Trump had spent his last year in office ruminating over Haspel. Some of Trump’s hardcore allies, including Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, had been publicly raising doubts in his mind about her. He grew to distrust her and instead wanted a loyal ally at the top of the CIA.
Off the rails: Inside Trump’s aborted plan to control the CIA – Axios
[Trump] just basically took the lid off Pandora’s box and all the demons came out. Right now, we’re hoping at least to try to get the lid back on, but we’re going to be dealing with all those demons that came flying out for many years afterwards.David Neiwert
Where Does The American Far Right Go From Here? | HuffPost Australia
Trump’s coup plot has been treated by many in the media as the last gasp of a deranged political despot, but we are told that American democracy remains strong and that a new day is dawning. Had the news been coming from almost anywhere else in the world the headlines might have been different. We would have been reading about a “failed state”.
The USA, CIA and a poor night’s sleep for the world
But before he was de-platformed across social media, he expertly used his account to disperse dangerous rhetoric and push wild election conspiracy theories to his 88 million followers. That rhetoric eventually led to insurrection and bloodshed at the Capitol, when Mr Trump’s supporters violently tried to prevent lawmakers from certifying Joe Biden’s election victory. Now, the New York University School of Law’s “Just Security” group says it has identified the key tweets and incendiary attacks from Mr Trump’s final year in office that culminated in the attack.
A timeline to insurrection: The Trump tweets that security experts say led to the Capitol riots | The Independent
At least 170 people are currently under investigation in connection to the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, and officials expect that number to “grow to the hundreds in the next coming weeks” — a criminal probe that the top federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., has described as “unprecedented, not only in FBI history, but probably DOJ history.”
DOJ Considers Serious Charges Against Capitol Rioters
Besides being the first president to be impeached twice, Donald Trump will have a stain on his legacy with arguably longer-lasting consequences: he’s about to become the only American leader in a century with more than 400,000 deaths from one event on his watch.
‘Blood on his hands’: As US nears 400,000 COVID deaths, experts blame Trump
“We now face the real danger that even as vaccines bring hope to some, they become another brick in the wall of inequality between the world’s haves and have-nots.”
—Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO
“The price of this failure will be paid with lives and livelihoods in the world’s poorest countries.”
Warning World Is on ‘Brink of a Catastrophic Moral Failure,’ WHO Chief Denounces Vaccine-Hoarding by Rich Nations | Common Dreams News
Government contracts are bestowed on friends, associates and donors with no tender process, and grants are sweeteners to be doled out where politically expedient. Jobs for the boys and girls are blatantly handed around, and they keep preselecting and enabling the likes of Craig Kelly and George Christensen… And a significant number of them thought Peter Dutton would be a good Prime Minister. That, in itself, makes them unfit to govern.
Seven years later… – » The Australian Independent Media Network
“The things that were said that encouraged others to come to the Capitol and engage in that way were incredibly disappointing,” Mr Morrison told 2GB radio on Monday.
Morrison calls out ‘very disappointing’ Trump over Capitol insurrection
Contrary to suggestions otherwise, Voltaire would have applauded the decision by Twitter and Facebook to suspend the access of Donald Trump to their platforms. Much like John Stuart Mill, the British philosopher and guru of classical liberalism, Voltaire supported criminal laws against libel, slander, incitement to violence and treason. Mill is credited with developing “the harm principle” under which laws restricting personal freedom should be promulgated “to prevent harm to others”.
Freedom of speech: Voltaire would applaud Trump Twitter ban
Despite the massive increase in mass murder by the right-wing in Trump’s term (ODT)
New statistics from the U.S. Crisis Monitor and the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) show that police used violence against leftwing protesters three times as often as against rightwing demonstrators
Report: Police 3X More Likely To Use Violence Against Liberal Protesters Than Far-Right | Crooks and Liars
Last week’s assault, which was incited by Donald Trump, enabled by GOP officials and members of Congress, planned on social media, and buoyed by deeply entrenched white supremacy and Christian nationalism at the heart of our democratic dysfunctionality, were not attacks on any political party or ideology — they were attacks on all of us. The entire country has to be involved in responding to what could become a protracted violent conflict or, quite possibly, an insurgency. At the same time, this crisis, happening in the midst of a devastating pandemic, presents an opportunity to come together and build a country where liberty and justice are enjoyed by all Americans, without exception. It is an opportunity we should seize.
