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Love MAGA': Clarence Thomas' wife cheered on anti-democracy rally before rioters stormed the Capitol

Ginni Thomas speaking at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, Gage Skidmore

 Alex Henderson     

January 11, 2021 

Hours before a violent mob of far-right extremists attacked the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, President Donald Trump and his supporters spoke at an event in Washington D.C. — where they demanded that Congress overturn the electoral college results for the 2020 presidential election. And one of those supporters was conspiracy theorist Ginni Thomas, wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Ginni Thomas tweeted her support of that event on January 6, saying, "LOVE MAGA people!" and "God bless each of you standing up or praying." Slate's Mark Joseph Stern notes that after the attack on the Capitol Building, she added an addendum and posted, "Note: written before violence in US Capitol."

Stern, in an article published by Slate on January 8, notes, "Thomas, a conservative lobbyist and zealous supporter of Donald Trump, has fervently defended the president over the last four years. On her Facebook page, she frequently promotes baseless conspiracy theories about a 'coup' against Trump led by Jewish philanthropist George Soros, a frequent target of anti-Semitic hate. Thomas draws many of these theories from fringe corners of the internet, including an anti-vax Facebook group that claimed Bill Gates would use the COVID vaccine to kill people."

Soros, of course, has never promoted any type of coup d'état against the United States, but the words "attempted coup" easily apply to the events of January 6 — when a sitting president egged on his supporters, who in turn violently stormed the U.S. Capitol Building in the hope of preventing Congress from certifying the victory of President-elect Joe Biden. The extremists who showed up in Washington D.C. that day included members of the Proud Boys, supporters of the QAnon conspiracy cult and neo-confederacy groups.

"In all likelihood," Stern explains, "Ginni Thomas will face no consequences for cheerleading a rally that sought to overturn an election, then laid siege to the Capitol in a failed insurrection. Her husband will ignore the controversy and continue to rule on cases that involve his wife's 'lobbying efforts.' We may never know how much influence a conspiracy theorist has on the highest court's most conservative justice."

Black Capitol Cops Suggest Bosses Abandoned Them While Fighting Off ‘Racist-Ass Terrorists’
BY : EMILY BROWN ON : 11 JAN 2021

igorbobic/Twitter/PA Images

Black police officers tasked with protecting the US Capitol have implied their bosses left them to fend for themselves and that other officers were ‘catering’ to racist rioters.

Hundreds of Donald Trump supporters formed the mob that stormed the Capitol building last week following a rally from the president in which he encouraged them to protest the election results.

One officer, who chose to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation from his superiors, found out about plans to infiltrate the building when a friend sent him an Instagram screenshot from the far-right, neo-fascist group the Proud Boys, which stated: ‘We’re breaching the Capitol today, guys. I hope y’all ready.’

PA Images

The Capitol police department’s management reportedly told officers to prepare as if it was any other protest, but it soon became clear that was not enough. The officer and another Black member of law enforcement told Buzzfeed News they were repeatedly called the N-word by Trump’s supporters as they attempted to fight off the invasion.

Though images appeared to show some officers letting the mob into the Capitol without resistance, one of the officers interviewed said they fought hard for two hours before protestors eventually gained access to the building.

The officer, who has been with the department for more than a decade, claimed that there were members of police departments from across the country among the crowd of Trump supporters and far-right activists attempting to take over the building.

PA Images

Rather than help their fellow members of law enforcement put a stop to the insurrection, the officers in the crowd allegedly flashed their badges to the Capitol cop, telling him that the movement would help and that he should let them through.

Addressing a group of protesters outside the building, the veteran officer said: ‘You have the nerve to be holding a Blue Lives Matter flag, and you are out there f*cking us up.’

Recalling the harrowing events, he continued:

[One guy] pulled out his badge and he said, ‘We’re doing this for you.’ Another guy had his badge. So I was like, ‘Well, you gotta be kidding.’

PA Images

The second officer, a newer recruit to the department, reiterated his co-worker’s comments as he noted the difference between the response to peaceful Black Lives Matter protests and the riot seen last Wednesday, January 6.

He suggested some officers were making things easier for the protesters, saying:

There’s quite a big difference when the Black Lives Matter protests come up to the Capitol. [On Wednesday], some officers were catering to the rioters.

The Capitol officer also described moments in which protesters brandishing Blue Lives Matter flags in honour of the police launched themselves at officers.

