21st

Dawn of a New Day

The Parler Videos

Here is the link for the videos:  Pro Publica's collection of videos downloaded from Parler showing how many idiots filmed themselves committing crimes.

As supporters of President Donald Trump took part in a violent riot at the Capitol, users of the social media service Parler posted videos of themselves and others joining the fray. ProPublica reviewed thousands of videos uploaded publicly to the service that were archived by a programmer before Parler was taken offline by its web host. Below is a collection of more than 500 videos that ProPublica determined were taken during the events of Jan. 6 and were relevant and newsworthy. Taken together, they provide one of the most comprehensive records of a dark event in American history through the eyes of those who took part. Read more: Why We Published Hundreds of Videos Taken by Parler Users of the Capitol Riots | Inside the Capitol Riot: What the Parler Videos Reveal

Videos are ordered by the time they were taken. Scroll down to start watching or click on the timeline to jump to any point in the day.

2021 Inauguration Eve

 Today is the last full day of the Trump presidency and the eve of Biden's inauguration. The US Capitol is effectively blanketed by security as we prepare for the changing of the guard -- and for the grim milestone of 400,000 covid-19 deaths (in under a year).

In his inaugural address, Biden is expected to echo his calls for unity, for the turning of the page, and for inclusion, peace, and patience. He may also hit directly at some of the contemporary causes of discord, echoing -- for instance -- Bernice King's (MLK's daughter) comments yesterday:

"This King holiday has not only come at a time of great peril and physical violence, it has also come during a time of violence in our speech — what we say and how we say it...It is frankly out of control and we are causing too much harm to one another."

Biden will be sworn in and assume the presidency at exactly noon.

In place of the normal inaugural crowds, more than 200,000 flags -- made up of a bunch of American flags and some from each of the states -- have been placed on the National Mall. At 5:30pm tonight, before the inaugural events begin in earnest, Biden will host a vigil at the Lincoln Memorial to remember those who have died from covid-19. It is likely that, by the time he is on TV for this event, the US death toll will have crossed 400,000 -- roughly equal to wiping an entire city the size of Minneapolis from the country. Buildings will be illuminated all over the country as part of this ceremony, and church bells will ring in many towns.

At the inauguration itself, just a small number of people will be allowed on the stage with the president-elect, and the ceremony will be built for TV more than the crowd that is present. Presidents Obama, Bush, and Clinton are expected to be in attendance, as well as Vice President Pence. President Carter's health will keep him from attending, and President Trump has planned a concurrent event. This will be the fourth time an outgoing president has skipped the inaugural ceremonies; the last was when Andrew Johnson snubbed Ulysses S. Grant. John Adams and his son also skipped their successor's inaugurations.

Lady Gaga will sing the national anthem, and Jennifer Lopez and Garth Brooks will also perform. There will be a variety of other components to the ceremony, including poetry readings and salutes from the military bands.

Biden and Harris will then proceed down Pennsylvania Avenue in a parade. There will be 1,391 people in the parade, plus 90 horses and 9 dogs. The parade is *not* to celebrate Biden and Harris. As is traditional, the "pass in review" along the East Front of the Capitol at the start of the parade is meant for the new commander-in-chief to review the armed forces, who have just been (historically) peaceably transferred from one commander-in-chief to another.

Biden, Harris, Obama, Bush, Clinton, and the various First Ladies/Gentleman will also lay a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery's Tomb of the Unknown Solider. Because covid-19 will black out most of the normal festivities, there will be a virtual "Parade Across America," which will include performances and art installations from the 50 states and 6 other US territories. In addition to the state-level performers, the Mall has been lit with 56 pillars of blue light, and a variety of performers in DC -- led by Tony Goldwyn, Jon Stewart, the New Radicals, and others -- will supplement the parade.

At 8:30pm, the will be a prime-time TV special to celebrate American unity. The special will include performances by Bon Jovi, the Foo Fighters, John Legend, Demi Levato, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Kerry Washington, Eva Longoria, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jose Andres, Dolores Huerta, and others. Tom Hanks will host the event, and the new president will speak a second time.

On Thursday morning, an inaugural prayer service at the National Cathedral will conclude the inauguration events.

Included here are several photos from the rehearsal of the inauguration that took place yesterday, as well as some imagery of the National Mall last night.

The view of the Capitol from the National Mall.

The pillars of light, marking each of the states and territories, last night.

The view of the state flags lining the Mall.