Why We need to prepare for ongoing insurrectionary violence and address its root causes
Far-right intellectuals like Steve Bannon claim to speak for a working class put upon by out-of-touch liberal elites. But their anti-modernist, hierarchical vision of the world doesn’t offer workers what they really need: more money in their pockets, and more power at the workplace.
Far-Right Intellectuals Are Offering Workers a Rotten Deal
Whether Trump is ultimately convicted or not in the Senate, the system that produced him will be acquitted—by Congress, by the new president, by Wall Street, by the corporate media. It is we who will pay the price.
Trump May Be on Trial, But You Can Bet the System That Produced Him Will Be Acquitted | The Smirking Chimp
“When Republicans controlled the Senate they used the reconciliation process to provide huge tax breaks for the rich and large corporations,” said Sanders on Saturday. “We’re going to use reconciliation to protect working families, the sick and the poor.”
From Paul Ryan to Nikki Haley: GOP Nightmare of Senate Budget Chair Bernie Sanders About to Come True | Common Dreams News
This Republican party traffics in conspiracy and thuggery – the new president must be bold on healthcare, equality and more
Biden cannot govern from the center – ending Trumpism means radical action | Joe Biden | The Guardian
But if Australians followed the 2020 presidential race in the United States with greater-than-usual interest, it was because when boiled down, it presaged a plausible descent for Australia’s politics, too.
As Trump exits the White House, he leaves Trumpism behind in Australia
This loosely is how the Google/Australian media controversy has gone. If I use Google to look up Scott Morrison to see whether he’s announced that he’s taking another break and I’m directed to an article by newspaper that doesn’t have a paywall, then they’ll be relying on advertising from the traffic that goes to their site in order to make money. Why they’d argue that Google should be forced to pay, I can’t work out. It would be different if Google was plagiarising the articles or breaching their copyright, but if the media companies aren’t happy with this arrangement, then they can put all their articles behind a paywall.
Just Don’t Try To Make Sense And Accept That The Liberals Can Flip Position Without Anyone Noticing! – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Tamed Estate: media kicks of 2021 copying and pasting government “drops” – Michael West
Spruiking the Coalition’s 2020 tax cuts; Australians’ ‘$200 billion’ war chest; Google’s experiments; free speech; and even a Liberal Party self-congratulatory piece on the NBN. Michael Tanner checks out the past week in the mainstream media.
Tamed Estate: media kicks of 2021 copying and pasting government “drops” – Michael West
The silencing of environmental scientists, as revealed in a study late last year, profoundly damages our democracy, wastes taxpayers’ money, takes a huge personal toll, allows fake news to proliferate and short-changes the public. Elizabeth Minter reports.
Australia’s environmental scientists intimidated, silenced by threats of job loss – Michael West
The media moguls won’t stop, of course. And they won’t stop simply because they’re as sociopathically acquisitive as the bloated hotelier who started it all. In their tireless pursuit of material gain, they “are only too happy to make a mess and burn things down,” as James himself notes. Why would they ever consider putting a stop to something that makes them so happy?
James Murdoch: “the Damage” of Right-wing Media “is Profound” | The Smirking Chimp
Republican officials at the highest level support insurrection, terrorism and treason. They have presided over a political culture that, for many years, has inculcated seditious desires within millions of expertly programmed citizens. The consequences became manifest on Jan. 6 when a rabid mob of neo-Confederates, fascists and associated psychotics took the Capitol by force, perhaps hoping to murder duly elected members of Congress — not to mention the vice president — and install Donald Trump as dictator.
