Big Lie ! di nuovo tra noi...

By JILL COLVIN, Associated Press 16 mins ago

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Taking the stage for the first time since leaving office, former President Donald Trump on Sunday called for GOP unity, even as he exacerbated intraparty divisions by attacking fellow Republicans and promoting lies about the election in a speech that made clear he intends to remain a dominant political force.

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where he has been hailed as a returning hero, Trump blasted his successor, President Joe Biden, and tried to lay out a vision for the future of the GOP that revolves firmly around him, despite his loss in November.

“Do you miss me yet?” Trump said after taking the stage to his old rally soundtrack and cheers from the supportive crowd.

Trump, in his speech, tried to downplay the civil war gripping the party over the extent to which Republicans should embrace him, even as he unfurled an enemies list, calling out by name the 10 House Republicans and seven GOP senators who voted to impeach or convict him for inciting the U.S. Capitol riot. He ended by singling out Rep. Liz Cheney, the No. 3 House Republican, who has faced tremendous backlash in Wyoming for saying Trump should no longer play a role in the party or headline the event.

While he insisted the division was merely a spat “between a handful of Washington, D.C., establishment political hacks and everybody else, all over the country," Trump had a message for the incumbents who had dared to cross him: “Get rid of ’em all."

The conference, held this year in Orlando instead of the Washington suburbs to evade COVID-19 restrictions, served as a tribute to Trump and Trumpism, complete with a golden statue in his likeness on display. Speakers, including many potential 2024 hopefuls, argued that the party must embrace the former president and his followers, even after the deadly insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

They also repeated in panel after panel his unfounded claims that he lost reelection only because of mass voter fraud, even though such claims have been rejected by judges, Republican state officials and Trump’s own administration.

Trump, too, continued to repeat what Democrats have dubbed the “big lie," calling the election “rigged” and insisting that he won in November, even though he lost by more than 7 million votes.

“As you know, they just lost the White House,” he said of Biden, rewriting history.

It is highly unusual for past American presidents to publicly criticize their successors in the months after leaving office. Ex-presidents typically step out of the spotlight for at least a while; Barack Obama was famously seen kitesurfing on vacation after he departed, while George W. Bush said he believed Obama “deserves my silence” and took up painting.

Not Trump.

He delivered a sharp rebuke of what he framed as the new administration’s first month of failures, especially Biden’s approach to immigration and the border.

“Joe Biden has had the most disastrous first month of any president in modern history,” Trump said.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki had brushed off the expected criticism last week. “We’ll see what he says, but our focus is certainly not on what President Trump is saying at CPAC,” she told reporters.

Aside from criticizing Biden, Trump used the speech to crown himself the future of the Republican Party, even as many leaders argue they must move in a new, less divisive direction after Republicans lost not just the White House, but both chambers of Congress.

Though Trump has flirted with the the idea of creating a third party, he pledged Sunday to remain part of “our beloved" GOP.

“I’m going to continue to fight right by your side. We’re not starting new parties,” he said. “We have the Republican Party. It’s going to be strong and united like never before.” Yet Trump spent much of the speech lashing out at those he has deemed insufficiently loyal and dubbed “RINOs” — Republican in name only — for failing to stand with him.

“We cannot have leaders who show more passion for condemning their fellow Americans than they have ever shown for standing up to Democrats, the media and the radicals who want to turn America into a socialist country,” Trump said.

Trump did not use his speech to announce plans to run again, but he repeatedly teased the prospect as he predicted a Republican would win back the White House in 2024.

“And I wonder who that will be,” he offered. “Who, who, who will that be? I wonder.”

It remains unclear, however, how much appetite there would be for another Trump term, even in the room of staunch supporters.

The conference's annual unscientific straw poll of just over 1,000 attendees found that 97% approved of the job Trump did as president. But they were much more ambiguous when asked whether he should run again, with only 68% saying he should.

If the 2024 primary were held today and Trump were in the race, just 55% said they would vote for him, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 21%. Without Trump in the field, DeSantis garnered 43% support, followed by 8% for South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and 7% each for former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

While he no longer has his social media megaphone after being barred from Twitter and Facebook, Trump had been inching back into public life even before the speech. He called into conservative news outlets after talk radio star Rush Limbaugh's death and has issued statements, including one blasting Mitch McConnell after the Senate Republican leader excoriated Trump for inciting the Capitol riot. McConnell has since said he would “absolutely” support Trump if he were the GOP nominee in 2024.

At his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump has also been quietly meeting with aides and senior party leaders as he builds his post-presidential political operation. While he has already backed several pro-Trump candidates, including one challenging an impeachment supporter, aides have been working this past week to develop benchmarks for those seeking his endorsement to make sure the candidates are serious and have set up full-fledged political and fundraising organizations before he gets involved.

They are also planning a new super PAC that could raise unlimited amounts of money, though one aide cautioned they were still deciding whether to create a new entity or repurpose an existing America First super PAC.

Trump hinted at the effort Sunday, voicing his commitment to helping elect Republicans and calling on attendees to join him.

“I stand before you today to declare that the incredible journey we begun together ... is far from being over," he said.

La tragedia di Attanasio e l’eredità da raccogliere

La crisi africana/ La tragedia di Attanasio e l’eredità da raccogliere

Articolo di Romano Prodi su Il Messaggero del 28 febbraio 2021

Oltre ad essere ragione di grande dolore, la tragica scomparsa del nostro ambasciatore nella Repubblica Democratica del Congo, Luca Attanasio, e dei suoi fedeli collaboratori, ci obbliga ad alcune riflessioni sul contesto politico ed economico dei diversi paesi africani nei quali ha servito in modo sempre straordinario l’Italia.

Noi siamo stati abituati a considerare la diffusa miseria ed il basso livello di sanità e di istruzione come cause della lunga crisi della società africana e, in particolare, degli infiniti episodi di violenza tra i quali si inscrive anche la morte del nostro ambasciatore. Non vi è alcun dubbio che questa correlazione illustri perfettamente il legame tra l’arretratezza africana e la diffusa violenza che ne rende impossibile lo sviluppo.

