And another day of white America still shocked by white supremacy, pardons and commutations, temporary Twitter suspensions, textbooks, Trump loyalists, and it’s harder to boot right-wing extremists from social media than ISIS comes to a close:
“Truth is not what you want it to be; it is what it is, and you must bend to its power or live a lie.” — Miyamoto Musashi
Deaths
US: 407,202 (+1941)
World: 2,039,607 (+8683)
Cases
US: 24,482,050 (+176,007)
World: 95,480,678 (+528,730)
Countdown: 3 days.
Ibram X. Kendi on why white America is still shocked by white supremacy. “Because of the racist ideas that many white Americans still hold, it becomes almost impossible for them to see white people as terrorist threats — as the primary terrorist threat — and as the people who are making their nation unsafe, the people who are attacking democracy. Racist ideas tell us that white people are nonviolent. That white people are champions of freedom. That white people are the ones who save nations. And so the way in which people have constructed whiteness, and even their identity, or even the identity of white people, prevents them from seeing this white terrorist threat for what it is.”...”Denial is the heartbeat of America. At every point in history, Americans refused to look at themselves for who they truly were. Americans have tried to take these ugly sides of America outside of the American project and say these people, or this incident, or this type of politics is not who we are, as opposed to saying, yes, this is precisely who we partially are, but we want to be better, we want to be different. Instead, Americans have denied it outright, denied its existence, and then we wonder why the cancer continues to spread.”...”My advice is that being anti-racist is a journey. It’s not something you declare that you are. It’s something you strive to be, just like it’s going to be a journey trying to transform this country. I just want to encourage us all to be a part of that journey, because hopefully that’s the pulse of history right now, to really transform our country and ensure that January 6 never happens again. If we don’t root out racism, we are bringing on another January 6.”
MLK’s struggle, a Capitol riot, and America’s immoral arc of white supremacy that bends back. But the very real gains of the last year — the election of Kamala Harris, Warnock and other voices of progress, the early and unrealized talk of policing reforms — have encountered the harshest law of American physics, that for every step forward on race there is an unequal and often more powerful backlash, so strong in 2021 that it even breached the citadel of our fragile democracy...One didn’t need a Ph.D. in American history to see that the life force behind the Jan. 6 insurrection was less about the political future of one man and more about that man’s promise to protect 402 years of white privilege. The symbols of supremacy were everywhere on Capitol Hill that day, from the Confederate flag that was paraded across the Capitol rotunda to the makeshift gallows that threatened to lynch any politician linked to racial progress. The rioters were so confident their whiteness would protect them that they not only shunned masks but posted their selfies or streamed their felonies on Facebook Live, and when they were shocked by their subsequent arrests, they begged for the privilege of a pardon from their great white father at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
WTF? No really. Holy cow this video.
Trump to issue around 100 pardons and commutations Tuesday, sources say. Donald Trump is preparing to issue around 100 pardons and commutations on his final full day in office Tuesday, according to three people familiar with the matter, a major batch of clemency actions that includes white collar criminals, high-profile rappers and others but -- as of now -- is not expected to include Trump himself.
‘I’m facing a prison sentence': US Capitol rioters plead with Trump for pardons. Arrested supporters say they were ‘listening’ to the president.
It's Harder to Boot Right-Wing Extremists from Social Media Than ISIS. Experts who watched the right-wing mob attack the U.S. Capitol last week recognized a familiar pattern in the use of social media to recruit and organize; they'd seen the same thing from ISIS and other terrorist groups. They say that the kind of online measures that worked against the latter will work against the former — but at greater cost.
Rioters who love their guns could lose them if convicted of felonies in US Capitol siege. Once someone becomes a felon, they are banned for life from legally possessing any kind of firearm for any reason, such as hunting.
Twitter temporarily suspends Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for election misinformation. "The account referenced has been temporarily locked out for multiple violations of our civic integrity policy," the spokesperson said. As a result, the congresswoman will be locked out of her account for 12 hours. -- When do we go from calling them “extremists” to calling them “terrorists”?
Blocked from social media, extremists discuss turning to radios to plan attacks, FCC warns. The FCC licenses certain signals for people to broadcast over radio waves. Those messages are generally protected by the US Constitution's First Amendment. But the FCC reminded radio licensees and operators that it is prohibited to transmit "communications intended to facilitate a criminal act." People are also not allowed to encode their messages to obscure their meaning from law enforcement.
These Textbooks In Thousands Of K-12 Schools Echo Trump’s Talking Points. Their religion-centered, anti-Democrat, anti-science, anti-multicultural message mirrors the Christian nationalism seen at the U.S. Capitol riot.
In a last-minute move, NSA installing Trump loyalist as general counsel. The move is significant because the role of general counsel at the country's largest intelligence agency is a civil service position, not a political role, meaning it could be difficult for the Biden administration to remove Ellis. The strategy of trying to install political loyalists into career positions is known as "burrowing" in the government.
Florida data scientist in battle with state over Covid dashboard plans to turn herself in. Rebekah Jones, who helped develop Florida’s dashboard, alleged a warrant was made out for her arrest on a charge unrelated to a December raid on her home. “To protect my family from continued police violence, and to show that I'm ready to fight whatever they throw at me, I'm turning myself into police in Florida Sunday night,” Jones said.
Putin critic Alexei Navalny detained upon return to Russia after poisoning. Yarmysh posted a video of Navalny being escorted away by officials in Sheremetyevo, saying he was being detained without explanation and was not allowed to bring his lawyer. His current whereabouts and status are unknown, Yarmysh tweeted Sunday.
U.S. president-elect Joe Biden is planning to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline permit via executive action on his first day in office.
Phil Spector, famed music producer and convicted murderer, dies at 81.
Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.
Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.
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