Longtime GOP insider Mike Lofgren on his former party: “Going easy on these people will not work” | Salon.com
America now has its own Green Zone in downtown Washington, D.C., where the Mall is closed, the city is locked down, and protective fencing has gone up around the Capitol. You only need a Green Zone, a safe small space completely under the control of the government, if the rest of the country is a Red Zone.
America now has its own Green Zone, as Trumpian Fascism erects Racist Red Zone
If Trump looks like a fascist and acts like a fascist, then maybe he is one
If Trump looks like a fascist and acts like a fascist, then maybe he is one | Donald Trump | The Guardian
After Trump’s lies disappeared from Twitter and Facebook, the dissemination of falsehoods and the conversations based on them fell dramatically.
‘Talk About a Super Spreader’: Analysis Finds Online Election Misinformation Fell by 73% After Trump Barred | Common Dreams News
Right-wing media use loner activist’s arrest to revive conspiracy theories about “antifa” at the January 6 insurrection | Media Matters for America
To bolster those claims, they’ve zeroed in on Utah man John Sullivan, who recorded the events and reportedly cheered on the mob l, regarding his past attendance at Black Lives Matters protests. But the fact is, those local activists all say Sullivan is not welcome, and they’ve been trying for some time to keep him away. Despite early claims by right-wing media and Republican members of Congress that far-left provocateurs had really been the ones to instigate the attack on the Capitol, FBI Assistant Director Steven D’Antuono told reporters later that week, “We have no indication of that, at this time.” And a report in the Los Angeles Times has found that the suspects who have been arrested since the riot have represented “a broad cross section of President Trump’s supporters — people with office jobs, kids and mortgages, and otherwise respectable public reputations,” along with some “fringe radic
Right-wing media use loner activist’s arrest to revive conspiracy theories about “antifa” at the January 6 insurrection | Media Matters for America
They all come back to the idea that white identity is under threat and one of the ways it can be saved is through rolling back of democracy and the leadership of an authoritarian, preferably a white man,” Dr Droogan said.
‘Peddlers of hate’: Australian right-wing extremists celebrate Capitol riots
Israel has been praised for launching an aggressive coronavirus vaccination drive. There’s just one problem: they’re excluding Palestinians in occupied territories.
Israel Is Refusing to Give Palestinians COVID Vaccines
Mary Trump rarely minces her words these days when speaking about her uncle, Donald Trump, and this week, she revealed her deep-seated conviction that the outgoing president “enjoyed every second” of the violent siege of the United States Capitol last week.
Mary Trump convinced her uncle Donald ‘enjoyed every second’ of Capitol attack – TheGrio : TheGrio
There are a great many ways we could organize this inventory of shame we have accrued since Donald Trump began monopolizing our lives more than four years ago.
How Did He Shame Us? Let Us Count the Ways | The Smirking Chimp
States “thought they were getting more doses and they planned for more doses and opened up to 65 and up, thinking they were getting more.”
Promised Vaccine Stockpile Doesn’t Even Exist? Governors Demand Trump ‘Answer Immediately for This Deception’ | Common Dreams News
Trump’s legacy is the Nation’s dead and he will go down in history for Standing Back and Standing By and watching (ODT)
County has seen 898% increase in cases since surge began in November, with 1,125% increase in deaths, official says
One in three Los Angeles residents has been infected with Covid, scientists say | Los Angeles | The Guardian
When Fantasy News overtakes Real News madness is the opportune reality for authoritarians.
Views: 3911 The famous line for Don Quixote: “When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies?” Related to this week? I know the answer to that one! FOX NEWS, that’s where. Specifically, “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
Tucker Carlson Has Gone Full Don Quixote | Crooks and Liars
In the two weeks after Fox News called the election for Biden, Fox News cast doubt on the results of the election at least 774 times. The network’s most prominent figures relentlessly attempted to subvert democracy by fueling conspiracy theories and spreading misinformation, rhetoric for which the network has refused to hold them accountable.