Tuttavia, più osservo le cose africane, più mi rendo conto che causa ed effetto sempre più si invertono: sono infatti l’instabilità politica e la violenza che impediscono lo sviluppo del grande continente africano, e non viceversa.

Il caso del Congo è emblematico. Il paese possiede risorse naturali di ogni tipo, dai minerali tradizionali alle preziosissime terre rare, essenziali per il funzionamento dei nuovi apparati di comunicazione. E la grande parte dei suoi terreni gode di uno straordinario livello di fertilità. Tuttavia in Congo si muore di fame e di malattie endemiche come in nessuna parte del mondo. Nei primi anni successivi al processo di decolonizzazione sembrava che si potesse dare inizio a un cammino virtuoso ma, successivamente, le differenze etniche, gli odi tribali e le interferenze economiche e politiche delle potenze straniere hanno frammentato il paese, ora in mano di gruppi armati, indifferentemente classificabili come terroristi, banditi di strada, delinquenti comuni o mercenari al servizio di potentati nazionali o stranieri.

Non solo il Congo, ma tutta la lunga fascia di paesi che, a sud del Sahara, si estende dall’Oceano Atlantico fino al Sinai, non ha più una normale vita economica: i terroristi deprimono ogni attività, dalla coltivazione dei campi fino alla costruzione delle opere pubbliche. E di questo posso anche portare un’esperienza personale. Da anni infatti, insieme all’ex Presidente della Nigeria, condivido la Presidenza di una Commissione dedicata al risanamento del lago Chad, che si va progressivamente prosciugando. Ebbene, sono più di quattro anni che i problemi di sicurezza impediscono ogni possibile riunione della Commissione. Nemmeno si può mettere in secondo piano la paralisi e l’enorme aumento dei costi che la diffusa violenza produce nei confronti delle attività dell’ONU, dell’Unione Europea e di ogni operatore internazionale.

In questo stato di cose, il primo passo da compiere per cambiare il volto dell’Africa è la progressiva messa in atto di quella che si chiama “ good governance”, cioè la promozione di governi che, almeno in parte, operino nell’interesse generale. L’affermazione della democrazia, che pure è stata fonte di tante speranze, quando si è progressivamente diffusa nel continente africano, ha infatti ben poco contributo ad una parallela diffusione del buon governo. Si tratta infatti, il più delle volte, di una democrazia corrotta e, come documenta l’ultimo numero dell’Economist, estremamente costosa, inefficiente e spesso dedicata ad usare le risorse pubbliche solo per favorire i propri familiari o il proprio gruppo di appartenenza.

Nei pochi casi in cui si è messa in atto una politica meno corrotta e più inclusiva, i risultati positivi sono stati invece addirittura sorprendenti, proprio perché le risorse umane della giovane generazione africana hanno capacità e risorse che vanno oltre ogni aspettativa.

Possiamo citare il caso del Ghana e del Ruanda che, pur con diversi livelli di garanzia democratica, hanno adottato modelli di “governance” con regole funzionali, inclusive e durature nel tempo. Le positive conseguenze della loro azione di governo permettono di scommettere sul futuro di tutto il continente, anche se le resistenze ai cambiamenti sembrano ancora, in troppi casi, insormontabili.

Come europei dobbiamo quindi assumerci il compito non solo di sostenere materialmente lo sviluppo dei singoli paesi africani, ma di favorire una positiva evoluzione della loro “governance” praticando vicinanza e dialogo sia nei loro confronti che nei confronti dell’Unione Africana, oggi lo strumento più idoneo per favorire una cooperazione virtuosa fra i diversi paesi.

Dobbiamo imparare ad interagire con i popoli africani senza imporre loro modelli, collaborando con le loro istituzioni a tutti i livelli, ed in primo luogo attenti a quanto succede nei mostruosi agglomerati urbani, che ogni anno diventano la meta di un incontrollato fiume di immigrati. Abbiamo già impostato positivi strumenti di collaborazione, come il partenariato strategico Africa-Mediterraneo-Europa, strumenti che dobbiamo ampliare e rafforzare.

L’unica strada percorribile per salvare l’Africa è infatti quella di aiutarla a salvare se stessa, non solo con gli aiuti economici, ma con una vicinanza attiva, indirizzata a favorire lo sviluppo di un continente che, già ora, conta un miliardo e trecento milioni di abitanti, ma che nel 2050 arriverà a oltre due miliardi per raggiungere, a fine secolo, l’incredibile cifra di quattro miliardi: il 40% dei cittadini di tutto il pianeta.

Il nostro futuro dipende quindi totalmente dal livello di sviluppo, di equilibrio interno e di stabilità di questi miliardi di nostri vicini di casa.

Credo che aiutare l’avvicinamento a questi obiettivi sia il modo migliore per tenere viva la memoria di Luca Attanasio. Il nostro ambasciatore ha infatti sempre affiancato alla sua opera di raffinato diplomatico, una personale passione per aiutare gli africani a costruire un loro migliore futuro al nostro fianco. Ed è morto proprio mentre stava concretamente portando avanti questo disegno.

Canta che ti passa (il Covid 19) #1 : alcune 'antiche' canzoni francesi...

Senza prove, senza attrezzature da studio di registrazione, ma solo perche' la musica te la senti ancora addosso e gli anni non contano, conta solo il piacere della melodia e delle parole che sono vere poesie e parlano al cuore.

Almeno per chi sa ascoltare ancora il suo cuore...magari vecchio ma non rammollito..

Grazie a chi ascolta per i minuti dedicati

e la bonaria simpatia...

Oscar

_____________________________________________________________________________

• • Simonetta Baldassari

    Fantastico come sempre Oscar...

    • Like
    •  · 
      Reply
    •  · 20h
  • Alberto Galluccio

    Ecceziunale oh veramente

    
  • ________________

  Grazie, adoro 'Dans mon Ile'
• Lucilla (Roma)

Adesso la violenza anche contro gli asiatici

Violence against Asian Americans and why 'hate crime' should be used carefully
Social media posts have conflated violence against people who are Asian American with hate crimes against the community at large, tying the crimes to pandemic racism.
Lunar New Year decorations in New York's Chinatown on Feb. 11, 2021.Spencer Platt / Getty Images

By Kimmy Yam (NBC News)

As the recent wave of attacks on older Asian Americans prompts calls for action and activism, experts urge the use of precise, accurate language in discussing the violence.