He recalled telling them to ‘get away and stop’, to which the rioters responded by claiming they were ‘on [their] side’.

PA Images

He continued:

They’re saying this as I’m getting punched in my face by one of them … That happened to a lot of us. We were getting pepper-sprayed in the face by those protesters — I’m not going to even call them protesters — by those domestic terrorists.

The officer expressed his belief that the reception would have been vastly different if it were Black Americans who had stormed the Capitol, stressing: ‘If you’re going to treat a group of demonstrators for Black Lives Matters one way, then you should treat this group the same goddamn way.’

Addressing the lenient members of law enforcement, he added:

With this group you were being kind and nice and letting them walk back out. Some of them got arrested but a lot of them didn’t. Everyone who came into that Capitol should have been arrested regardless if they didn’t take anything.

The officers claimed their managers had downplayed the seriousness of the invasion, for example by failing to tell them to bring in their pre-issued gas masks in the event of attacks.

The veteran officer suggested protesters seemed more prepared than the officers tasked with stopping them, saying:

That was a heavily trained group of militia terrorists that attacked us. They had radios, we found them, they had two-way communicators and earpieces. They had bear spray. They had flash bangs… They were prepared.

They strategically put two IEDs, pipe bombs, in two different locations. These guys were military trained. A lot of them were former military.

He claimed his chief was ‘nowhere to be found’ while the department fought the rioters, saying he ‘didn’t hear him on the radio’ and that one of the other deputy chiefs ‘was not there’. Given the seriousness of the event, he questioned: ‘You don’t think it’s all hands on deck?’

PA Images


When the Capitol had finally been cleared, the veteran officer made sure his colleagues knew what was going through his mind as he broke down in the Rotunda, saying: ‘These are racist-ass terrorists. I got called [the N-word] 15 times today. Trump did this and we got all of these f*cking people in our department that voted for him. How the f*ck can you support him?’

Following the attack, US Capitol Police chief Steven Sund resigned from the role. The veteran officer welcomed the news, but believes more changes need to be made to Capitol security in the wake of the events.

Trump Supporter Breaks Down In Airport After Being Removed From Plane While Passengers Cheered

BY : NIAMH SHACKLETON ON : 11 JAN 2021 

ImVeryOffended/Reddit

A Trump supporter, who reportedly participated in the riots at the Capitol in Washington DC last week, broke down in tears at the airport after being removed from her flight.

The unnamed woman, as well as a number of others who took part in the riots, has apparently been put on a no-fly list as a consequence.

People were filmed cheering as a woman was removed from the Delta plane, where she could be heard ranting about having no freedom of speech. Now, another video has surfaced of a woman, thought to be the same one taken off the plane, back in the airport along with other fellow Trump supporters that have been removed from their flights, too.

Watch it here:
MAGA cultists whining and rewriting the story after getting kicked off Delta flight from r/PublicFreakout

The man behind the camera shows the tearful woman before panning round to show several police offers standing around, who he refers to as ‘f*cktards’.

In the video the man says, ‘They kicked these people of the plane because they support President Trump and you’ve got all these f*cktards standing around doing nothing. […] They were waiting for these people to come off the plane because they support President Trump.’

Another man can be heard saying, ‘Donald Trump is the greatest president this country’s ever had’.
ImVeryOffended/Reddit

This is the latest in a series of videos seemingly showing unhappy Trump supporters removed from flights after their presence at the Capitol riots.

MAGA cultists whining and rewriting the story after getting kicked off Delta flight

• r/PublicFreakout
• ImVeryOffended
• 1d ago

• 11627 points
• 924 comments

The man in the video angrily says that he’s been branded a ‘f*cking terrorist’ for taking part in Wednesday’s violent clash with authorities, and that ‘they’ want to ‘ruin [his] life’.

The flying bans come after Bennie G. Thompson, Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, called for people who were part of the riot to be placed on the country’s no-fly list.

He said in a statement, Forbes reports:

Given the heinous domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol yesterday, I am urging the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to use their authorities to add the names of all identified individuals involved in the attack to the federal No-Fly List and keep them off planes.

The aim of putting rioters on no-flight lists is to prevent them from taking part in other, similarly violent incidents or rallies at the US Capitol as Wednesday’s saw people from all over the US travel to Washington. Five people died as a result of the clash.

Police are currently preparing for a potential pro-Trump rally at Twitter’s headquarters following his permanent suspension from the platform.