The National Mall - January 18, 2021

The pillars of light, one for each of the states and territories, above DC  January 18, 2021

An art installation in Lawrence, Kansas that will be part of the Parade Across America tomorrow.

Flags for each state and territories

400,000 Lost Souls

 

400,000 lost souls finally acknowledged and mourned by our government

Monday Morning Smile

 

Animals

The terrorists that stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021 are animals.  Watch how they act, listen to their words.  Decent human beings do not act like this.  

drumpfism is a cult.  How to deprogram his cult members?  I don't know.  But the animals in this film and others that were there can deprogram in jail.  Hopefully for a long time.

As for their sainted Ashli Babbit?  Watch her actions that caused her death.  She was no saint.

On January 17, 2021, ProPublica released "What Parler Saw During the Attack on the Capitol",   a collection of 500 videos taken by Parler members and saved before the right-wing social media was taken down.

Here's the link

The Backstory to the Insurrection

One of the best investigative journalists around.  From @SethAbramson on twitter

 The main players in this thread (please note the recurrence of actors from Arizona and Alabama as well as the White House):TrumpGiulianiRep. Biggs (R-AZ)Rep. Gosar (R-AZ)Rep. Brooks (R-AL)Sen. Tuberville (R-AL)Arizona Proud BoysAlabama Attorney General Steve Marshall 

The picture I discuss here is an emerging picture. All individuals discussed in this thread are innocent until proven guilty. This thread is a compilation/curation of evidence already publicly reported by major-media—not an attempt to imply a final portrait has been developed.

 In addition to the men listed in Tweet #1, the following men are also relevant to this account:▪️ Ali Alexander, far-right activist▪️ Roger Stone, friend and advisor to the president▪️ Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign manager▪️ Donald Trump Jr., son of the president

As I mentioned, all pieces of evidence discussed in this thread were previously posted (with links, images, and videos, as appropriate) on this feed within the last week. Scroll through my feed since January 6 (inclusive) if you wish to find any or all of this key information.

The phrase "Stop the Steal" was developed by Trump friend and adviser Roger Stone, a convicted criminal and self-described "political dirty trickster" who Trump rewarded with a corrupt presidential pardon during the possible seditious conspiracy described in this thread.

 In addition to being an associate of the Proud Boys as well as Trump, Stone was implicated in the Russia scandal—including not just contact with Kremlin cutout WikiLeaks in 2016, but contact with Israeli officials pre-election to get political intel via Trump's Turkish allies.

 Stone is a longtime associate of former Trump campaign manager Manafort, who the Mueller Report found colluded with a known Russian intel agent and who was recently rewarded with a corrupt pardon by the president. Trump has told friends Manafort could hurt him if he "flipped."

Ali Alexander, a far-right activist, has confessed that he organized a "Stop the Steal" rally for January 6 as part of a "scheme" to stop Biden's November 2020 election landslide from being certified in Congress. He identifies Biggs, Gosar, and Brooks as his co-conspirators. 

After being developed using Stone's tagline ("Stop the Steal"), Alexander's event quickly merged with a "Save America March" being orchestrated by several "dark money" pro-Trump groups. Alexander's event—with a new name—ended up being the event Trump appeared at on January 6.1

 One of Alexander's co-conspirators, Brooks, spoke alongside Trump and Jr. at the rally associated with the Save America March. At the rally, Trump, Jr., and Brooks all incited insurrection—Brooks, who'd already promised to challenge Biden's electors, most stridently of all.1

 The Save America March got its name from Trump's Save America PAC—which raised $300+ million post-election on the false claim the cash was for "election defense"; instead, it went to (besides the RNC) Trump and Giuliani—and was planned by a Manafort company, Event Strategies.1

 So the rally Trump incited insurrection at:▪️ Took its tagline from Roger Stone;▪️ was planned by a company Stone's associate Manafort worked for;▪️ was allegedly part of a plot hatched by Biggs, Gosar, and Brooks;▪️ featured Brooks, Trump, and Jr. inciting insurrection.1

 At the January 6 rally, Giuliani told the crowd that Trump desperately needed the January 6 election certification delayed—and not delayed for a few hours, but for *days*. He promised the gathered mob that that delay would lead to *conclusive proof* Trump had won in November.1

 If indeed there was a seditious conspiracy on January 6, it involved Trump allies inside the Capitol on January 6 artificially delaying Biden's certification long enough for the mob incited by Trump and his allies outside the Capitol to shut down the joint session completely.15

