Day: January 8, 2021
True conservative Republicans Want to SECEDE!!!
★★★ A NEW CONSERVATIVE AGE IS RISING ★★★
Republicans Want to SECEDE! In this video we’re going to take a look at why a growing number of Republicans are openly calling for secession, how secessionist movements are operating at a number of different levels throughout the country, and how these secessionist sentiments are in fact reflecting a global nationalist movement where more populations are forming their own sovereign nations than ever before, you are NOT going to want to miss this!
Conservative Christian Education is SURGING in the US and Europe!!!
★★★ A NEW CONSERVATIVE AGE IS RISING ★★★
Conservative Christian Education is SURGING in the US and Europe, that’s right, in the midst of an extremely depressing situation here in the States, I’d like to cheer you up with some wonderful news about an educational renewal that’s sweeping America and Europe. In this video, we’re going to take a look at the explosion of a conservative educational renewal going on all around us, precisely WHY this educational renewal is happening, and why it promises to be only just the beginning, you are NOT going to want to miss this!
Democrats Were For Riots Before They Were Against Them
Why is broken glass on Capitol Hill so much more precious than the broken glass in Kenosha?
BY DANIEL GREENFIELD
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:
Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.
In 2018, the media was writing up glowing stories about the hundreds of Women’s March members who were engaging in "direct action” to disrupt the Senate’s Kavanaugh hearings.
Hundreds of members from the radical leftist group had invaded the hearings and were arrested. Their travel expenses and bail for the disruptions were covered by the Women’s March. Radicals from the March and other leftist groups blocked hallways, shouted down Senate members, and draped protest banners from balconies. Democrats cheered them on.
When a leftist mob assailed the Supreme Court, pounding on the doors, MSNBC called it an “extraordinary moment” and praised the crowd, “besieging the Supreme Court” and “confronting senators”.
"If you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them," Rep. Maxine Waters had urged earlier that year.
Later, the Democrat House member told MSNBC, "They’re going to absolutely harass them".
In 2020, Black Lives Matter rioters vandalized the Lincoln Memorial and the WW2 Memorial, along with statues of Gandhi, General Kosciuszko, and Andrew Jackson. The racist thugs marched through the city starting fires, including at a historic church and tried to besiege the White House. Attempts by federal law enforcement to fight BLM terrorism were falsely denounced as a brutal attack on “peaceful protesters”, and as “militarism” and “fascism”.
Democrat House members took to proposing bills to protect the racist mobs from law enforcement. Meanwhile, the BLM mob besieged the White House and battled Secret Service personnel, allegedly forcing the evacuation of President Trump and his family to a bunker.
This was the new normal enthusiastically supported by Democrats and the media.
A bail fund backed by Senator Kamala Harris and Biden campaign staffers focused on helping the rioters and looters get out of prison. Along with any other criminals along for the ride.
Violent protests, including those targeting public officials and legislative bodies, had been championed and normalized by Democrats and their media over the last four years. That included the harassment of officials, property destruction, and assaulting law enforcement.
Now, as the Democrats expect to take power, they suddenly decided that rioting is bad.
Before the Save America protest even began, the same Washington D.C. authorities who had championed and protected the Black Lives Matter riots, prepared for a crackdown.
“We want the military, we want troops from out of state out of Washington, D.C.,” Mayor Muriel Bowser had ranted when BLM was attacking national memorials and the White House.
“We will not allow people to incite violence, intimidate our residents or cause destruction in our city,” Bowser now insisted, demanding that the National Guard come out to stop the protests.
Unless they're Democrats, she failed to mention.
D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine had responded to the Black Lives Matter assault by condemning law enforcement. He had issued a statement falsely accusing President Trump of "responding to a nonviolent demonstration with war-like tactics".
"We —the Mayor, the Council, OAG, and MPD—must commit to standing in between our community and the boot of tyranny. And we must act on this commitment. We must start by promising to defend our residents from harm while they engage in peaceful, nonviolent protest.”
"My level of anxiety is high. My preparation is even more intense than that," Racine was telling the media before the pro-Trump Save America rally now.
The double standard was obvious and blatant. The Democrats and media had cheered Black Lives Matter violent protests. They had colluded in previous invasions of Congress and the harassment of elected officials. But now they wanted a violent riot they could condemn.
And such a riot would helpfully put to bed any further questions about a rigged election.
After a massive peaceful rally by Save America protesters, who had been addressed by President Trump, a smaller group marched on Congress. The MPD however reacted very differently than it had to previous Black Lives Matter and four years of leftist rallies.
In the resulting confrontation, a number of fringe elements, Neo-Nazis, Groypers, Boogaloo Bois, a leftist-libertarian anarchist group that collaborates with Antifa and Black Lives Matter, took the opportunity to cause damage and stage photo-ops for the media. Unfortunately, some legitimate conservative protesters who had entered the building were caught in the violence.
But the media stars of the confrontation were not conservatives and were anti-Trump.
One photo showed Nick Fuentes, the alt-right Groyper leader whose antisemitic group had previously shut down a Turning Point USA event by booing Donald Trump Jr. off the stage, and Tim ‘Baked Alaska’ Gionet, a former Black Lives Matter supporter and BuzzFeed employee, who has a history of going back and forth between the alt-right and the Left.
Another appeared to show Matthew Heimbach, formerly with the National Socialist Movement, an alleged Neo-Nazi leader, who had previously argued in court that his actions were President Trump’s fault and that Trump should be held legally liable.
Much as in Charlottesville, marginal figures who were hostile to President Trump, to Republicans, and to conservatives, had taken center stage at the behest of the media.
The purpose of the entire circus was to provide a propaganda opportunity for the Left.
The outrage over the protests is a farce coming from a political movement that advocated terrorizing Republican elected officials, that aided invasions of Congress, and that supported the Black Lives Matter riots which, aside from terrorizing D.C., also wrecked much of the country.
