Stephan: We have a problem in this country. The Trumper Right is infiltrating police and sheriff departments all over the country. There needs to be a massive reassessment of law enforcement hiring procedures and training. If you watched the insurrection on Wednesday and compare it with any Black Lives Matter demonstration you can see the racial bias of American law enforcement writ large. I hope that the Biden administration will acknowledge this and develop policies to address it.
A highway patrolman stands guard as the “Stars and Bars” Confederate flag flies in front of the South Carolina statehouse on July 9, 2015, in Columbia. Credit: John Moore/Getty
The FBI has long been concerned about the infiltration of law enforcement by white supremacist groups and its impact on police abuse and tolerance of racism, the unredacted version of a previously circulated document reveals.
The FBI threat assessment report was released by Rep. Jamie Raskin, chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee, ahead of a hearing about the white supremacist infiltration of local police departments scheduled for Tuesday.
A heavily redacted version of the 2006 document had previously been published, one of a handful of documents revealing federal officials’ growing concern with white supremacists’ “historical” interest in “infiltrating law enforcement communities or recruiting law enforcement personnel.” A different internal document obtained by The Intercept in 2017 had also noted that “domestic terrorism investigations focused on militia extremists, white supremacist extremists, and sovereign citizen extremists often have identified active links to law enforcement officers.”
Stephan: Don't think for a moment that the insurrection that occurred on Wednesday is the end of the Trumpers' anti-democratic, racist, anti-Semitic criminality and violence, or that all Americans have condemned the trashing of the American Capitol. Here are the facts. The last four years have taught me two main things:
1.) Just as you cannot yell fire when there is no fire in a crowded theater, so something has to be done with the social media platforms to correct the deliberate spreading of disinformation.
2.) The Republican Party should be disbanded and a new party needs to be created by ethical pro-democracy people who do not support the Democrats.
A new poll released in the aftermath of Wednesday’s violent coup attempt—incited by President Donald Trump and enabled by Republican lawmakers who questioned the legitimacy of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory—shows that nearly half of GOP voters approve of the pro-Trump mob’s storming of the U.S. Capitol, findings that observers say are inseparable from how right-wing media outlets are lying about the insurrection.
“The right’s favored media… offered an alternate reality in which everyone but pro-Trump rioters were to blame for the mayhem at the Capitol.” —Sara Fischer, journalist
YouGov Direct conducted the survey on Wednesday night between 5:17 pm and 5:42 pm. A majority (62%) of the 1,397 registered voters who had heard about the day’s events told pollsters that they consider the pro-Trump mob’s actions a threat to democracy. But while 93% of Democrats and 55% of Independents perceive what happened as a threat to democracy, only 27% of Republicans see it that way.
In fact, a greater percentage of Republicans (45%) actively support the storming of the Capitol than oppose it (43%). Overall, 71% of registered voters are opposed to the coup attempt, including 96% […]
Stephan: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, like Obama and Biden after Bush the younger, are coming into office at a time when the country is in a state of collapse. It is an historically proven pattern: Republicans trash the country and Democrats come into office and have to spend the first part of their time in office repairing the Republican damage. Personally, I think 2021 is going to be a very difficult year, the national equivalent to an individual facing a long recuperation after a devastating illness.
The U.S. economy shed 140,000 jobs in December, while the unemployment rate held at6.7%, the government said on Friday.
Why it matters: The job market recovery that had been underway for the past seven months ended last month, buckling from the pressure of the coronavirus pandemic.
Details: The leisure and hospitality sector shed nearly 500,000 jobs, reflecting the enormous stress the sector faces as coronavirus cases surge and states impose economic restrictions — leading to worker layoffs.
Three quarters of these losses (372,000) were in restaurants and bars. Cold weather prevented them from taking advantage of the outdoor dining that helped keep business afloat in earlier months.
The bottom line: The labor market was digging out from the over 22 million jobs lost because of the coronavirus. The way worse-than-expected December numbers chips away at that progress, dashing any lingering hopes of a “V-shaped’ job recovery.
The job market is 9.8 million jobs short of where it was before the pandemic hit, with 55% of the jobs lost in March and April having come back.
Lisa Rein and Eric Yoder, Reporters - The Washington Post
Stephan: Here is some good news, really excellent news. The orcs, criminals, and cretins appointed by Trump must all resign when he leaves. Think of it as cleaning the Augean stables.
The White House on Thursday told thousands of political appointees — from ambassadors to schedulers — to resign on Inauguration Day, a formality the Trump administration had stalled for weeks as President Trump disputed the election outcome.
A directive was emailed to agency heads that political appointees must resign effective Jan. 20, the day President-elect Joe Biden takes office, a White House spokesman confirmed. The order was issued by Chris Liddell, the deputy White House chief of staff who has been leading transition arrangements with the Biden team, and was first reported by Politico.
The call for resignations came within hours of Trump’s statement early Thursday that there would be an orderly transfer of power, and as a wave of senior political appointees quit in protest over Wednesday’s storming of the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. They include Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and several senior-level national security officials and press aides.
The White House had refused since the November election to issue the call for resignations, which has been made by every outgoing administration between Election Day and mid-December.
Robert Reich, Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies - Salon
Stephan: Here is Robert Reich's view of what the Georgia elections mean, and I agree with every word of what he says, and it is excellent news
Next to the Trumps America’s leading grifter couple Elaine Chao and Mitch McConnell. Credit: Jeff Swensen/Getty
The runoff elections in Georgia are about more than replacing two corrupt Republican senators with Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. They are about flipping the Senate.
They are referenda on the disastrous tenure of Mitch McConnell and the damage the Republican Party has inflicted on America.
I don’t want to mince words. Mitch McConnell is the most duplicitous, morally bankrupt politician in America. (Well, maybe Trump beats him, but not for long.) He has wielded the GOP to inflict massive damage on our democracy.https://www.youtube.com/embed/R6F0jcpJxy0?feature=oembed