The key figures inside the Capitol on January 6 were Trump allies Gosar and Biggs, whose job was to object to the certification of Arizona's electors—leading to two hours of useless debate in the House—and Brooks' Alabama peer Sen. Tuberville, who would support the objection.1

 While Trump and Giuliani could be sure Gosar and Biggs would—with the aid of Tuberville—force the joint session into a 2-hour debate, less clear was how to ensure the "Save America March" disrupted the joint session as Ali Alexander (and Biggs, Gosar, and Brooks) had planned.17

The alleged conspirators needed militants outside the Capitol who'd "spark" an assault on the Capitol once enough of the mob incited by Trump at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue had arrived at the Capitol. This is where the Proud Boys came to be of great utility to Trump.1

 Trump had falsely said at a pre-election debate that he didn't know who the Proud Boys were; he did know, from his friendship with Stone, a major Proud Boys booster and mascot. That's why he told the group to "stand back and stand by"—which soon became the Boys' rallying cry.

On December 12, the leader of the Proud Boys went to the White House, saying in advance of his trip (on social media) he had been "invited" there. Team Trump claimed that he had merely been on a Christmas tour of the White House. The truth of the matter still remains unknown.

7 days after the Proud Boy leader visited the White House by invitation, a Trump rally scheduled by a pro-Trump dark money group was moved to January 6. Within minutes, Trump was promoting it, saying that it'd be "wild." It had Proud Boy ally Stone's "tagline" attached to it

 At the time a random Trump rally suddenly became the January 6 "march"—intended to coincidence with Congress' joint session—Trump was looking for a Representative to challenge electors during the session. He found Brooks, who then planned the January 6 rally with Alexander.

At around this time, the Arizona GOP—with two of its most prominent leaders being apparent Alexander co-conspirators Gosar and Biggs—tweeted out one of the most bizarre/horrifying tweets of 2020: the party formally asked readers if they were willing to "die for" Donald Trump

 Different states have different "Proud Boy" chapters. As Arizonans Gosar and Biggs were plotting with Trump a rally intended to lead to disruptive violence; and as the Arizona GOP the two men led was asking people to "die for" Trump; the Arizona Proud Boys became *important*.

 As noted, Trump and his allies needed a group of militants who'd be willing to spark the invasion of the Capitol. Trump ally Stone was close with the Proud Boys; the Proud Boys advocate using of violence; Trump had told them to "Stand by"; they'd adopted it as a rallying cry.

An hour before the invasion began, a USCP officer now tells Buzzfeed News that he was unnerved by seeing a menacing social media message shown to him by a fellow officer. In the message, the Proud Boys use one of their usual online channels to promise to "breach the Capitol."

 According to the WSJ, the attack on the Capitol was launched when a group of men "in blaze orange hats" suddenly attacked a barricade. CNN later identified the use of "blaze orange hats" as connected to the Proud Boys, which the aforementioned Proud Boy leader angrily denied.

 Unfortunately for the Proud Boys, they decided to livestream their participation in the events of January 6. The early part of a 100-minute livestream shows Proud Boys in tactical gear with "blaze orange" arm bands and blaze orange strips of duct tape on at least one helmet.

 But the most damning moment in the livestream comes nearly an hour in, when the group of Proud Boys doing the filming encounters a group of their fellow Proud Boys on the street—all of whom are wearing blaze orange hats.The men identify themselves as the Arizona Proud Boys.

This same group—the Arizona Proud Boys—was separately photographed and tweeted about by Will Sommer of THE DAILY BEAST. It's unknown why both the leader of the Proud Boys and its founder falsely claimed on Parler that no Proud Boys were wearing blaze orange hats on January 6.

In order to ensure that the sizable mob from Trump's rally would have an open path to the Capitol, the way had to be opened just before Trump's speech ended. A recent NYT timeline includes a picture of the Arizona Proud Boys—in blaze orange hats—at the Capitol at 11:50AM ET.

Trump's speech at the Ellipse was very, very well attended. One reason it was so well attended is that Brooks' and Tubervillle's peers in the Alabama GOP had apparently been just as busy as Biggs' and Gosar's peers in the Arizona GOP had been. And they had a key role to play.

 The Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA)—run by the Alabama Attorney General—was secretly running "robocalls" urging people across the country to go to Trump's Save America March. The Alabama Attorney General now claims that he had no idea what his group was up to.

But the two most important Alabama Republicans were—without question—Brooks and Tuberville. The Alabaman Brooks was the first House member to say he'd contest Biden's win, and the Alabaman Tuberville the first senator to say he'd do so. (You need one of each to make it work.)