Why is broken glass on Capitol Hill so much more precious than the broken glass that ended the dreams of store owners in Kenosha? Where was all the outrage, the tears wept for our country when Black Lives Matter thugs were prying open shops around the country, looting them, and assaulting their owners on a scale so vast it racked up $2 billion in damages?
“Please, show me where it says protesters are supposed to be polite and peaceful,” CNN’s Chris Cuomo had barked while his news network showed rioting and looting in New York.
Riots are obviously wrong. Except that Democrats and the media decided that wasn’t true.
Martin Luther King's infamous quote, "a riot is the language of the unheard", popped up in Time, USA Today, and on CNN. “Violence was critical to the success of the 1960s civil rights movement,” a Washington Post op-ed argued. The AP urged reporters to use "uprising" instead of "riot" to describe the violence, while suggesting that protests can be violent and that reporting should not focus on the "property destruction”, but instead on the “underlying grievance".
A subsidiary of one of the big 5 publishers put out a book titled, "In Defense of Looting."
You can’t normalize political violence and then expect it to be a one-sided affair. After months in which BLM mobs attacked a federal courthouse in Portland, throwing fireworks and shining lasers in the eyes of law enforcement personnel toppled statues across the country, and injured hundreds of police officers, the Democrats and their media are suddenly outraged.
How, in the midst of all this rioting, could anyone get the idea that rioting is okay?
Laws only work when they apply to everyone. When violence is okay for some, but not for others, then a violent struggle ensues until a totalitarian monopoly on violence is achieved.
Or until we come to our senses.
There’s little question as to which side of the political spectrum has championed and mainstreamed violence for over a century. The very different fate of Kluxers and the Weathermen, trailer parks for the former and academic careers for the latter, show which side finds political violence not only acceptable but praiseworthy. And this is no different.
Contrary to the media’s spin, Republicans have never normalized violence. And Republican political power doesn’t depend on political terror and violence. Leftist power invariably does.
The Left began a new age of political violence in 2016. It can turn it off anytime it wants to.
The problem is that it won’t, and an illiberal partisan media and the accompanying cultural establishment will never dare to suggest that maybe there should be fewer riots and threats.
And that means the violence will escalate. Opportunists will seize the moment to play agent provocateurs, creating memorable images for media propagandists to justify a crackdown.
The protesters in D.C. had a legitimate grievance. And they still do. The outrage over stolen elections won’t be suppressed this way. The mass movement in D.C. is true resistance.
There is a great deal of irony in quoting "a riot is the language of the unheard" to describe the race riots of a movement with unlimited political and corporate backing, whose message is heard all the time, but not to address a movement that is genuinely unheard. Before the fighting started, there was virtually no media coverage of President Trump’s speech and the rally.
Press conferences that mention election fraud aren’t aired. Articles and videos questioning the election are censored. That is the true voice of the unheard who are more so than ever.
Democrats and the media normalized violence when they were in the opposition and now want to normalize the suppression of political protests and speech as they expect to take power.
But media spin isn’t real life. And it’s a lot easier to break a country than to put it back together.
The Zuckerberg Heist: Silicon Valley’s hijacking of our election system.
BY MICHELLE MALKIN
SEE: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/01/zuckerberg-heist-michelle-malkin/;
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:
In September 2020, right here in this nationally syndicated newspaper column and on a subsequent report on my Newsmax show, "Sovereign Nation," I sounded the alarm over Silicon Valley's hijacking of our election system through a private nonprofit called the Center for Technology and Civic Life.
In October, I tipped off the White House and publicly urged the FBI and Justice Department to investigate. Nothing was done. Not a single federal official objected. So, the Zuckerberg Heist will happen again and again in this farce of a constitutional republic. Free and fair elections in America are a pipe dream.
In case you were snoozing, as far too many citizens in this country are, CTCL is the deep-pocketed liberal advocacy group subsidized by Big Tech oligarchs and radical philanthropists. The center received $350 million from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan. Election information-rigging Google is a top corporate partner. The Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Democracy Fund (founded by "Never Trumper" billionaire and eBay former chairman Pierre Omidyar) also pitched in. There are unknown other wealthy donors to the 501(c)(3) "charity," but I can't tell you who and how many they are because their identities are protected by IRS rules.
I was able to tell you last fall how CTCL solicited over 1,100 applications from across the country for the group's purported "COVID-19 Response Grant Program" to "provide funding to U.S. local election offices" that steered voters toward alternatives to traditional voting. The pandemic provided a handy ruse to sabotage our regular Election Day experience through less transparent, more manipulable absentee and vote-by-mail mechanisms.
I showed you how there is nothing "nonpartisan" about CTCL's enterprise. The Center's top staff (many of them Barack Obama campaign tech gurus) come from a now-defunct liberal nonprofit called the New Organizing Institute, whose far-left donors include George Soros's Open Society Foundation, the Ford Foundation and Atlantic Philanthropies. CTCL director Tiana Epps-Johnson is a former Obama Foundation fellow. Former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, author of "The Citizens' Guide to Beating Trump," worked for Zuckerberg's foundation.
Chicago political activist Jay Stone, The Amistad Project of the Thomas More Society, and watchdogs in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania all filed lawsuits prior to Election Day against CTCL's partisan grant scheme to affect battleground states' and counties' election results. This week, just as I prepared to file this column, The Amistad Project filed a new suit against Fulton County, Georgia (home of the pipe burst shenanigans that shut down absentee ballot counting on Election Day) for using dark money CTCL funds in both the general election and the Jan. 5 Senate runoff elections.
"The sanctity of our electoral process is being violated by the unprecedented infusion of private money," Phill Kline, director of the Amistad Project, warned. "Instead of being distributed equally, as the law requires," he noted, "election funding is now being doled out by private interests seeking to influence the process for partisan advantage."
