There was very little destruction of property," Catanzara told WBEZ, Chicago's main public radio station, in an interview the evening of Jan. 6. "It was a bunch of pissed-off people that feel an election was stolen, somehow, some way."
Photos and video of the incident show that the rioters overwhelmed police, smashed windows of the Capitol, overturned tables and ransacked offices. A 19th-century marble bust of President Zachary Taylor was defaced with what appeared to be blood. Residue of pepper sprays, tear gas and fire extinguishers — deployed by both rioters and law enforcement officers — was also evident in the aftermath.
Catanzara, a staunch supporter of Trump, told WBEZ that he believed, as Trump has falsely claimed repeatedly, that the election was stolen, but he admitted that there is no proof. Catanzara said what rioters did was "very different than what happened all across this country all summer long in Democratic-ran cities, and nobody had a problem with that."
After it was announced that a Capitol Police officer had died, Catanzara apologized, saying he had "showed a lapse in judgment" in the WBEZ interview.
"I certainly would never justify any attacks on citizens, democracy or law enforcement," he wrote in a statement posted on Facebook.
He did not mention the officer's death, but he said that he was sorry and that "after seeing more video and the full aftermath, my comments would have been different." Catanzara, who faces calls to resign, declined a request for an interview, but he told NBC News on Thursday that he does not plan to step down.
His comments drew harsh criticism from Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Patrick Yoes, president of the National Fraternal Order of Police, who said Catanzara's remarks do no represent the opinions of its 356,000 members.
"There is no question that, in addition to the tragic loss of life, these criminals left a wide swath of damage, in the building that is the heart of our democracy and threatened our elected officials, Congressional staff as well as our brother and sister officers," Yoes said in a strongly worded statement that mentioned Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after he was hit in the head by a rioter wielding a fire extinguisher.
"The National FOP rejects this gross mischaracterization and sees the incident for what it was — a violent mob of looters and vandals, visiting fear and destruction on one of our nation's most sacred spaces," Yoes wrote.
Officer Mike Solan, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, faces increasing calls for his resignation from the union and the police department after he falsely suggested that Black Lives Matter activists played a role in the violence at the Capitol. At least five Seattle police officers are being investigated for possible involvement.
Mayor Jenny Durkan and former Police Chief Carmen Best have called for Solan to retract his words and apologize or resign. Solan did not respond to requests for comment.
Seattle's Office of Police Accountability is investigating Solan's tweets, including one on Jan. 8 saying the "far right and far left are responsible for that sad day," to determine whether they violated department policy.
The New York City Police Benevolent Association has decried the riot as a "despicable attack," which an unidentified officer is alleged to have participated in.
Jack Glaser, a professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, said the pro-Trump rioters "undermined or really laid bare the reality of most of these groups, which is really not about law and order but more about racial hegemony."
The union, which represents about 24,000 rank-and-file officers, endorsed Trump for re-election last year. The union did not return multiple requests for comment.
Glaser said he suspects that the rioters' "violation of basic democratic principles is enough that the unions feel like they cannot back that up."
"I think what we see here is that the violence on the part of the rioters, of the insurrectionists, in the name of the thin blue line — some of them carrying the modified American flag with the blue lines — I think that that was an offense to policing professionals and what had been seen as a supportive alliance," Glaser said. "This really stripped away the pretense of those symbols."
Ture agreed, citing the "profoundly great" contradiction between the espoused support for law enforcement and the actions at the Capitol.
He added that unions that defended officers involved in the attack would struggle to sever themselves from the images of people bearing Confederate flags and other racist insignia associated with white supremacists.
"If you had taken part in this campaign," he said, referring to the attack, "you cannot easily disassociate yourself with that type of bigoted prejudice, that evil terrorism."
Elon Musk says he will give $100 million to whoever creates the best carbon-capture technology
Tyler Sonnemaker Thu, January 21, 2021
Elon Musk on Thursday promised a large prize for designing effective carbon-capture technology.
Musk recently asked for tips on where to donate his wealth, of which he has promised to give half.
Carbon capture could play a major role in President Joe Biden's plans to address climate change.
Elon Musk teased his latest philanthropic endeavor on Thursday: a contest meant to encourage more-innovative carbon-capture technologies.
"Am donating $100M towards a prize for best carbon capture technology," Musk tweeted, adding that he would provide "details next week."
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX who briefly passed Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos as the world's richest person before a slide in Tesla's stock price dropped him back a spot, recently asked his Twitter followers for advice on how to best give away his money.
"Critical feedback is always super appreciated, as well as ways to donate money that really make a difference (way harder than it seems)," Musk tweeted earlier this month.
In 2012, Musk signed the Giving Pledge, an initiative launched by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett that asks signatories to donate at least half of their wealth within their lifetime. He has primarily donated toward science and engineering education, renewable-energy research, pediatric research, and research into human space exploration.
But an estimate by Forbes in September found that Musk had donated just $100 million - less than 1% of his net worth, which consists mostly of stock in his companies.
Still, Musk's proposed carbon-capture contest would go toward a cause that is likely to play a major role in fighting climate change moving forward, especially under the Biden administration.
A study published in Scientific Reports in November concluded that companies and governments urgently needed to "start developing the technologies for large-scale removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere," a process known as carbon capture and storage.
Earth's average temperature is on track to blow past levels that the Paris climate agreement - which President Joe Biden rejoined Wednesday - set as goals for 2100.
But even if all greenhouse-gas emissions stopped by then, according to the study, at least 33 metric gigatons of carbon dioxide would need to be sucked out of the atmosphere each year using carbon capture - roughly the total amount of carbon dioxide the global fossil-fuel industry emitted in 2018 (36 metric gigatons).
The technology is becoming widely accepted as a safe form of geoengineering compared with other approaches, and Biden voiced support for it in his campaign platform, saying his administration would take steps to "accelerate the development and deployment of carbon-capture sequestration technology." Specifically, Biden wants to make carbon capture more widely available, cheaper, and scalable, and he plans to increase federal investments and tax incentives for developing the technology.