The robberies and assaults in several big-city Chinatowns have led to significant media coverage and outcry from activists, many of whom have labeled the incidents hate crimes. But recent higher-profile cases that have gone viral on social media aren't being investigated as such, law enforcement officials say. Officials say the occurrences don't show signs of being racially motivated.

Social media posts have conflated violence against people who are Asian American with hate crimes against the community at large, tying the crimes to pandemic-related racism. Some sources have declared a "spike" in hate crimes, citing an astronomical increase. But the figure they refer to specifically reflects New York City and New York police data obtained by NBC Asian America, which showed three anti-Asian hate crimes in 2019 and 28 last year. No hate crimes were reported this year so far.

Other sources refer to 18 incidents this year involving Asian Americans in Alameda County, California. But local law enforcement stated that there's no proof any of them have been racially motivated. In San Francisco, six hate crimes were reported in 2019 and nine the following year. In 2021, the city reported one hate crime.

Not all cities reflected increases, either. Washington, D.C., for example, reported a decrease from six to one from 2019 to 2020.

Some outlets have also reported almost 3,000 "hate crimes" during the pandemic. The reporting forum Stop AAPI Hate collected almost 2,800 reports of hate incidents nationwide over five months last year. But the incidents weren't necessarily hate crimes; they included less severe, yet insidious, forms of discrimination, including shunning, verbal harassment and name-calling. Stop AAPI Hate said 69 occurrences included racist language, in addition to a physical incident. The nonprofit doesn't report those to police.

Regardless, Asian Americans have every right to their fear and anger at this time, said Michael Eric Dyson, a race and religion scholar at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

"We have to acknowledge the pain. Asian brothers and sisters can no longer be demanded to be quiet as the entry, as the price they have to pay for acceptance in the broader community of American ethnicities," Dyson said.

While anti-Asian sentiment has risen markedly during the coronavirus pandemic, experts say it's important to evaluate each case individually. They said both defendants and victims deserve a fair, rather than a public, trial no matter what race they may be. They emphasize that that's particularly important if suspects are of color in the context of a justice system that hasn't been proven to be colorblind.

Calls for protection and safety among Asian Americans have reverberated throughout the pandemic, but they were catalyzed by the particularly graphic string of attacks on elders at the beginning of this year, many of which were caught on camera and circulated online.

In a video from January, a 91-year-old person can be seen being violently pushed to the ground in Chinatown in Oakland, California. The suspect, Yahya Muslim, who is accused of two other attack the same day, was charged with three counts of assault. A separate attack last month that was recorded on surveillance video showed Vicha Ratanapakdee, 84, being shoved to the ground in San Francisco. Ratanapakdee later died from his injuries.

Sliman Nawabi, a deputy public defender who is representing Antoine Watson, 19, in the San Francisco incident, said there is "absolutely zero evidence that Mr. Ratanapakdee's ethnicity and age was a motivating factor in being assaulted."

"This unfortunate assault has to do with a break in the mental health of a teenager. Any other narrative is false, misleading, and divisive," Nawabi said.

In another violent incident, in New York City, Noel Quintana, 61, a Filipino American, was slashed in the face while riding the subway. Quintana had little interaction with his attacker, a stranger whom he was moving away from when he was attacked. He told People magazine that he was unsure of the motive behind the attack.

"I don't want to think because I'm Asian," he said. "I don't want to think about that. Because it could also happen to anybody, but — I don't know."

The three incidents aren't being investigated as hate crimes, but publications and activists have grouped them under the term without supporting evidence that they have been racially motivated.

"Coverage should attend to nuance, be clear about what is not known in a case, seek out answers to difficult questions, and more not just so that potential jurors are not misled but also so that those at stake have their stories better told."

Stanley Mark, a senior staff attorney for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a civil rights organization, said that in theory, jurors are expected to remain unswayed by public rhetoric. But it's not guaranteed in practice. He said jurors can have their own implicit biases. Pawan Dhingra, a professor of American studies at Amherst College in Massachusetts, said media attention, racial composition, theatrics of an attorney and more can influence jurors' opinions aside from the facts at hand.

Mark said: "The current political context of the facts, including the political rhetoric in each case, may or may not make a difference depending on the implicit bias among jurors and judges, although none of it should be counted in a verdict."
oven to be hate crimes, he said, sentences can be lengthened.

Dhingra said the media should be precise, not just because of the impact of coverage in the courtroom.

"Coverage should attend to nuance, be clear about what is not known in a case, seek out answers to difficult questions and more, not just so that potential jurors are not misled, but also so that those at stake have their stories better told," he said.

Dyson said that when cases aren't determined to be hate crimes, "we want to be a bit reserved to make certain we're not unnecessarily inflaming tensions and undue hostilities." He said prematurely declaring them as such, particularly because the suspects in some cases have been Black, can have a deleterious effect.

Incorrect use of "hate crime" labeling "can have a negative impact on either side, on reinforcing the vicious stereotype of the natural Black inclinations for crime and that we're thugs," Michael Eric Dyson said. "And on the other hand, alerting Asian communities or heightening their awareness about their safety and security may be sending a false signal that there is a nonexistent attempt on the part of some Black communities to target Asian brothers and sisters."

"It can have a negative impact on either side, on reinforcing the vicious stereotype of the natural Black inclinations for crime and that we're thugs," he said. "And on the other hand, alerting Asian communities or heightening their awareness about their safety and security may be sending a false signal that there is a nonexistent attempt on the part of some Black communities to target Asian brothers and sisters."

Dhingra said Asian Americans can be targeted for a variety of reasons, not solely because of racial animus. Assailants could perceive them as easy or lucrative targets, instead. Either way, it's still "a type of profiling that we must account for," he said. Erroneously labeling a crime based on assumptions not only could risk a problematic punishment, but it could also make it harder to keep the Asian American community safe.

"We have to attend to what is behind the crimes and work with communities to make them safer," he said. "We can only do that if we know what is actually going on."