According to The Amistad Project, the money that Fulton County has accepted from CTCL "is nearly equal to the amount the county received from public sources for the 2020 general election." Grant recipients must abide by Zuckerberg/CTCL's requirements on how many polling places and absentee ballot drop boxes it supplies. Election judges have been subsidized with Big Tech/Democrat operatives' money. The grants have reportedly been used to facilitate illegal "curing" of flawed ballots while GOP observers were blocked from doing their jobs.
Questions raised by Amistad that remain unanswered:
- What conversations has Mark Zuckerberg and/or those on his staff had with David Plouffe and/or Plouffe's colleagues? Was funding to CTCL specifically discussed? Will Zuckerberg share related emails?
- What strategic discussions has Zuckerberg had with CTCL's leadership? How does he monitor CTCL's progress? Will he share emails pertaining to these matters?
The Democrats like to say that "your voice is your vote." When tech oligarch Mark Zuckerberg (net worth: $100 billion) has the unregulated and unmitigated ability to dictate how America's elections are run, who runs them, how we cast our ballots, and who counts them, what voice do we have left?
The Left Slanderously Accuses Trump of Inciting the Capitol Riot
Progressives' malicious power grab escalates to the wickedest heights.
BY JOSEPH KLEIN
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:
A contingent of protestors invaded, vandalized and occupied portions of the U.S. Capitol on January 6th -- as the constitutional process of electoral college certification of the 2020 presidential election results was getting underway. The mob violence was an outright assault on the greatest constitutional republic in the world. But instead of making an effort to unite the country against such anarchy, the Left’s leaders and their friends in the establishment media are applying their usual double standard of “for thee, but not for me.” Not surprisingly, they are blaming President Trump for the Capitol unrest, falsely claiming he incited violence during his speech to supporters at Wednesday’s otherwise peaceful “Save America” rally.
President Trump and his supporters at the rally were simply exercising their First Amendment rights of free speech and peaceable assembly. The president’s refusal to concede an election marred by reports of widespread fraud which troubled many voters was not an incitement to violence, nor was his presentation of evidence of a stolen election.
President Trump told his supporters, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators, and congressmen and women.” In so doing, he was clearly urging them merely to march peacefully and petition their government.
President Trump did NOT tell supporters to "storm the Capitol" or anything remotely similar. He was in no way responsible for the actions of a fringe breakaway group. Moreover, it remains a question as to who the rioters actually were. Indeed, there are credible reports of Antifa infiltration of the crowd.
President Trump made a video telling people to avoid violence and he urged calm on Twitter. Yet Twitter locked him out as if he were doing the opposite.
After recessing their electoral college certification proceedings for nearly six hours until the Capitol building was secured by a strengthened law enforcement contingent, the members of Congress reconvened to resume in a bipartisan show of support for constitutional order. The electoral college results were officially certified early Thursday morning.
In a tweet released in President Trump’s name (since Twitter had suspended his account), the president promised “an orderly transition on January 20” while at the same time continuing to “disagree with the outcome of the election.”
Nevertheless, the Trump-haters wasted no time blaming him for the Capitol violence. Joe Biden piled on against the president. So did the presumptive Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“What happened at the U.S. Capitol yesterday was an insurrection against the United States, incited by the president," Schumer said in a statement on Thursday. "This president should not hold office one day longer." He recklessly called on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump from office, even after the president promised an orderly transition to Biden’s presidency.
“I join the Senate Democratic leader in calling on the vice president to remove this president by immediately invoking the 25th amendment,” Pelosi said. “If the Vice President and Cabinet do not act, the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment. That is the overwhelming sentiment of my caucus,” she added.
Precipitously removing the duly-elected president of the United States less than two weeks before the inauguration of his successor is anything but an orderly transition of power. It is yet another left-wing power play, exacting revenge on a president they hate by twisting the facts about the election and the Capitol occupation, censoring the president, and trying to kick him out of office before the end of his term to humiliate him.
Democratic Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went after Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley as well, insisting they “must resign” simply because they raised objections to state electors during the congressional electoral college proceedings.
The leftwing media also chimed in. For example, the front page of The New York Times on January 7th displayed the banner headline in all caps, “TRUMP INCITES MOB.” The Times’ editorial board claimed that “Mr. Trump’s seditious rhetoric prompted a mob of thousands of people to storm the U.S. Capitol building.” False.
CNN’s Don Lemon accused President Trump of being the leader of “a mob insurrection to destroy the Capitol and our democracy.” False.
In contrast, much of the establishment media downplayed, and in many cases excused, the months of violence last year perpetrated by left-wing radicals across the country. Such violence included repeated assaults on a federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon. Members of the media called the leftwing riots "mostly peaceful protests" in the cause of "racial and social justice."
As FrontPage Magazine's own Daniel Greenfield pointed out in his January 7th article,
Violent protests, including those targeting public officials and legislative bodies, had been championed and normalized by Democrats and their media over the last four years. That included the harassment of officials, property destruction, and assaulting law enforcement. Now, as the Democrats expect to take power, they suddenly decided that rioting is bad.
Nobody who cares about preserving the rule of law in our constitutional republic applauds what happened at the Capitol on Wednesday. But progressive leaders and their allies in the mainstream media apply an entirely different standard when violence serves their purposes. And driven as they are by malice and hatred, they will surely find any way to justify violence against President Trump personally, his Republican supporters in Congress, and the more than 70 million voters who supported him in the 2020 election.