During a speech at a rally he'd set up with Alexander, Biggs, and Gosar—using Stone's tagline and Manafort's event-planning company—Brooks *explicitly* told the mob to go to the Capitol and "kick ass." His full speech is absolutely terrifying. It is seditious, and incitement.

So Trump and Giuliani had the Arizona Proud Boys at the Capitol barricade at 12, and the Arizona Congressmen inside the Capitol with objections ready; they had Alabama's Mo Brooks inciting insurrection at the rally and Alabama's Tuberville aiding the Arizonans in the Capitol.

The problem was timing. How to time the rally, the march, an invasion of the Capitol, and the objections during the joint session in such a way that each event began at ended—or as the case may be, was violently interrupted—at the right moment. In the end, the timing was off.

We now know that both Giuliani *and* Trump desperately tried to call Alabama senator Tommy Tuberville during the joint session—in each case calling the wrong man by mistake. And Giuliani was stupid enough to leave a *voicemail message* on the phone of Utah senator Mike Lee.

 Giuliani, in inciting the crowd at the rally—he demanded "trial by combat!"—had promised them he had up to *five* states he and Team Trump could legitimately challenge. But when he called Tuberville, he said that Trump needed Tuberville to object to a *stunning* "ten" states.

 Trump likewise called Tuberville to try to get the joint session extended. Let's be clear: there was *no benefit* legally, politically, or constitutionally to Trump or Giuliani to getting the joint session extended by a few hours unless they believed the *mob* would aid them.

 In speaking to Tuberville Giuliani made little sense. Team Trump had never challenged "10" states before—and Giuliani saying that such challenges would give Team Trump time to get "more evidence" was nonsense, as the joint session was going to end on January 6 no matter what.

 In the event, the Capitol was breached with substantial assistance—per WSJ—of the men in "blaze orange hats." And of those who breached the Capitol, the ones in tactical gear appear to have been most interested in either (a) accessing the House chamber or (b) taking hostages.

The quickest ways to make it impossible for the joint session to conclude on January 6 would've been 1) for the electoral ballots—which were on the House floor—to be destroyed/stolen; 2) for a member of Congress to be taken hostage—as it'd preclude a full vote on Biden's win.

But a third possibility was simply chaos—chaos that lasted so long the Congress lost the will or the logistics to continue their work on January 6. Team Trump could then set about litigating and lobbying over when Congress would meet to finish its work certifying Biden's win.

Top Trump adviser Peter Navarro had already told Fox News that Trump had the power to "move inauguration day" if events demanded it—as sufficient chaos on January 6 might have done. So evidence of Donald Trump's reaction to the insurrection on that date becomes critical, now.

 According to half a dozen major-media reports, Trump's reactions to the insurrection included being "pleased," "excited," "delighted," "borderline enthusiastic," and having no interest in doing anything but "watching the show."He "repeatedly" refused to call out the Guard.

 Ali Alexander articulates the plan he and Trump allies Biggs, Gosar and Brooks had in *identical* terms: he wanted the action outside the Capitol to directly and viscerally influence what was happening inside the Capitol, which is clearly what Trump wanted as events unfolded.

 The connections—and mutual interests—of the Proud Boys, RAGA, Tuberville, Brooks, Biggs, Gosar, Alexander, Giuliani, Trump, and Don Jr. (whose January 6 speech was the second-most inciting after Brooks') seem to be inarguable. The primary question is what contacts there were.

An investigation must look to any key post-election contacts within Arizona (between Biggs, Gosar, the Arizona Proud Boys, the Arizona GOP and Alexander) and Alabama (Brooks, Tuberville and RAGA) and then if these entities communicated with the White House *or* with Giuliani.

 What is inarguable is that all of these men and entities—including Stone and Manafort—present a mass of interconnections, but an identical goal: using an "inside/outside" conspiracy (politicians in the Capitol, inciters outside it) to ensure Biden's win couldn't be certified.

 If sufficient additional evidence is developed—see my caveat atop this thread—the picture of a seditious conspiracy begins to emerge. And of course I haven't focused on the Pentagon, USCP or Guard piece much, except to note Trump wanted the end to the siege delayed maximally.

CONCLUSION/ The Trumps and Giuliani are undoubtedly capable of an anti-democratic plot—they did the same with Russia, Ukraine, China, and Trump's Middle East allies. Brooks is a maniac, and Gosar, Biggs, and Tuberville lack principles. So we'll see what the evidence reveals. 