Violence hasn't been restricted to the Asian American community. Law enforcement statistics show that homicides in major cities have risen at alarming rates across the board; advocates attribute the crimes to the environment created by the pandemic and poverty. Chicago police, for example, reported about a 50 percent increase at the end of 2020 compared to the previous year, with 750 murders.

Dyson said he understands why people are tempted to connect the incidents to the rampant anti-Asian sentiment tied to the pandemic. He said that with Donald Trump's perpetuation of the "Chinese virus" discourse in the political bloodstream, the Trump administration had "unleashed the floodgates of anti-Asian sentiment."

Federal hate crime data for 2020 haven't yet been released; however, an intelligence report compiled by the FBI's Houston office, which was obtained by ABC News, showed that the agency had expected a rise in such crimes.

"The FBI makes this assessment based on the assumption that a portion of the US public will associate COVID-19 with China and Asian American populations," the report read.

Dyson said the Black community, like others, hasn't been untouched by the Trump administration's incendiary rhetoric. And just as the Asian American community isn't immune to perpetuating anti-Blackness, the Black community can be vulnerable to absorbing the anti-Asian discourse.

"Just because Black folk have been oppressed themselves doesn't issue a carte blanche, so to speak, exempting us from looking at whatever possible internalization of certain elements of our community, of the hostility toward Asian folk in regard to the 'Chinese virus' and the way in which that discourse targets AAPI folk with such vicious particularity," he said.

Dyson said history has shown that marginalized communities can be manipulated by white supremacy and that communities of color must be vigilant. Ultimately, regardless of the intention behind the crimes, the fear and pain felt by the Asian American community are real and valid, the experts said. Dhingra said that such incidents are crimes nonetheless and that images circulated of them have been terrifying.

Asian Americans and other marginalized groups shouldn't bear the brunt of racism, prejudice and bigotry, Dyson said. And above all, they shouldn't have to feel that their concerns are invalid in comparison to those of other marginalized communities.

"It's a way to balance that by saying, look, we don't want to reinforce any stereotypes. But at the same time, we want to uproot and address any form of prejudice or bigotry that prevails in any community," he said.

National Security FBI focuses on video of Capitol Police officer being sprayed with chemicals

National Security

FBI focuses on video of Capitol Police officer being sprayed with chemicals before he died in pro-Trump riot

By
Matt Zapotosky and
Spencer S. Hsu

Investigators have uncovered video appearing to show someone spraying a chemical irritant at Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick and other law enforcement personnel fending off rioters in last month’s attack, though they have yet to identify the person or tie the activity directly to Sicknick’s death, according to people familiar with the matter.

Sicknick’s death has vexed investigators exploring the Jan. 6 riot, as they have struggled to figure out how precisely he died and whether someone could be held criminally accountable in connection with the death.

Investigators determined Sicknick did not die of blunt force trauma, people familiar with the matter said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. U.S. Capitol Police in a statement Jan. 8 said that Sicknick died “due to injuries sustained while on duty.” No autopsy or toxicology report has been made public, unusual seven weeks after a death.

Capitol Police said in a statement Friday the medical examiner’s report was not yet complete, adding, “We are awaiting toxicology results and continue to work with other government agencies regarding the death investigation.”

The video could offer prosecutors a path to charging someone in connection with Sicknick’s death — though they still have to identify the assailant and would then have to establish that the spraying proved fatal. Prosecutors, instead, might consider bringing assault charges.

The FBI captured screenshots of people visible in the video, one person familiar with the matter said, and in the past month released the images publicly, hoping to identify them. The bureau did not mention Sicknick or depict the chemical spraying when distributing the images.

Spokespeople for the FBI and the Justice Department declined to comment. The new video was previously reported by CNN. The New York Times reported more of its contents on Friday.

Acting deputy attorney general John Carlin said Friday that prosecutors have now charged more than 300 people in connection with the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol, when a mob supportive of President Donald Trump stormed passed barricades and sparred with police inside and outside the building. They have arrested more than 280, Carlin said.

Sicknick, a 42-year-old from South River, N.J., joined the Capitol Police in 2008. He was the sixth Capitol Police officer to die in the line of duty since 1952, and the fourth to be a victim of an attack on the Capitol grounds. Those who knew Sicknick said he was conservative and supported Trump, but his political views did not align neatly with one party.

DOJ Opens the Door to Seeking New Domestic Terror Powers

Spencer Ackerman
The Daily Beast


Jim Bourg/Reuters

A senior Justice Department official opened the door to seeking new legislative authorities to pursue domestic terrorism, a step the Biden administration has yet to entertain since the January 6 insurrection and something civil libertarians have warned against.

The prospect of expanded investigative and prosecutorial tools arose during a Friday briefing with reporters in which multiple Justice Department and FBI officials described an expansive array of authorities already available to them.

While there is no domestic terrorism statute, and U.S. officials can not designate a domestic group for sanction like they can a foreign one, one senior official acknowledged that statutory definitions of domestic terrorism “expand a lot of authorities we can use,” such nationwide search warrants, expanded law-enforcement access to tax and educational records, and harsher sentencing.

But on Friday, a senior Justice Department official suggested the administration would consider seeking a domestic-terrorism statute as well.

“Obviously that’s going to be a policy question for the folks that are coming in” to the administration, said the senior official. “I’m sure we’ll run a data-driven process to see whether we need additional legislative authorities in this area.”

That has been a step the new administration has yet to take. On Tuesday, Sen. Mark Warner, the Virginia Democrat who chairs the Senate intelligence committee, told The Daily Beast’s “New Abnormal” podcast that the FBI has not sought additional powers to confront white supremacist or far-right violence. The FBI did not challenge that characterization, telling The Daily Beast: “The FBI defers to the legislative branch to work with leadership at the Department of Justice on whether any additional legislation is required.”

The prospect of new counterterrorism powers has alarmed civil libertarians and others who fear that such authorities are both unnecessary and rife for abuse to criminalize extreme political views, rather than pursue people who have planned or committed acts of violence. Pointing to the excesses of the FBI during the 20-year War on Terror, they also fear that expanding those law enforcement, intelligence, and prosecutorial powers will permit future presidents to use them against marginalized groups. Former President Donald Trump, for instance, slandered Black Lives Matter activists as terrorists.