 

                         

A Hacker Leaked Every Single Post From Parler, 

and It Isn’t Pretty

BY KATIE GARRITY

UPDATED 8 HOURS AGO

After the U.S. Capitol was stormed by a mob of President Trump’s supporters, investigations and searches began to find those involved. Surprisingly (and ironically) enough, it seems that the now-banned social media app Parler, which became a platform for mostly conservative users for “free speech" may be the key to helping arrest many of those individuals. 

According to the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, Parler was one of several apps used to coordinate the breach of the Capitol, in a plan to overturn the 2020 election results and keep Donald Trump in power.

However, the app really just became a place for far-right conspiracy theories, racism, and death threats aimed at prominent Democratic (and some Republican) politicians. The app also became a great tool to track down those involved in the failed coup. While the app may be deleted, that didn’t mean that hackers couldn’t do an entire data dump and expose several users.

A main hacker of Parler documented the data dump on Twitter.

The main hacker, Twitter user @donk_enby, began by archiving every post from Jan. 6, 2020, the day of the Capitol riot. Gizmodo reported, “Operating on little sleep, @donk_enby began the work of archiving all of Parler’s posts, ultimately capturing around 99 percent of its content...@donk_enby said she was crawling some 1.1 million Parler video URLs.”

“These are the original, unprocessed, raw files as uploaded to Parler with all associated metadata,” she told Gizmodo. She eventually had downloaded more than 56 terabytes of information, including the raw video files with GPS metadata pointing to exact locations of where the videos were taken.

The hacker soon crowdsourced her work to help download data faster.

So, how did this hacker get all the information in the first place? Parler’s process of “deleting” users' posts helped a lot. According to Vice, like most online apps and services, Parler didn’t actually delete user posts. Instead, they marked them as unviewable and omitted them from search results. Similar to when you make a YouTube video “Unlisted.”

“Initially, the hacker worked on downloading the data herself, but when Amazon announced it was going to shut off access, they urged her followers to join in by publishing a list of all the posts,” Vice reported. 

“The hacker set up a crowdsourcing system where multiple people could help download the content. The downloaded data is now being processed before being uploaded to the Internet Archive, where anyone will be able to view or download it — including the open-source intelligence community and law enforcement agencies.

The news of the data dump has scared (and angered) far-right supporters.

Once news got around that no one’s Parler posts were safe from hackers, many conservative news outlets began warning their audience. “Bad news. Left extremists have captured and archived over 70TB of data from Parler servers. This includes posts, personal information, locations, videos, images, etc,” a Telegram account called North Central Florida Patriots said. 

“The intent is a mass dox and a list to hold patriots ‘accountable’. It is too late to scrub your data, and it’s already archived. There is nothing you can do to prevent what’s already happened. All you can do is prepare for the fallout. Accountability may come in many forms for our free speech, doxing, jobs might be called, addresses leaked and people coming to your house, etc,” they warned. 

While many were concerned about the fallout of the hack, others were pleased to know that there would be consequences for extremist behavior. “The #Parler hack was genius. All of the user date revealed, including location, messages and other metadata. Whoops! @fbi is going to have a field day,” one Twitter user wrote.

A Member Of Congress Tested Positive For COVID-19 After Her Republican Colleagues Refused To Wear Masks During The Capitol Attack

At least six Republican members of Congress could be seen in video footage refusing to take a face mask while sheltering with their colleagues during the insurrection.

Salvador HernandezBuzzFeed News Reporter

Last updated on January 11, 2021,

Michael Brochstein / Sipa USA via AP

Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman on Monday announced that she tested positive for COVID-19, adding that she believes she was exposed to the virus while in protective isolation during the attack on the Capitol, where several of her colleagues refused to wear face masks


"I received a positive test for COVID-19, and am home resting at this time," she said in a statement. "While I am experiencing mild, cold-like symptoms, I remain in good spirits and will continue to work on behalf of my constituents."

She added that she is currently in isolation.

Watson Coleman was rushed off the floor of the House of Representatives Wednesday as Trump supporters attacked the Capitol, violently forcing their way past police.

While isolated in a room, video footage shows that at least six Republican members of Congress refused to accept face masks.

"I'm not trying to get political here," Oklahoma Rep. Markwayne Mullin can be seen telling Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who was handing out the masks. "I appreciate you."



The video was published by Punchbowl News.

In a statement, Watson Coleman's office said she believed she was exposed while in protective isolation.

