Thursday, January 7, 2021
Biden decries Trump mob: 'Don't call them protesters. They were domestic terrorists'
Lauren Gambino
President-elect Joe Biden condemned as “domestic terrorists” the violent mob of Donald Trump supporters that stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday, calling the assault on the seat of American government “one of the darkest days in the history of our nation”.
“They weren’t protesters – don’t dare call them protesters,” Biden said in remarks from Wilmington, Delaware, on Thursday. “They were a riotous mob. Insurrectionists. Domestic terrorists. It’s that basic. It’s that simple.”
Biden spoke hours after Congress formally certified his victory in the November presidential election, a constitutionally mandated ritual that was disrupted by rioters seeking to keep Trump in power.
In his remarks, Biden blamed Trump for inciting the violence that had transpired in his name.
“For the past four years we’ve had a president who has made his contempt for our democracy, our constitution, and the rule of law clear in everything he has done,” Biden said. “He has unleashed an all-out assault on the institutions of our democracy.”
For hours, loyalists of the president roamed the halls of Congress as law enforcement struggled to respond. Some waved Trump flags, others carried Confederate flags. They broke windows and trampled through the Senate chamber.
As the events unfolded on Wednesday, Biden said he received a text from his granddaughter, Finnegan, with a photo of the police presence outside the Lincoln Memorial last summer when Black Lives Matter activists demonstrated against the police killing of George Floyd.
Pointing to the strikingly different response from law enforcement to Wednesday’s largely white mob, she wrote: “Pop, this isn’t fair.” Biden agreed.
“No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesters yesterday, they would have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol,” Biden said, his voice swelling with indignation. “We all know that’s true. And it’s unacceptable. Totally unacceptable.”
In labeling the rioters “domestic terrorists”, Biden was reflecting his commitment to combating far-right extremism, a growing threat the current administration has largely ignored.His remarks came as he introduced his nominee for attorney general, Judge Merrick Garland, as well as three other officials to lead the justice department. Biden said the attorney general would serve as the “people’s lawyer” and that his nominees would help restore judicial independence to the department.
“Your loyalty is not to me,” he told his intended nominees. “It’s to the law, the constitution, the people of this nation, to guarantee justice.”
Garland, who currently serves as a judge on the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit, said Wednesday’s assault on Congress was a reminder that “the rule of law is not just some lawyer’s turn of phrase. It is the very foundation of our democracy.”
Speaking after Biden, Garland recalled the history of the justice department, which was created in 1870 during the period of Reconstruction to protect the civil rights of newly emancipated Black citizens against the terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups.
“These principles ensuring the rule of law and making the promise of equal justice under law real are the great principles under which the Department of Justice was founded and for which it must always stand,” Garland said, speaking after Biden.
“They echo today in the priorities that lie before us, from ensuring racial equity in our justice system to meeting the evolving threat of violent extremism. If confirmed, those are the principles to which I will be devoted as attorney general.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/07/joe-biden-trump-mob-domestic-terrorists
USA Today Editorial Board Calls For Trump To Be Removed With 25th Amendment
By Josephine Harvey
“Trump’s continuance in office poses unacceptable risks to America,” the editorial read.
The editorial board of USA Today called Thursday for President Donald Trump’s removal from office through the 25th Amendment, condemning him for inciting Wednesday’s violent assault on the U.S. Capitol.
“By egging on this deadly insurrection and hailing the rioters (‘We love you, you’re very special’), the president forfeited his moral authority to hold the nation’s highest office, even for 13 more days,” the publication’s editorial board wrote.
“More urgent, he reinforced profound questions, and raised new ones, about his judgment and ability to fulfill his most minimal responsibilities to the country he is supposed to lead and protect. Trump’s continuance in office poses unacceptable risks to America.”
USA Today joined the editorial boards of other newspapers, including The Washington Post and Miami Herald, as well as many Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans, in calling for Trump’s removal through the 25th Amendment. The amendment allows the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare a president unfit for office, allowing the vice president to assume presidential duties.
It would be a rare step; the amendment has never been invoked to remove a sitting president, though it has been used when presidents were temporarily incapacitated. Proponents argue that Trump’s behavior has indicated he is unfit to carry out his duties and poses an urgent threat to democracy.
On Wednesday, hundreds of Trump supporters breached the Capitol building after the president whipped them up with a speech falsely declaring the election was stolen from him and then encouraged them to march on the Capitol. At least four people died in the violence, including a woman who was shot.
As the disturbing events unfolded, Trump did little to stop them. He called for peace but then told the rioters he loved them and that they were “special.”
“People close to Trump say his mental state is fragile,” the USA Today board noted.
“Even though he committed early Thursday to an orderly transfer of power, who knows what pardons he might grant, what orders he might issue as commander in chief and what other desperate measures he might take before Jan. 20?” the editorial said.
Democratic leaders in Congress indicated earlier Thursday that if Trump is not removed via the 25th Amendment immediately, they are prepared to move forward with impeachment.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/usa-today-remove-trump-25th-amendment_n_5ff78006c5b6214c5518c6f1
In Pakistan everything has become expensive but people’s blood is cheaper, Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
The PPP Chairman said that there has been a lot of injustice with the Hazara community, of which more than two thousand people have been martyred, but not a single one has received justice. “How is it fair that you are a laborer, a student, or a traveler, then you are killed by looking at your identity card,” he said.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that he appealed to the state to give justice to the most patriotic people of the country. “I am not demanding justice for Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto or Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. I demand justice for the poor workers.
The PPP Chairman said that the state had promised that the National Action Plan (NAP) would be implemented, adding that the state had promised to the children of APS that terrorism would be completely eradicated from the country. “But sadly, the backbone of terrorism has not yet been broken. We don’t want to hear that this is a foreign conspiracy and it is behind it. If such foreign conspiracy succeeds, it is your failure,” he added. “Unless the state assures the citizens that their lives are safe, the security of the country and the federation will remain in jeopardy,” he warned.
Former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, PPP Balochistan leaders Ali Maddad Jattak, Iqbal Shah and others accompanied the Party Chairman.
https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/statement/24277/