“We should not lose sight of our disgust at the double standards employed against white protesters and Black ones, or against Muslims and non-Muslims,” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) told The Daily Beast in the week after the Capitol insurrection. “But at the same time, we must resist the very human desire for revenge—to simply see the tools that have oppressed Black and Brown people expanded… The answer is not more laws expanding the surveillance and security state.”

On the call, Acting Deputy Attorney General John Carlin pledged that the Justice Department was “prioritizing the detection, disruption, and deterrence of domestic terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms.” Carlin repeatedly referenced continuities in such prioritization with the post-9/11 pursuit of jihadist terror at home, such as taking an “intelligence-led” approach, “as we have since 9/11.”

Across the government, and to include Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines’ forthcoming “comprehensive threat assessment” of domestic terrorism, Carlin said the administration was looking at expanding information sharing, to prevent radicalization and disrupt “extremist networks.” As many officials have since 9/11, Carlin promised the protection of civil liberties would remain a priority.

Carlin said the Justice Department would soon issue guidance ensuring its National Security Division “has insight into and can track all cases with a nexus to domestic terrorism” or violent extremism, in the hope of generating leads in cases across jurisdictions.

“This approach recognizes that success is not the prosecution of a violent extremist or terrorist after the fact when families have lost loved ones and are grieving,” Carlin said. “Success is a disruption before violence occurs and that always has to be the goal of our counterterrorism work.”

Le milizie armate annunciano che uccideranno il maggior numero di parlamentari e metteranno a fuoco il Campidoglio se Biden parlera' al Congresso.

Capitol Police chief warns militia groups want to 'blow up the Capitol' when Biden addresses Congress

By Zachary Cohen, Marshall Cohen and Whitney Wild



Acting US Capitol Police chief explains 'operational challenges' from January 6 riot

(CNN)Acting US Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman warned Thursday that militia groups involved in the January 6 insurrection want to "blow up the Capitol" and "kill as many members as possible" when President Joe Biden addresses Congress.

Pressed by House lawmakers to provide a timeline for removing the razorwire fencing and other enhanced security measures installed after the US Capitol attack, Pittman said law enforcement remains concerned about threats by known militia groups "with a direct nexus to the State of the Union" address.
"We know that members of the militia groups that were present on January 6 have stated their desires that they want to blow up the Capitol and kill as many members as possible with a direct nexus to the State of the Union, which we know that date has not been identified," she told House lawmakers during Thursday's hearing on security failures related to January 6.
"We know that the insurrectionists that attacked the Capitol weren't only interested in attacking members of Congress and officers," she added. "They wanted to send a symbolic message to the nation as to who is in charge of that legislative process."

Pittman's comments mark one of the first times law enforcement officials have publicly cited specific threats against the Capitol and lawmakers related to Biden's expected address before a joint session of Congress.
While presidents typically do not deliver an official State of the Union address in the opening months of their first term, Biden's administration is considering an address to a joint session of Congress later this year, though a specific date hasn't been identified.

How long will fencing remain around Capitol?
Pittman declined to elaborate on a timetable for removing the fencing and sending National Guard troops that remain in Washington back to their home states despite bipartisan calls to reduce the security posture around the US Capitol.
"We have no intention of keeping the National Guard soldiers or that fencing any longer than what is actually needed. We're actively working with a scaled down approach so that we can make sure that we address three primary variables," Pittman said Thursday.
"One is the known threat to the environment, two is the infrastructure vulnerabilities and then that third variable being the limitations the US Capitol's police knows that it has as it relates to human capital and technology resources," she added.


"The temporary infrastructure is only to address the vulnerabilities after the attack of January 6. Our priority is to make sure that the members of Congress are safe, and that democratic process is protected. Once we have appropriate infrastructure and human assets in place we will lean forward with the removal of the fencing," she said.
CNN has previously reported that US Capitol Police told lawmakers that the razor wire fencing around the Capitol should remain in place until at least September due to lingering security concerns related to threats against members of Congress.
Lawmakers have repeatedly pressed law enforcement and defense officials to explain whether there is a credible threat that justifies keeping those security precautions in place.


US Capitol Police tells lawmakers that razor wire fencing should remain until September

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told CNN earlier this month that officials are not currently tracking any "credible or specific threats," but continue to constantly monitor online chatter about potential violence in Washington, DC, and against members of Congress.
"The most significant terrorism-related threat currently facing the nation comes from lone offenders and small groups of individuals inspired by domestic extremist ideological beliefs, including those based on false narratives spread over social media and other online platforms," the spokesperson added.

Lawmakers air frustrations over leadership failures during insurrection
House lawmakers angrily grilled acting chief Pittman and acting House Sergeant at Arms Timothy Blodgett on Thursday over the security failures that occurred on January 6, repeatedly pressing both officials on the lack of communication by law enforcement leaders as their officers were overwhelmed by the pro-Trump mob that day.

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Republican from Washington state, said she was with police officers during the attack and saw the communication failures happening in real-time.
"It was very clear that their head pieces, the communication pieces, they were getting no actual real communication, they were getting no leadership, they were getting no direction, there was no coordination and you could see the fear in their eyes," Beutler said.
"When I talk about communications failures, I'm literally talking about the leadership. No one owning the frequency and giving direction and that's the thing I want to know, I want to know if you're fixing that?" she added.

Pittman responded by telling lawmakers that the department didn't follow protocols during the insurrection for how to deal with an emergency situation, largely because officers were overwhelmed.

Acting US Capitol Police chief says intelligence failed to predict scope of January 6 attack

"On January 6th, our incident command protocols were not adhered to as they should have," Pittman, who took over after the January 6 attack, told a House appropriations subcommittee.

She made the comment in response to questions about communication breakdowns that hampered the response while pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol. She said the failures stemmed from the fact that police lines were so overrun that commanders who oversee the emergency response were instead physically fending off rioters.

"When there's a breakdown you look for those commanders with boots on the ground to provide that instruction," Pittman said. "That did not happen, primarily because those operational commanders at the time were so overwhelmed, they started to participate and assist the officers ... versus providing that guidance and direction."

Beutler pushed back on that explanation, saying it is the role of law enforcement leadership to provide clear instructions to officers on the ground.