Watson Coleman is a cancer survivor who underwent chemotherapy in 2018

On Sunday, the Capitol's attending physician notified members of Congress that they may have been exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19 while they were being sheltered during the attack, the Associated Press reported.

"Individuals may have been exposed to another occupant with coronavirus infection," Dr. Brian Monahan told the lawmakers.

Among the members of Congress who are seen wearing no masks and refusing one when offered were Mullin and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Greene is a new member of Congress who has openly supported and spread lies of the mass delusion QAnon and reportedly refused to wear a mask earlier this month on the floor of the House. She later did don a mask that read "Trump won," propelling the lie that President Donald Trump won the election.

Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Rep. Michael Cloud of Texas, and Rep. Doug LaMalfa of California were also seen in the video without masks.



President-elect Joe Biden, speaking after he received the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, called the refusal of Republican lawmakers to wear the masks as they sheltered in place "irresponsible."

"I was appalled," Biden said. "It's not a political issue. It's an issue of public safety."

Watson Coleman also reported that she had already received the first of two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, like many of her colleagues.

The CDC has said, however, that infection of the novel coronavirus is still possible after a vaccine, noting that it takes a while for the doses to get the body to build immunity.

"It typically takes a few weeks for the body to build immunity (protection against the virus that causes COVID-19) after vaccination," according to the CDC. "That means it's possible a person could be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 just before or just after vaccination and still get sick. This is because the vaccine has not had enough time to provide protection."


Mullin, Greene, Biggs, Perry, Cloud, and LaMalfa did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Biggest fall in UK retail sales since 1995 despite online boom

Impact of Covid lockdowns and shifting spending habits result in 0.3% drop from 2019 level

Richard Partington Economics correspondent
@RJPartington

Tue 12 Jan 2021 00.01 GMT
 

Consumers largely stayed away from the high street, with non-food items in physical shops falling by 24%. Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images


UK retail sales suffered the biggest decline in 25 years last year as the closure of non-essential shops during lockdowns more than outweighed the online spending boom fuelled by Covid-19.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said total sales fell by 0.3% last year from the level in 2019 – the worst performance since records began in 1995 – reflecting the impact of government lockdowns and shifting consumer spending trends.

Rishi Sunak warns UK economy will get worse before it gets better

However, the overall drop in spending masks an explosion in sales for some shops, and a dramatic collapse for others. Amid a decline in spending in pubs, restaurants and hotels during the crisis, sales of food bought from shops increased by 5.4% on the year. However, sales of all other products fell 5% from a year earlier.

While online sales were boosted during lockdown as consumers largely stayed away from the high street, sales of non-food items in physical shops collapsed by 24%.

The decline in sales volumes comes after the first annual fall since 1995 in 2019, when years of weak wage growth hurting households’ finances and Brexit fears led to a 0.1% drop in retail sales compared with 2018 levels

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said Christmas had offered little respite for retailers, as many shops were forced to shut during the peak trading period. Calling on the government to provide fresh financial support for the sector, she said: “With shops still closed for the foreseeable future, costing stores billions in lost sales, many retailers are struggling to survive.”

Despite the sharp drop in non-food sales, the latest figures from the BRC showed that total retail sales rose by 1.8% in December compared with the same month a year ago. It said there was a rise in the purchase of food-based gifts at Christmas, as many shoppers bought what they could from shops that remained open. The volume of food and drink sales was the highest for festive spending on record.


Separate figures from Barclaycard – Britain’s biggest credit card provider – showed that consumer spending fell by 2.3% in December as tougher government controls hampered the high street and hospitality sectors in the pivotal Christmas period.

It said online retail increased by 52.2% in December as Britons shopped from home, while tighter restrictions led to in-store retail declining 8.3%. Barclaycard records almost half of UK transactions, and differs from the BRC figures because it monitors spending in shops, online and elsewhere across the economy – such as in pubs, restaurants and hotels.

With few opportunities to socialise before Christmas, sales in pubs and bars fell by more than 70%, while spending in restaurants plunged 65%. Physical retailers – such as department stores and clothes shops – also recorded declines of 15% and 7% respectively.Sign up to the daily Business Today email or follow Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk

Raheel Ahmed, head of consumer products at Barclaycard, said: “With the latest government guidance to stay at home and a vaccine rollout on the horizon, we are all hopeful of a brighter and more prosperous year ahead.

“Yet, for now, the reality of lockdown life remains and it’s once more a hugely challenging time for high-street retailers as well as the hospitality, leisure and travel industries.”