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SENATOR CHRIS COONS OF DELAWARE JOINED IN TOO, DEMANDING HAWLEY & CRUZ RESIGN:
SARAH CORRIHER LIVE; 31 MINUTE REPORT FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.: “THEY DID IT FOR AMERICA”
BEST VIDEO COVERAGE SEEN ON YOUTUBE TO DATE THAT PROVES CAPITOL POLICE LET PEOPLE INTO CAPITOL; ANTIFA DISGUISED AS TRUMP SUPPORTERS PUSH THEIR WAY IN; MEDIA STILL BLAMING PATRIOTIC TRUMP SUPPORTERS FOR THE VIOLENCE
SARAH CORRIHER'S HEARING IMPAIRED BY FLASH-BANG DEVICE FROM POLICE
This video chronologs the Save America event and the events of that entire day. It shows that the patriots were not the villains that they have been portrayed as. There was no violence against any human being, and by the left's newest definition of "peaceful protest", it definitely qualified. The only crime that was committed (by some of the patriots) was breaking and entering, and even that's questionable on its own because they were breaking into what ought to be public property. Some of them were screaming, "It's our house. We paid for it!" Far be it from the prevailing narrative, those people are not only the good guys, they are the best of our best. The Founding Fathers would have been proud of these people. We have three groups of people condemning them: the media, the wholly corrupt politicians, and the neo-cons. Don't let them trick you, and see for yourself in this video. It's important to remember that not only was Trump betrayed by everyone, but so were we. Help us to break this lie, because it is going to be used by these people to remove even more of our rights. Otherwise, we can expect for everyone who isn't a blue-haired Democrat to be labeled (and arrested) for being a 'terrorist'. Get reliable notification options and further information at Sarah's home site: https://SarahCorriher.com/
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THE SAVE AMERICA RALLY TRUTH
It's almost impossible to get honest information about the Save America rally, but I was actually there, and I know what really happened. I documented it in my previous video, but this is my commentary about some important things that must be said.
This video is not available on YouTube, and everyone should start to use alternative video websites at this point. Big Tech feels comfortable banning the President of the United States, so nobody is safe.
GOP Divided~McConnell & Graham vs Gaetz & Jordan
Message from President Trump JANUARY 7, 2021
“Trump Supporters” Who Stormed Capitol Could Face Sedition Charges
"SUPPORTERS OF DONALD TRUMP" WERE MOST LIKELY ANTIFA MEMBERS
SEE: https://www.newsmax.com/us/breach-capitol-sedition/2021/01/07/id/1004696;
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:
"Supporters of President Donald Trump" who stormed the U.S. Capitol, breaking windows and stealing things, could face charges including sedition, insurrection and rioting, Washington, D.C.'s top federal prosecutor said on Thursday.
"All of those charges are on the table," Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin told reporters in a call, when asked about possible charges of sedition, rioting or insurrection.
"We're not going to keep anything out of our arsenal."
The Justice Department has filed 55 criminal cases about events this week, Sherwin said, some pre-dating Wednesday's assault on the seat of government, including the arrest of far-right Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio on Monday.
Sherwin repeatedly said no suspects in Wednesday's riots would be ruled out - even when asked whether this could include Capitol Police who may have been complicit or Trump himself for urging protesters to march on the Capitol at a rally on Wednesday.
"We're looking at all actors here and anyone that had a role, and the evidence fits the elements of a crime, they're going to be charged."
The break-in forced members of Congress who were in the process of certifying President-elect Joe Biden's Nov. 3 election victory to evacuate the chambers for several hours.
The U.S. Capitol Police said they had arrested 14 suspected of involvement in the rioting, most charged with unlawful entry, while the Metropolitan Police Department made at least 68 arrests.
Much of the looting and rioting was caught on video and photos which went viral on social media, and the FBI has been asking the public to submit tips to help it identify and track down suspects.
The FBI is also taking the lead on an investigation into two pipe bombs that were recovered from the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national committees.
FBI investigators were knocking on doors around Capitol Hill asking for home security videos, said Charles Allen, a Councilman for the neighborhood.
Some of the people who were arrested on minor charges such as unlawful entry or violating the city's curfew appeared in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday, and were ordered not to return to the city unless it was related to their criminal case.
Meanwhile, Sherwin said his office was filing 15 criminal cases in the U.S. District Court on Thursday.
In one case, a man was charged with knowingly entering a restricted building, assault on a federal officer and violent entry to the Capitol grounds.
A Capitol Police officer said in the charging documents that he was attempting to form a barricade with other officers on the Senate side when the man attempted to push past and then punched him.
While the number of people arrested is expected to grow, the initial numbers reported by Washington, D.C. police paled in comparison with the more than 300 arrested following the June 1 protests in Washington over the death of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of white police officer in Minneapolis.
At that protest baton-swinging police and federal agents fired smoke canisters, flash-bang grenades and rubber bullets to drive protesters farther from the White House, enabling Trump to walk across Lafayette Square and hold up a Bible in front of historic St. John’s Church.
Law enforcement officers were severely criticized for being too aggressive at Lafayette Square. The Capitol Police are now facing questions about why they did not do more to secure the Capitol building.
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Battle For Capitol Hill: Antifa Infiltrators Identified Breeching Doors And Windows Of Congress
VIDEO PROOF
Video taken during the storming of Congress on Wednesday afternoon proves that Antifa infiltrators - and not supporters of President Trump - stormed the Halls of Congress, breaking in doors and windows to gain entry. Additional reporting from the Washington Times supports this assertion. "A retired military officer told The Washington Times that the firm XRVision used its software to do facial recognition of protesters and matched two Philadelphia antifa members to two men inside the Senate. "https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...
DAVID CLOUD’S “WAY OF LIFE” RECENT ARTICLES
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:
LEADERS OF U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DEFYING GOD WITH “INCLUSIVE” LANGUAGE
(Friday Church News Notes, January 8, 2021, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org , 866-295-4143) -
In fulfillment of Bible prophecy, the Democratic leadership of the 117th U.S. House of Representatives is
attempting to defy God with an “inclusive language” policy. The new rules would “address issues of inequities
on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, or
national origin.” This is impossible nonsense, of course, since addressing alleged inequality on the basis of
sexual orientation or gender identity creates inequality against sex and religion, etc. The rule would outlaw
the use of he and she, father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, husband,
wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandson, or granddaughter, among others.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the new measures would make the House of Representatives “the most
inclusive in history.” True, and it would also make it the most stupid in history. “So God created man in his
own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27). “The
kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his
anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in
the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision” (Psalm 2:2-4).