"I'm hearing a lot of process and a lot of almost blaming why there is a problem versus hearing how you're going to make sure that there is a command center that speaks into the ear pieces of the officers and provides directions and leadership. That part of the problem there was chaos was because each and every one of these officers' boots on the ground, commander or not, had to make a decision with no information," she said.

Takeaways from the Senate hearing on the US Capitol attack

Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro directed her frustrations Thursday toward the board that oversees the US Capitol Police, saying it is "obsolete" and isn't keeping members safe, blaming the board's bureaucracy for the slow response during the January 6 insurrection.

The three-member board is comprised of the chief of the Capitol Police, the House sergeant-at-arms and the Senate sergeant-at-arms. Their lack of coordination during the attack has been a major focus of congressional oversight hearings this week, and members of the board have contradicted each other about the timeline that day.

"At the moment I view it as a vestigial, it's just there," said DeLauro, the chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee. "It doesn't appear to do a hell of a lot, nor did it do with a hell of a lot to deal with this situation on January 6. It's like your appendix. It's just there, but doesn't have a real function."

Her comments came two days after a Senate hearing where the three officials who were on the Capitol Police Board during the attack said that the bureaucracy creates a situation where no single person has ultimate responsibility to secure the complex. These three officials all resigned their positions after the insurrection.

Povera polizia del Campidoglio Americano

Definirlo uno spettacolo deprimente è poco.

L'audizione al comitato della sicurezza del Senato dei responsabili passati e presenti della polizia del Campidoglio e della sicurezza generale è stata la conferma confermata che quanto visto nei video dell'assalto dei terroristi domestici al Campidoglio il 6 gennaio trovava le sue ragioni anche nella responsabilita' di chi avrebbe dovuto impedire e opporsi alla marea di rivoltosi.

Facile a dirsi meno facile a farsi quando come è stato detto chiaramente dall'ex capo della polizia del Campidoglio, licenziato con furore da Nancy Pelosi, "Noi non siamo allenati a fronteggiare rivolte di massa".

Se a questo si aggiunge il fatto che con grande probabilità si era fatto sentire sui responsabili della polizia del Campidoglio e sul Sergente delle Armi (ovvero il responsabile generale della sicurezza di chi lavora al congresso parlamentari, funzionari, personale a vario titolo) il peso soffocante delle pressioni politiche di coloro che parlavano a nome di Trump è facile capire come i poliziotti in gran parte non si opponessero all'assalto dei facinorosi.

A questo si aggiunga poi il rimpallo che gli interrogati hanno esibito contestando tra loro la veridicità di telefonate fatte o smentite per chiedere l'autorizzazione a invocare l'intervento della Guardia Nazionale.

E poi l'accusa fatta all'FBI e alle altre agenzie di intelligence di non aver fornito sufficienti informazioni sulla pericolosità e la preventivata violenza delle migliaia di terroristi domestici che si apprestavano a dare l'assalto al tempio della democrazia americana.

Come abbiamo ipotizzato nella nostra miserrima capacità di intuizione subito dopo gli eventi drammatici del 6 gennaio risalta su tutto e su tutti il fatto che Donald Trump avesse sostituito pochi giorni prima la catena di comando del Pentagono ovvero del ministero difesa da cui dipende la manovrabilità delle operazioni della Guardia Nazionale.

Ecco spiegato perché le invocazioni telefoniche inviate da più parti (governatore del Maryland,  sindaca di Washington DC. eccetera) erano cadute nel nulla e prese parzialmente in considerazione soltanto dopo un paio di ore quando ormai il Congresso era stato invaso dalla marmaglia guidata da nuclei di ex militari.

Coordinati a livello interstatale, come è emerso chiaramente dall'audizione al Senato.

Hanno messo a rischio la vita del vice presidente repubblicano Mike Pence e della speaker ottantenne della Camera, Nancy Pelosi, portati in salvo per miracolo da agenti della polizia capitolina che rischiavano di persona prendendo iniziative personali.

Una ulteriore pagina depressiva dello scollamento di responsabilità operative venutesi a creare nel caos generalizzato della amministrazione Trump.

__________________________________________________________

Per chi preferisce ascoltare

https://youtu.be/a8ShPcfLWDg

La Virginia per l'abolizione della pena di morte

 

 

Stephen Collinson and Caitlin Hu

CNN

'Injecting bleach into your system doesn't do it for you'

More than 400 years after the first execution in Virginia -- of Captain George Kendall, accused in 1608 of spying for Spain -- the Old Dominion is on the cusp of becoming the first former Confederate state to abolish the death penalty. 

 

Virginia was long a zealous executioner, putting more people to death than any other state. It was notorious for offering death-row inmates a poor defense and for its disproportionate executions of Black prisoners. In the 20th Century, 296 African Americans suffered the death penalty compared to 79 Whites. “It’s time we stop this machinery of death,” Ralph Northam, Virginia’s governor, said in a joint statement with the Democratic leaders of the state House and Senate after bills banning capital punishment passed on Monday.

 

The death penalty’s demise is the latest sign of the sharp shift in politics in Virginia, which until recently was a conservative, southern bastion. Barack Obama’s win in the commonwealth in 2008 was decisive evidence that America was ready to elect a Black President. Democrats won Virginia in every presidential election since, and now control the governorship and the state legislature. The state is a testing ground for enacting liberal policies on race, gun control and climate with a thin legislative majority. Joe Biden has no doubt been paying attention.

 

The transformation reflects the fungible political map of a nation with internal migration in its DNA. While Virginia swings left, Ohio, the quintessential battleground state, voted twice for Donald Trump.

 

Virginia’s move left was rooted in fast-developing suburbs around Washington, DC, which drew government workers, highly educated professionals and medical and scientific specialists who were more liberal and ethnically diverse than rural Virginians who long dictated the state’s politics. Its blueprint is being copied by some other southern Republican states like Georgia.

 

Virginia traditionally provides a gut check on a new White House, as it holds its gubernatorial election a year after a presidential contest. Voters must this year decide whether they are happy with Democratic domination. The GOP primary showdown will be a Petri dish for the national clash between pro- and anti-Trump forces, and will test what Republicans can offer the suburban voters changing the character of American life.