Shake-up at top of Royal Mail sparks speculation that company could be broken up

By MATT OLIVER FOR THE DAILY MAIL PUBLISHED:  11 January 2021 | 

A shake-up at the top of Royal Mail has sparked speculation that the company could be broken up.

The firm named former Ocado executive Simon Thompson as the boss of its UK operations as it grapples with falling letter numbers and an explosion in parcel deliveries.

The 54-year-old, who spent some of last year running the NHS test and trace app designed to help tackle the coronavirus crisis, was put in charge yesterday, replacing interim chief Stuart Simpson.


Breaking away?: Simon Thompson's appointment as boss of Royal Mail Group's UK arm only – and not the whole business – will fuel speculation that the company could be broken up

Thompson, who has also worked at iPhone maker Apple and supermarket Morrisons, has been tasked with expanding Royal Mail's UK parcel operations after an internet shopping boom during the Covid-19 pandemic has sent demand soaring to record levels.

But his appointment as chief executive of Royal Mail Group's UK arm only – and not the whole business – will fuel speculation that the historic company could be broken up.

The changes come after the departure of former group chief executive Rico Back in May, who was ousted following acrimonious rows with unions that delayed modernisation plans and led to poor performance.

Following Back's departure, the role of group chief has now been abolished.

Instead, Thompson will report directly to the board and have equal status to Martin Seidenberg, the German boss of GLS, Royal Mail Group's European parcels business, a spokesman said. The pair will each get roughly equal salaries of about £525,000 per year.

Keith Williams, who has been executive chairman for the past eight months, will resume his previous role as non-executive chairman. Royal Mail claims the new structure is a better fit because the UK and European businesses have significant differences and each require their own separate strategies.

Williams said Thompson was the right man for a period of 'significant transition' in the UK, while adding that Seidenberg had made an 'impressive' start since taking over as GLS boss last summer.

The chairman, 64, said: 'We have two excellent leaders in place for each of our businesses, focused on the opportunities which they each have to grow and succeed in the future.'

Analysts said the new structure could make a break-up much easier. A spokesman for Royal Mail refused to comment on that suggestion. Daniel Roeska, a senior research associate at Bernstein, said: 'It doesn't close the door on a future break-up.'

U.S. officials probe abuse of manatee with 'Trump' written on its back

By Gabriella Borter


NAPLES, Fla. (Reuters) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has opened an investigation into the harassment of a manatee found in a Florida river with the word “Trump” written on its back, the agency confirmed on Monday.

The West Indian manatee, a species classified as “threatened” under U.S. wildlife protection laws, was found on Sunday in the headwaters of the Homosassa River on the state’s west coast, about 100 miles (160 km) west of Orlando.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the manatee did not appear to be seriously injured.




The Citrus County Chronicle published a video showing an underwater view of the slow-moving mammal, with the word “Trump” written in big letters. How the letters were written was not immediately clear. It was also not clear if the act was meant to bring attention to President Donald Trump, a Florida resident.

The Tucson, Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity said it was offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to a conviction in the case.

Harassment of manatees is a federal offense punishable by a fine of up to $50,000 and/or up to one year in prison.

Manatees, nicknamed “sea cows,” are protected under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Strikes by boats are the top cause of death for the mammal; but loss of habitat, algae blooms and disease also threaten them. There are more than 6,300 manatees in Florida, up from about 1,267 in 1991.

 

Case of manatee with 'Trump' etched into back under investigation

• Mutilated aquatic mammal spotted at spring in Florida
• US Fish and Wildlife Service appeals for public’s help

Manatees are popular attractions in Florida but their numbers are at risk. Photograph: Kike Calvo/UIG via Getty Images

Guardian staff

Mon 11 Jan 2021 18.25 GMT

Federal wildlife officials in Florida are reportedly seeking information on the perpetrators of an attack on a manatee, which apparently had the word “Trump” scraped into its back.

Florida manatee deaths up 20% as Covid-19 threatens recovery

Read more

The attack on the animal was reported by the Citrus County Chronicle, which showed a picture of the large aquatic mammal with the name of the US president clearly visible by being etched into its skin.

“The US Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating the harassment of a manatee,” the paper said, adding that the manatee had been videoed in the Blue Hole spring, on the Homosassa River in the state.

Authorities were appealing for any and all information on who might have assaulted the manatee.

Large, gray and docile, manatees are popular attractions in Florida, though their numbers are at risk due to habitat loss and the danger of boat strikes.