PS/ Please consider retweeting the first tweet in this thread (my pinned tweet), if you haven't done so already. Many journalists and politicians follow this feed—thousands, in total—but I'd love for this picture of the current state of the evidence to reach even more folks ASAP.

(UPDATE) Apropos of this thread, Maddow notes that the DC U.S. Attorney says he's using *public corruption* prosecutors—among others—to pursue "seditious conspiracy" charges.This seems to suggest public officials are being criminally investigated. Perhaps ones I mentioned here.

You can follow @SethAbramson.

Actions Have Consequences

 From the "actions have consequences" file:

Well, well, well...

BREAKING: 

**Blue Cross Blue Shield Association President and CEO Kim Keck said it was suspending all support to the 147 Republicans who voted "to subvert the results of November’s election by challenging Electoral College results."

** Marriott will stop donating to all the members who voted against certification. They donated $10,000 to Tommy Tuberville last year.

** Commerce Bank has "suspended all support for officials who have impeded the peaceful transfer of power."

** Dow Inc., the massive chemical company, was more definitive. The company states that it will no longer donate to any member of Congress who objected to the certification of the Electoral College for the duration of their term in office.

**Citibank will “not support candidates who do not respect the rule of law” and will pause all PAC activity for three months.

** Mastercard states that it is suspending donations “to members of Congress who voted to object to the certification of the 2020 election.”

**AT&T, the largest corporate contributor to the Republicans will suspend contributions to members who voted to object to the certification of Electoral College votes.”;AT&T’s PAC donated $33,000 to five Senators — $15,000 to Cruz, $10,000 to Marshall, $4,000 to Kennedy, $2,000 to Hawley, and $2,000 to Scott. 

** Deloitte will suspend political contributions and “will not support those who undermine the rule of law.” Deloitte’s PAC donated $10,000 to Marshall and $10,000 to Hawley.

** Airbnb will update its framework and withhold support from those who voted against the certification of the presidential election results.” Airbnb’s PAC donated $2200 to Scott. 

**Amazon, which donated over $600,000 to the group of Republicans who voted to overturn the election result “has suspended contributions to any member of Congress who voted to override the results of the U.S. presidential election.”

** Verizon, which donated $15,500 to three Senators, will also be “suspending contributions in 2021 to any member of Congress who voted in favor of objecting to the election results.”

** Intel, which donated $2,500 to Cruz, states that it “will not contribute to members of Congress who voted against certification of the Electoral College vote as we feel that action was counter to our company's values.” 

**General Electric, which donated $4,000 to three Senators, will also halt donations to the group.

** PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) states that it will suspend contributions to the lawmakers who objected to the results. “The attack on our US Capitol was deeply disturbing and goes against everything we stand for in our democracy. Given this moment in history, the PwC PAC has suspended all political contributions to any member of Congress who voted to object to the certification of electoral votes,” PwC’s PAC donated $10,000 to Marshall.

** Comcast/NBCUniversal, the largest corporate contributor to the Republican Senators who objected to the Electoral College count, will be suspending “all political contributions to those elected officials who voted against certification of the Electoral College votes.” Comcast donated at least $44,500 in the 2020 election cycle to four of the eight Senators who objected to the Election. Hyde-Smith received at least $17,500 from the company.

**Hallmark states that it will be requesting refunds from the Senators it had donated to who had objected to the certification of the results, stating that these Senators’ actions do not reflect the “company’s values.” During the 2020 election cycle, Hallmark’s PAC donated $5,000 to Marshall and $3,000 to Hawley. It requests Sens. Hawley and Marshall to return all HALLPAC campaign contributions.

** Goldman Sachs states that it was freezing donations and plans to conduct a “thorough assessment of how people acted during this period.”

** Dell states it “will suspend all contributions to members of Congress whose statements and activities during the post-election period. It will no longer support the Republican members who objected to the election results.

**American Express will halt all contributions to Republicans who objected to the certification of the election."Last week's attempts by some congressional members to subvert the presidential election results and disrupt the peaceful transition of power do not align with our American Express Values.”

** American Airlines, which donated $5,000 to Cruz, will take “a three-month pause from [political] giving to review contributions.”

** Bank of America, in the next election cycle, will review its decision making criteria in light of the actions that contributed to the appalling violent assault on the U.S. Capitol.

Many other major companies are reviewing their contributions for changes.

Thank You, Rachel Maddow

 

New Childrens' Book