Elon Musk si e' stancato di Tesla?

Business
Elon Musk moved to Texas and embraced celebrity. Can Tesla run on Autopilot?
Faiz Siddiqui, The Washington Post
Feb. 23, 2021Updated: Feb. 23, 2021 10:43 a.m.

SAN FRANCISCO - Elon Musk says he is stretched too thin.

The chief executive of both electric car manufacturer Tesla and rocket company SpaceX bounces nearly daily on his private jet between locations - traveling to his longtime home in southern California, Tesla's plant in the Bay Area, the site of a new factory in Austin, Texas and SpaceX's launch facility on that state's Gulf Coast.

Twice in a matter of days recently, the 49-year old complained of what he called an "insane" work schedule, juggling responsibilities with his car company and aerospace firm and taking in "torrents of information" in wall-to-wall meetings. 

But critics say the rigors of Musk's personal schedule, and the seeming cult of personality that has developed around him, are beginning to show in the car company he runs - the one that he took from an upstart pioneer in electric vehicles to the world's most valuable automaker. Musk, they say, is drowning in outside commitments like his aerospace company and other endeavors while letting quality - and strategy - at Tesla fall victim. And there are familiar concerns.

"There have been years past where some of his behavior was horrifying and had cost huge costs especially from his little tussle with the SEC," said Ross Gerber, a Tesla investor and supporter of Musk who is close to the company. "And he's come a long way. What I'm worried about is his success makes him a little bit loose again."

Musk spent much of the past year focused on trying to demonstrate his aerospace firm's viability to shuttle people into space on reusable rockets, all while Tesla worked to construct multiple factories and launched a new SUV. Musk also juggled the birth of a newborn son and his own personal move to Texas. He sprinkled in spontaneous public appearances in venues such as social media app Clubhouse in between his barrages of tweets. Musk became the world's richest person in January, thanks to skyrocketing Tesla stock.

In interviews with a dozen current and former Tesla employees, investors and analysts, critics pointed to a series of questionable business moves, and even outright missteps by Tesla, as a potential symptom of the outside demands on Musk. They described a company where Musk is less present and increasingly isolated, where subordinates are reluctant to question the CEO's vision, and where the de facto position entails eschewing market research. It's a top-down, shoot-by-the-hip ethos directed by Musk.

Tesla did not respond to repeated requests for comment. In response to emails seeking comment, Musk replied only:"Give my regards to your puppet master."

In a regulatory filing in February, the company highlighted the risk it faces by relying so much on Musk.

"We are highly dependent on the services of Elon Musk, our Chief Executive Officer and largest stockholder," Tesla said in the filing, in language unusual for the way it cited a corporate CEO's numerous outside commitments. "Although Mr. Musk spends significant time with Tesla and is highly active in our management, he does not devote his full time and attention to Tesla."

The filing cited Musk's helm over SpaceX and "other technology ventures." Along with Tesla and SpaceX, Musk leads an outfit focused on merging the human brain with computers, Neuralink, along with a tunnel building firm, The Boring Company.

Musk's impulsive leadership has worked to Tesla's benefit so far. His bets have resulted in huge successes, vaulting Tesla from an upstart electric vehicle pioneer to the world's most valuable automaker. The company delivered a record of nearly 500,000 vehicles in 2020 and has cannibalized prospective U.S. electric vehicle sales from practically every other automaker.

But cracks have also started to appear as Tesla has stumbled on some vehicle releases and its vehicles grow older, prompting some recalls. Regulators are scrutinizing the company for fires and some of its more innovative features.

"There isn't a culture at Tesla really other than 'let's do what Elon wants to do,'" said Ed Niedermeyer, who wrote the book "Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors." He said the eyebrow-raising Cybertruck debut - in which a supposedly unbreakable window shattered onstage - showed the state of play better than any other recent company event.

"It clearly reflected Elon's increasing isolation inside the company," he said. "He becomes more powerful and that power sort of isolates him more and more."

Current and former Tesla employees described Musk as less present on the factory floor in recent months, involving himself primarily in higher-profile decisions and events, like end-of-quarter delivery crunches and matters related to the company's earnings calls and investor presentations. That's a contrast from around three years ago, when the chief executive was known to sleep at the factory as the Model 3 faced production issues.

"I think the stress is definitely less now that the company's more established," said one former employee on an automation team paid close attention by Musk, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on company matters. "His pressure on certain things has certainly dropped."

Musk grew up in South Africa and went on to study in Canada and then the University of Pennsylvania. He emerged as a tech titan with the sale of the site he co-founded, PayPal, to eBay in 2002. Musk, the payments platform's onetime CEO, pocketed $165 million. He founded SpaceX in 2002, with the ambition to take humans to Mars in a private venture.

The enigmatic entrepreneur invested in Tesla in 2004, a year after its founding, and holds more than a 20 percent stake in the company, according to a regulatory filing this month. He was named chairman of the company in 2004, though he would lose that title in the wake of a 2018 spat with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Musk became Tesla CEO in 2008 and proceeded to revolutionize the car industry. He helped mastermind the launch of a series of electric cars that were simultaneously sporty and aspirational, yet carried enough range to make them practical. That combination helped bring electrification to the masses, as Tesla went from niche luxury automaker to an electric vehicle powerhouse, selling nearly half a million vehicles per year.

Musk has more than 47 million followers on Twitter, thanks in part to a bombastic personality there that has landed him in trouble.

He's cut in the mold of many tech company CEOs, who are under constant pressure to keep their companies fresh and innovative. But as Tesla reaches middle age, it faces similar risks as other personality-driven Silicon Valley start-ups turned giants.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs was known for his vision before his death in 2011 prompted what some view as a loss of innovation at the tech giant. Amazon will soon face the transition of founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos to executive chairman, testing the culture he's instilled. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

"The biggest asset within Tesla is Elon," said Dan Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities who has followed Musk's moves closely over the years. He adds that some have worried what happens if "Musk feels like he's had massive success with Tesla, he's built an unparalleled brand and now he could go from fifth gear to third gear."

Even Musk recently questioned how long he can keep it up, suggesting he'll write a book.