UNITED METHODIST MINISTER INVOKES HINDU GOD AT OPENING OF U.S. CONGRESS
(Friday Church News Notes, January 8, 2021, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org , 866-295-4143) -
Emanuel Cleaver, an ordained United Methodist minister and Democrat Representative, opened the first
session of the 117th U.S. Congress by praying in the name of a Hindu god. He concluded, “We ask it in the
name of the monotheistic God, Brahma, and god known by many names by different faiths. Amen and
a-woman.” The term “amen” has nothing to do with gender, of course. It simply means “so be it.” According
to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “Brahma was born from a golden egg and created the earth and all things
on it. Later myths describe him as having come forth from a lotus that issued from Vishnu’s navel.”
WALL STREET JOURNAL STANDS UP AGAINST CANCEL CULTURE
(Friday Church News Notes, January 8, 2021, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org , 866-295-4143) -
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) is standing up for freedom of speech against the totalitarian cancel culture.
After the WSJ published an editorial on Dec. 11 by Joseph Epstein poking some fun at Joe Biden’s wife, Jill,
for flaunting the title of “Dr.,” there was a “flood of media and Twitter criticism,” angry tirades demanding
an apology, retraction, lifelong ban of Epstein, and the resignation of the WSJ editorial editor. Epstein was
sharply criticized by Northwestern University, where he taught some 20 years ago. The school went so far
as to remove Epstein’s name from its website listing past faculty. In his reply to the critics, Paul Gigot,
editor of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, wrote, “My guess is that the Biden team concluded it was
a chance to use the big gun of identity politics to send a message to critics as it prepares to take power.
There’s nothing like playing the race or gender card to stifle criticism. ... these pages aren’t going to stop
publishing provocative essays merely because they offend the new administration or the political censors
in the media and academe.” In a report on the WSJ brouhaha, The New Criterion observed, “Last month,
after the electors met to cast their votes for him, Joe Biden once again made a plea for unity. ‘Now it’s time
to turn the page ... to unite and to heal,’ he said. We applaud that sentiment. But we wonder what he
means by ‘unite’ and ‘heal.’ To judge by the actions of the institutions supporting his cause in this sorry
episode, ‘turning the page’ might just be euphemism for sweeping everything and everyone out of step
with his program into the oubliette” (“The ‘Dr.’ will see you now,” The New Criterion, Jan. 2021).
U.S. DIVORCE RATE HITS 50-YEAR LOW, BUT MARRIAGES ALSO ON THE DECLINE
(Friday Church News Notes, January 8, 2021, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org , 866-295-4143) -
The following is excerpted from “U.S. Divorce Rate,” Christian Headlines, Nov. 11, 2020: “The new data
shows that 14.9 marriages per 1,000 ended in divorce in 2019, a rate that is the lowest it’s been since
1970, according to an analysis by author Wendy Wang, director of research for the Institute for Family
Studies. It’s even slightly less than in 1970 when it was 15.0, Wang wrote in an online analysis. The data is
derived from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. ... The drop in the divorce rate likely will
continue, despite the pandemic, Wang asserted. New data from the American Family Survey shows that 58
percent of married Americans say ‘the pandemic has made them appreciate their spouse more and half
agree that their commitment to marriage has deepened,’ Wang wrote. ... But the Census data also has
some bad news for the nation: The marriage rate continued to decline in 2019, hitting an all-time low.
‘For every 1,000 unmarried adults in 2019, only 33 got married. This number was 35 a decade ago in 2010
and 86 in 1970,’ Wang wrote.”
CIRCUIT COURT STRIKES DOWN BAN AGAINST “CONVERSION THERAPY”
(Friday Church News Notes, January 8, 2021, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org , 866-295-4143) -
The following is excerpted from “Court Strikes Down,” PJMedia, Nov. 25, 2020: “Last week, a panel on the
11th Circuit Court of Appeals effectively struck down two Florida bans on sexual orientation change efforts
(SOCE) that sought to ban counselors from putting minors through ‘conversion therapy.’ The court ruled
that the laws violated the First Amendment by restricting free speech. While LGBT activists have rightly
condemned the historic abuses of ‘conversion therapy’ in the past, modern SOCE therapists use patient-
directed talk therapy, not ‘shock therapy.’ When the City of Boca Raton and the County of Palm Beach
banned SOCE counseling, licensed marriage and family therapists Robert Otto and Julie Hamilton sued,
seeking an injunction to prevent the city and county from enacting their bans. ... The therapists argue that
‘their clients typically have sincerely held religious beliefs conflicting with homosexuality, and voluntarily
seek SOCE counseling in order to live in congruence with their faith and to conform their identity, concept
of self, attractions, and behaviors to their sincerely held religious beliefs.’ ... As Judge Grant wrote, ‘The
ordinances thus codify a particular viewpoint--sexual orientation is immutable, but gender is not— and
prohibit the therapists from advancing any other perspective when counseling clients.’ ... This involves an
unconstitutional restriction of free speech. ‘Whether therapy is prohibited depends only on the content of
the words used in that therapy, and the ban on that content is because the government disagrees with it.
And whether the government’s disagreement is for good reasons, great reasons, or terrible reasons has
nothing at all to do with it. All that matters is that a therapist’s speech to a minor client is legal or illegal
under the ordinances based solely on its content,’ Judge Grant wrote. ... Lawsuits against ‘conversion
therapy’ bans received a new lease on life thanks to NIFLA v. Becerra. In that decision, Justice Clarence
Thomas explicitly struck down California’s law forcing crisis pregnancy centers to advertise abortion under
the argument that states can regulate ‘professional speech.’ In striking down California’s law, Thomas
referenced a case (King v. Governor of New Jersey) involving bans on sexual orientation change efforts.
Otto v. Boca Raton represents a landmark case for therapy freedom.”