In 2 weeks after it called the election, Fox News cast doubt on the results nearly 800 times | Media Matters for America
At a pivotal time in world history, Morrison retreated. He didn’t want to tell the truth for one reason – politics.”
Scott Morrison ‘unmasked’: PM’s cowardly response to US Capitol riots
Australia is good at lying to itself. It’s done it for years over racism and misogyny. Are we going to kid ourselves that we are a fair, progressive, intelligent nation while allowing the manipulation of truth, as identified by George Orwell, to run rampant? How far are we willing to go? Perhaps fostering hate to the point that people feel that it is OK to kill? Allowing the entitled to destroy our democracy, as nearly happened in America over recent weeks? How far Australia, how far?
How many lies are too many lies? – » The Australian Independent Media Network
In the run-up to the insurrection, Quinnipiac found that 77 percent of Republicans believed there was widespread fraud in the presidential election. They bought into the absurdities spread by Trump and his enablers in right-wing media. That is what fueled the atrocity of an insurrection. And still…the lies continue.
The Impeachment of Donald Trump Is Necessary, But Insufficient | Washington Monthly
Donald Trump has been an unabashed menace to our country. Many lessons need to be learned. The biggest is that we should never allow a psychopath to run our country, no matter what divisions and hostilities are brewing among the people. His rhetoric, his motives, his intentions and his actions have all created chaos and turmoil — all with the goal of keeping him in power so he could serve himself, not others.
Our psychopath president has finally imploded: And all this was totally predictable | Salon.com
The violent and divisive rhetoric of President Donald Trump and his allies ahead of the US Capitol riot is laid bare in a chilling supercut released by The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Wednesday.
Trump, members of his family, White House officials, Fox News personalities, congressional Republicans and others promote baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and demand retribution in the montage.
Chilling Video Exposes Donald Trump’s Violent Pre-Riot Rhetoric | HuffPost UK
But this isn’t likely to happen as the political cost to prosecute an ex-president is extraordinarily high and also runs the risk of making him a martyr to his base.
A second impeachment is just the start of Trump’s legal woes
Fox News’ unprecedented ratings losses in recent weeks have forced the network to choose between its right-wing viewers and its corporate advertisers. Its decision to side with its audience has left the companies that financially support the network holding the bag for its incendiary coverage of the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Desperate to win back viewers, Fox breaks its promise to advertisers | Media Matters for America
“It literally is going to be a death sentence,” said the World Food Programme chief about the U.S. Secretary of State’s decision to label the Houthis a terrorist organization.
‘Famine Not Seen in 40 Years’: UN Warns Pompeo Decision in Yemen Could Lead to Hundreds of Thousands—If Not Millions—Dead | Common Dreams News
Because Rudy didn’t deliver…so now Trump doesn’t want to pay him. Trump was “offended” by Giuliani’s request for $20,000/day. The Washington Post reports that Trump has told aides not to pay him AT ALL. Trump is also insisting on “personally approv[ing] any reimbursements for the expenses Giuliani incurred while traveling on the president’s behalf to challenge election results in key states.” Everyone knows that Donald Trump doesn’t pay his bills. Giuliani should not be shocked at all.
Donald Trump Refuses To Pay Rudy Giuliani’s Legal Fees | Crooks and Liars
The brute stupidity and utter selfishness of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have once again come into sharp focus. But nestled into the more familiar allegations of wasting tax-payer money in the latest report are the surprising appearances of former President Barack Obama and an “unpleasant” bathroom mess.
This Story About Ivanka, Obama, and Poop Is So Much Worse Than You Could Imagine – Mother Jones
A neat four years ago Antique Barbie and Trump flunky Kellyanne Conway set the tone for a post-truth Trumpworld when she defended the tangerine tyrant’s ludicrous claims of an outsized inauguration crowd by invoking the Orwellian notion of “alternative facts”(1).
The Trumpists are thriving in Oz – » The Australian Independent Media Network
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