"Nobody is or should be CEO forever," he observed during a Tesla earnings call late last month, launching a wave of speculation - almost certainly premature - about a potential looming departure. "It would be nice to have a bit more free time."

It's a far cry from just two years ago, when the company's stock hit a recent low amid production and demand concerns. Musk had faced an SEC investigation costing him and Tesla $20 million each, and he lost his chair on the company's board in 2018.

Musk has come out of the pandemic more famous and respected than ever. He is, depending on the day, the world's richest or second-richest person. Fortune named him its 2020 Businessperson of the Year. He made Gallup's poll of the world's most admired men, sandwiched between Pope Francis and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in the top 10.

After hitting a near-term low of $177 per share in mid-2019, Tesla's stock soared to a new high of more than $2,000 just over a year later, before the company implemented a 5-for-1 split late last summer. Tesla's cash flow woes had abated and the company was posting consecutive quarters of profitability.

Tesla faced an unusual stumble in late 2019, when the company released a polarizing pickup, dubbed the Cybertruck, as it aimed to capture a new market for its electric vehicles. While its sci-fi-derived design won over the company's most ardent fans, the angular proportions and stainless steel exoskeleton were off-putting to many who would have otherwise been interested in a Tesla pickup, and it remains unclear if the truck can be legally built with its current specifications.

As the coronavirus took hold, Musk started tweeting the panic over it was "dumb." And he wrote that there would be "close to zero new cases" by the end of April a year ago. He was on a call with Trump where he pushed reopening and praised the president. He had a public meltdown during an earnings call in late April, raging against California officials' shutdown orders in an expletive-laden rant.

"To say that they cannot leave their house and they will be arrested if they do, this is fascist," he said on the call. "This is not democratic - this is not freedom."

Jennifer Chatman, a management professor at the University of California at Berkeley's Haas School of Business, pointed to Tesla's firing of workers who'd opted to stay home during the pandemic, a broken promise to workers first reported by The Post.

"Every time you reduce the quality of Tesla as a workplace then by definition you're going to reduce the quality of the employees who are willing to work there," she said.

In May, he sent his company's stock plunging with an eyebrow-raising tweet questioning its value. He also used Twitter to announce the birth of a newborn son, X Æ A-Xii (initially spelled X Æ A-12 but changed to comply with California regulations).

"I am selling almost all physical possessions," Musk wrote during that whirlwind period in May. "Will own no house."

That same month, Musk oversaw the most important mission in SpaceX's history at Cape Canaveral. SpaceX reached a milestone feat with the successful launch to space - and safe return - of a pair of NASA astronauts, becoming the first private company to fly humans into orbit.

And like so many Californians who have become fed up with the state's politics and frequent natural disasters, Musk last year relocated to Texas, acknowledging in December he had moved.

As Musk moved and focused more energy on SpaceX, Tesla employees said he didn't have the same presence he once did. Special requests from Musk dwindled.

Tesla's hotly anticipated Model Y crossover, released in 2020, has surprisingly struggled, prompting the company to yank some variations from the lineup and cut the price by up to $3,000 at a time. Its refreshed Model S includes a controversial half-moon "Yoke" style steering wheel which aims to automate turn signals and gear selections, something likely to be scrutinized by regulators.

The Model Y faced quality control concerns after its launch early last year, including reports that the roof of a brand new vehicle blew off, and a back seat was not attached. Some analysts attributed poor build quality to the strain of producing cars during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Tesla in October debuted the feature suite it dubs "Full Self-Driving" amid regulatory and industry concerns it was not ready. The company is not using the most advanced hardware available and is instead opting for a cheaper approach that relies on a series of interconnected cameras to stitch together live images of what the car sees.

Some of Tesla's current fleet of passenger vehicles are nearing a decade old - with the flagship Model S and the Model X SUV facing a recall over faulty high-tech screens that failed to meet automotive standards.

And observers balked at Tesla's response to the screen recall ordered by federal regulators in January. The company's Vice President of legal argued Tesla's giant center screens should not be expected to last the life span of the vehicle, raising concerns about the longevity of the cars overall.

Musk now finds himself with the chance to expand Tesla's global reach in Europe and Asia, and stretch its appeal beyond the blue state that is America's biggest electric car market, to the middle of the country where Tesla plans to build its sci-fi pickup, the Cybertruck.

Tesla has started construction on a factory in Austin, hailed as the future of the company, and another near Berlin that is expected to supply its vehicles in Europe. Meanwhile it is continuing an aggressive expansion into Asia, after the company built a facility in Shanghai where it is manufacturing a local-made variant of its Model 3 and Model Y.

Musk has staked his bets on the Model Y crossover, which he has said will outsell its models S, X and 3 combined. He says he ultimately wants Tesla to build 20 million cars per year.

Such claims might normally strike investors as pie-in-the-sky predictions.

"Even a Jobs comparison is unfair at times because [Musk is] even one step even more extreme in terms of what he's done publicly," said Gene Munster, an investor and managing partner of Loup Ventures, who follows Tesla and Musk closely. "There is a group of founders and CEOs that are controversial but do a great job for shareholders and that's Steve Jobs and that's Elon."

Investors and analysts point to more recent concerning signs. Just this month, Tesla said in a business filing it had invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin and would begin accepting the cryptocurrency as a payment. While a potentially savvy move to benefit from the volatile cryptocurrency, analysts also said it entails serious financial risk that could wipe out the company's profits.

Musk in the days before the announcement promoted the joke cryptocurrency Dogecoin, driving up the price of the meme-based offering. "Who let the Doge out," one of the tweets read.

Musk over the weekend opined on Twitter that the value of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin seemed too high. Bitcoin values have subsequently fallen by around $10,000 and price variations have plunged the cryptocurrency into uncertainty. Tesla stock dipped sharply Tuesday morning, trading down nearly 4% at $688 per share.

"We're seeing this with Elon Musk: a lack of impulse control," said Chatman, the UC-Berkeley professor.

One employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about company matters, said he winced as he learned a fellow factory employee had poured $70,000 derived from company-issued Tesla stock into bitcoin, following Musk's lead.

"He knows whatever he says, people do and he's taking advantage of it," the worker said. He recalled warning his co-worker that Musk "doesn't care about you; he'll ruin you."