BIGGEST LOCKDOWN IS COMING
(Friday Church News Notes, January 8, 2021, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org , 866-295-4143) -
Lockdowns dominated the news for 2020, but the really big lockdown is in the future. Bible prophecy was
fulfilled literally and precisely in the first coming of Christ, and it will be fulfilled in the same manner in His
second coming. As a precursor, the Antichrist will lockdown the whole world with his worship program and
economic control scheme, backed up by the death penalty. It will be a global North Korea. “And he had
power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause
that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small
and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And
that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his
name” (Revelation 13:15-17). The Covid pandemic is child’s play compared with the trouble that looms on
the horizon. Billions of people will die during the Great Tribulation from wars, famine, pestilence,
earthquakes, and totalitarianism on a scale that will make Stalin and Mao seem like choir boys. It is all
described in the book of Revelation for those who are interested. It is called “the day of the Lord” because
it will spell doom for “the day of man.”
RESIGNATIONS FROM TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Betsy DeVos resigns as Education Secretary
BY JOSEPH CHOI
SEE: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/533281-betsy-devos-resigns-as-education-secretary;
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos tendered her resignation to President Trump on Thursday, making her the latest in a line of senior officials to exit following the riot at the Capitol on Wednesday.
In her resignation letter, DeVos cited the Capitol breach carried out by violent pro-Trump supporters as an “inflection point.”
DeVos is the second White House Cabinet member to resign due to the Capitol breach. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao tendered her resignation on Thursday, directly citing the events that occurred at the Capitol.
"We should be highlighting and celebrating your Administration's many accomplishments on behalf of the American people," DeVos wrote to Trump. "Instead, we are left to clean up the mess caused by violent protestors overrunning the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to undermine the people's business. That behavior was unconscionable for our country. There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me."
"Impressionable children are watching all of this and they are learning from us," she continued. "I believe we each have a moral obligation to exercise good judgment and model the behavior we hope they would emulate. They must know from us that America is greater than what transpired yesterday.
"To that end, today I resign from my position effective Friday, January 8, in support of the oath I took to our Constitution, our people, and our freedoms. Holding this position has been the honor of a lifetime, and I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to serve America and her students," DeVos concluded.
During her time as education secretary, DeVos has faced a great deal of controversy, much of it stemming from her lack of experience in education. Before Trump tapped her for the position, she had been a major donor to Republican campaigns.
DeVos on Monday sent a letter to Congress as one of her last acts as secretary making a case to expand federal tax dollars going to private schools, a cause DeVos supported long before she became education secretary.
During a virtual meeting in December, DeVos reportedly told Department of Education staffers to "resist" the incoming Biden administration.
"Let me leave you with this plea: Resist,” DeVos said. “Be the resistance against forces that will derail you from doing what’s right for students. In everything you do, please put students first — always.”
Updated: 9:32 p.m.
Brett Samuels contributed.
________________________________________________________________________
Transportation Secretary Chao resigns in protest
BY REID WILSON
SEE: https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/533167-transportation-secretary-chao-resigns-in-protest;
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao will resign in protest after a violent mob overran the Capitol after being incited by President Trump, a source with knowledge of her decision said Thursday.
Chao would become the first Cabinet official, and the highest-ranking member of the administration, to resign in the wake of Trump’s incendiary rally and its violent aftermath on Wednesday.
“Yesterday, our country experienced a traumatic and entirely avoidable event as supporters of the President stormed the Capitol building following a rally he addressed,” Chao wrote in a letter to Transportation Department staff, obtained by The Hill. “As I’m sure is the case with many of you, it has deeply troubled me in a way that I simply cannot set aside.”
Her exit is a sharp rebuke of a president who has alienated even some of his closest supporters with his increasingly unhinged rhetoric. Chao has served as Transportation secretary since Trump’s inauguration. She served as Labor secretary for eight years under President George W. Bush.
Chao is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who spent much of Wednesday locked in an undisclosed and secure location under armed guard as Trump-backing rioters marauded through the Capitol.
In her letter to employees, Chao said she would resign effective Monday. She said her team would continue assisting President-elect Joe Biden’s Transportation secretary-designate, former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, with the transition.
Chao’s exit will absolve her of uncomfortable questions over whether she would join any effort to remove President Trump from office two weeks before his term expires by invoking the 25th Amendment, which allows the majority of the Cabinet to replace a president with the vice president.
Her departure will anger those who wanted the Cabinet to take the historic step of replacing Trump with Vice President Pence. But Chao’s resignation is not effective until Monday, which could give Cabinet members time to organize their vote.
_________________________________________________________________________
Capitol Police chief announces resignation after pro-Trump riots
BY CRISTINA MARCOS
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:
Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund said Thursday that he will resign later this month after his police force failed to contain mobs who tried to prevent Congress from ratifying President-elect Joe Biden's victory.
His resignation letter came hours after Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called for him to step down.
Sund will have only been on the job for about seven months when he resigns effective Jan. 16. He made no mention in the letter of Wednesday's riots in the Capitol, but noted he will transition into a "sick leave status" starting Jan. 17 until he uses up his available sick leave balance of about 440 hours.
"It has been a pleasure and true honor to serve the United States Capitol Police Board and the Congressional community alongside the men and women of the United States Capitol Police," Sund wrote to the other members of the Capitol Police Board.
Other members of the Capitol Police Board are also resigning or are under pressure to follow suit.
Pelosi announced Thursday that the House sergeant at arms, Paul Irving, had tendered his resignation. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) also said Thursday that he would fire the Senate sergeant-at-arms, Michael Stenger, when Democrats take over the majority later this month.
Irving has served in his role since 2012.
"I think we have to have a full review," Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol earlier Thursday. "What was underestimated? That the president of the United States would not be as inciteful? Perhaps somebody thought for a moment that he would be patriotic before he leaves office for just this once."
A 35-year-old woman participating in the violent riots was shot by a Capitol Police officer as she tried to force her way toward the House chamber. Glass panels adorning the Speaker's Lobby — where she was trying to enter — are now cracked and broken due to the mob.
Sund said in a statement Thursday that the officer involved has been placed on administrative leave and is under investigation.
Sund also said that more than 50 Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police officers were injured, including several who were hospitalized with serious injuries.
Most of the insurrectionists were not wearing masks despite the COVID-19 pandemic and attacked police officers with metal pipes and chemical irritants.
The Capitol Police said earlier this week that it would have additional personnel on duty Wednesday in anticipation of demonstrations over Congress meeting in a joint session to formally certify the Electoral College votes.
But the Capitol Police were vastly overwhelmed by the raging mob. The D.C., Virginia and Maryland National Guard and state troopers were all called in to help contain the terror attack and it took about four hours to clear the Capitol complex.
Sund said in the earlier statement Thursday that the Capitol Police is conducting a "thorough review" of Wednesday's security planning and procedures but defended his force's actions.
"Maintaining public safety in an open environment – specifically for First Amendment activities – has long been a challenge. The USCP had a robust plan established to address anticipated First Amendment activities. But make no mistake – these mass riots were not First Amendment activities; they were criminal riotous behavior. The actions of the USCP officers were heroic given the situation they faced, and I continue to have tremendous respect in the professionalism and dedication of the women and men of the United States Capitol Police," Sund said.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), who chairs the House Administration Committee, said that she had been misled about the state of preparedness in a briefing with Sund and House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving earlier in the week.
"We were told that was all in place and there was no doubt completely able to keep us secure in the Capitol," she said, specifying that she had been told that the coordination with the National Guard was ready to go.
"Well, that was not correct. Not only were they not prepared, what they told me about the National Guard was just not true. The guard was not even activated," she said.
Lofgren also indicated that President Trump was slow to react to requests to mobilize the National Guard, an issue that normally falls to governors, but rests on the commander-in-chief when it comes to the District of Columbia.
A call from Congress's bipartisan leaders, she said, was necessary to get the Defense Department to mobilize the National Guard.
Niv Elis contributed.
The Hill’s Morning Report: Trump finally concedes; 25th Amendment pressure grows
BY ALEXIS SIMENDINGER AND AL WEAVER
SEE: https://thehill.com/homenews/morning-report/533289-the-hills-morning-report;
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:
Fallout from the breach of the Capitol by rioters continued on Thursday amid calls for the Cabinet and Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump as unfit to carry out his duties.
Under intense bipartisan pressure Thursday, the president acknowledged his defeat in the 2020 election one day after vowing he would continue to contest the results. In a nearly three-minute video taped at the White House, Trump decried the mob he had encouraged, which swarmed the Capitol on Wednesday as Congress confirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
“We have just been through an intense election and emotions are high. But now tempers must be cooled and calm restored,” Trump said. “A new administration will be inaugurated on Jan. 20. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth orderly and seamless transition of power. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation.”
The president’s sudden conciliatory outreach took place following a persuasion effort through Ivanka Trump, steered by White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and counsel Pat Cipollone, according to multiple outlets. It took place as at least 200 House lawmakers advocated expelling Trump from office (NBC News).
Early on Thursday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) advocated his removal, saying Trump’s final days in office posed a danger to the nation.
“This is an urgency of the highest magnitude,” Pelosi said. “While there are only 13 days left, any day can be a horror show for America” (The Hill).
Invoking the 25th Amendment, however, has been dismissed by Pence and ignored by the Cabinet, both necessary under the Constitution to proceed. According to The New York Times and Business Insider, the vice president opposes the idea of moving to declare Trump unfit to serve, despite his concerns about events he witnessed on Wednesday.
Biden on Thursday said in a statement through an aide that any invocation of the 25th Amendment would be up to the vice president and the Cabinet, not him. He avoided questions about impeaching Trump a second time (The Associated Press).
Most lawmakers approach discussions about removing Trump as a form of public censure rather than as a viable procedural option as Biden’s inauguration draws near.
Despite the president’s sudden embrace of “healing,” he is contemplating travel next week to the southwestern border to tout his controversial immigration policies, according to The New York Times. He’s also mulling the idea of a media exit interview. The president and his family have discussed departing the White House on Jan. 19, the Times reports, and sources tell Politico that Trump favors the idea of being able to use Air Force One, which is possible only while he’s president, to make his exit from Washington. Where he will go is unclear; a South Florida party or rally among friends and supporters is a possible destination, according to reports.
The Hill: Calls grow louder to remove Trump under 25th Amendment.
The Hill: Pelosi, Schumer say they haven't heard from Pence on invoking the 25th Amendment.
CNN: What is the 25th Amendment and how does it work?
Politifact: Using the 25th Amendment or impeaching Trump: Could they happen?
The Hill: Former White House chief of staff John Kelly says Trump Cabinet should discuss the 25th Amendment.
Two House Republicans on Thursday offered their support for a procedure to remove Trump. Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger became the first, with Rep. Steve Stivers (Ohio) adding he would “not be opposed.”
Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the two foremost objectors to the Electoral College count on Wednesday, joined Trump in feeling the wrath of some of their peers.
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a top Biden ally, called on Hawley and Cruz to resign. Book publisher Simon & Schuster announced it canceled the publication of a pending book by Hawley about Big Tech, withdrawing publication “after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom.”
Hawley fired back in a statement, calling the company’s decision a “direct assault on the First Amendment” (The Hill).
The Kansas City Star: “The biggest mistake I’ve ever made,” said former Sen. John Danforth (R-Mo.), who promoted Hawley at the outset of his political career.
The Hill: Donor who gave millions to Hawley urges Senate to censure him for “irresponsible” behavior.
Peggy Noonan: Bring the insurrectionists to justice.
Governors weigh in: Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), who has not discounted making a future bid for the White House, said he supports Trump’s removal from office or his resignation (The Hill). … Republican Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts echoed that position, calling on the president to “step down” in response to his behavior and the mob violence seen in Washington (The Hill). … North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D), who repeatedly clashed with Trump last year as the pandemic worsened, tweeted, “This president has betrayed our country and is therefore unfit to lead it. He should resign or be removed from office.”
> Trump & Republican lawmakers: The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports that GOP senators say they feel a sense of growing regret over not standing up to the president sooner in retrospect following Wednesday’s attack. One Republican senator who requested anonymity to discuss his conversations with GOP colleagues acknowledged GOP lawmakers should have served as a stronger check on the president over the past four years.
“We should have done more to push back, both against his rhetoric and some of the things he did legislatively,” said the lawmaker. “The mistake we made is that we always thought he was going to get better. We thought that once he got the nomination, and then once he got a Cabinet he was going to get better, he was going to be more presidential.”
> The president’s party: National Republicans interviewed by The Hill say Trump may have permanently alienated millions of center-right voters who were disgusted by Wednesday’s ugly scene in Washington. But they acknowledged that the president retains enormous political power for the time being, despite bipartisan calls that he resign or be ousted from the Oval Office immediately (The Hill).
> Legal jeopardy: The New York Times, Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haberman: Trump in recent weeks is said to have discussed with aides the prospect of pardoning himself. The president has long maintained he has such power and his polling of aides’ views is typically a sign he is poised to act. Trump has expressed concern that he will be a target of law enforcement after leaving office.
"His legal risks increase immeasurably come Jan. 21, both on the civil and the criminal side," Danya Perry, a former state and federal prosecutor in New York, told NPR in November.
LEADING THE DAY
REPERCUSSIONS: Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos resigned on Thursday in reaction to Wednesday’s tumultuous events in Washington (The Associated Press). … U.S. Special Envoy to Northern Ireland Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, resigned (CNBC) . … Ryan Tully, senior director for European and Russian Affairs at the White House, also quit (Bloomberg News), as did Tyler Goodspeed, the acting chairman of Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers, and Mark Vandroff, senior director for defense policy at the National Security Council (The New York Times and Defense News).
At least nine senior administration officials have announced their resignations (The Associated Press). At the same time, lawmakers and others are urging administration personnel to remain in place to help ensure an orderly transition.
“No matter what course of action is taken against President Trump in 13 days, Joe Biden will be sworn in as President of the United States. Until then, I urge the good men and women honorably serving at all levels of the federal government to please stay at their post for the protection of our democracy,” West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat who represents a red state, said in a statement. “The actions of a rogue president will not and should not reflect on you. Instead, your patriotism and commitment to the greater good of our country will be reaffirmed.”
Politico: Former White House communications director Alysa Farah: “I stepped down because I saw where this was heading.”
> Capitol security: Hours after Pelosi on Thursday called for the resignation of U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, he submitted his resignation with barely seven months on the job (The Hill). Pelosi also announced the resignation of the House sergeant-at-arms after the shocking breach of the Capitol by rioters.
Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), the top House appropriator charged with funding the Capitol Police, joined the Speaker on Thursday in promising an investigation or review of security planning and police responses, including the fatal shooting by an officer of a 35-year-old woman inside the Capitol. "There were some strategic mistakes from the very beginning," Ryan said (The Hill and Politico).
The Hill: Bipartisan anger builds over police failure at the Capitol.
The Hill: Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick collapsed after being injured while confronting rioters on Wednesday and died on Thursday night. He became the fourth fatality tied to the Capitol clashes.
During a news conference, Pelosi said her focus remains on what she called the “danger” Trump and his supporters pose between now and the administration of the oaths of office to Biden and Kamala Harris as vice president.
"If there's anything learned about [Wednesday's violence], is that we have to be very, very careful. Because these people and their leader, Donald Trump, do not care about the security of people, they don't care about our democracy, they don't care about the peaceful transfer of power," she said (The Hill).
The Associated Press reported that the Capitol Police turned down two offers of federal help — one from the Pentagon three days before Wednesday’s mayhem and another from the Justice Department on Wednesday with an offer of FBI assistance. The Capitol Police planned in advance only for a free speech demonstration, despite detailed news accounts (see The Washington Post) about extremist, pro-Trump groups that intended to rally in Washington to oppose Biden’s victory, with excitement about Trump’s invitation on Twitter: “Be there, will be wild!” (The New York Times).
Earlier in the day, Sund, a former D.C. police officer, defended his team’s response. The assault on the Capitol was “unlike any I have ever experienced in my 30 years in law enforcement here in Washington, D.C.,″ he said. ”Make no mistake: these mass riots were not First Amendment activities; they were criminal riotous behavior. The actions of the USCP officers were heroic given the situation they faced″ (The Associated Press).
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) on Thursday added to the day’s criticism. “Obviously it was a failure or you would not have had people enter the Capitol by breaking windows and terrorizing the members of Congress who were doing a very sacred requirement of their jobs,″ she said.
> Megaphones: In one of the most consequential reactions to Wednesday’s violence and Trump’s incendiary rhetoric, Twitter and Facebook on Wednesday initially took steps to temporarily suspend Trump’s accounts, despite howls of protest from the president’s base (The Washington Post). A day later, Facebook and Instagram (owned by Facebook), extended the suspension indefinitely — at least through the remainder of Trump’s presidency (The Washington Post).
Twitter, for years a powerful Trump megaphone, ended a 12-hour suspension of the president’s account on Thursday, noting that the platform might take further action while it tracks “activity on the ground and statements made off Twitter” (The Associated Press). The president had immediately deleted some of his tweets in an effort to release Twitter’s suspension (Fox News).
The social media behemoths have spent much of Trump’s term tiptoeing around objections that the president uses the platforms to spread false information and drive news media coverage while also employing divisive, bullying language akin to hate speech to assail people who do not have equivalent social media clout to fight back. Facebook and Twitter are under intense regulatory and congressional scrutiny as Democrats prepare to control both the executive and legislative branches this month.