Via Task & Purpose:

President Donald Trump has reduced the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan to its lowest level since 2001, but as he prepares to leave the White House, it is clear the latest Forever War is raging here at home.

Acing Defense Secretary Chris Miller announced on Friday that the U.S. military now has 2,500 troops in Afghanistan and another 2,500 troops in Iraq, completing the drawdowns that he announced on Nov. 17.

Miller did not mention Syria, where about 900 U.S. troops are operating as part of a shadowy proxy conflict with Russia.

The nearly 6,000 U.S. troops downrange pales in comparison to the roughly 21,000 National Guardsmen that Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy has authorized to be called up to protect President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

This surge comes amid questions about why the roughly 340 D.C. National Guardsmen who had been mobilized for a Jan. 6 pro-Trump rally that turned into a violent insurrection were not quickly dispatched to the Capitol building, where police had been overwhelmed by a mob of Trump’s supporters.

The Defense Department Inspector General’s Office announced on Friday that it is looking into exactly what help the U.S. military was requested to provide before and during the Jan. 6 riots and how the Pentagon responded.

Keep reading…

Via CNN:

Justice Department prosecutors have formally walked back their assertion in a court filing that said Capitol rioters sought to “capture and assassinate elected officials.”

A federal prosecutor in Arizona asked a magistrate judge in a hearing on Friday to strike the line in a recent court filing about defendant Jacob Anthony Chansley, a man who is alleged to have led some in the crowd in the first wave into the Capitol with a bullhorn while carrying a spear and wearing a fur headdress.

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That salty discharge is the collagen leaking out, not tears.

Via The Sun:

Pelosi was speaking about the incident that took place last week when she started crying.

“The general is a respected leader with experience dealing with crises ,” she said, referencing General Russel L. Honoré.

She went on to say how grateful she was for the military officer, before her voice cracked and she said it was a “very emotional time.”

“[I am] very passionate on this assault on our democracy,” she said.

Pelosi said there were “so many disgusting images” from the riots in Washington DC.

She appeared teary-eyed as she spoke of a man wearing a shirt with “Auschwitz” on it during the insurrection.

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Just what the world needs, freaked out anarcho-libertarians with guns…

Via Atlantic:

In the menagerie of right-wing populist groups, the boogaloo bois stand out for their fashion, for their great love of memes, and, to put it plainly, for the incoherence of their ideology. Which is saying a lot, considering that the riot at the Capitol last Wednesday featured partisans of the long-gone country of South Vietnam, Falun Gong adherents, end-times Christians, neo-Nazis, QAnon believers, a handful of Orthodox Jews, and Daniel Boone impersonators.

The boogaloos weren’t a huge presence in that mob. But according to federal officials, the attack on the Capitol has galvanized them and could inspire boogaloo violence in D.C. and around the country between now and Inauguration Day. The FBI warned earlier that boogaloos could launch attacks in state capitols this Sunday, January 17.

The boogaloos don’t appear interested in fighting for Donald Trump—they tend to despise him, mostly because they think he panders to the police. But for the past year, boogaloo bois all over the United States have been cheering on the country’s breakdown, waiting for the moment when their nihilistic memes would come to life and the country would devolve into bloody chaos.

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Via ABC:

The National Rifle Association announced that it intends to restructure as a nonprofit based in Texas and has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections.

“The move will enable long-term, sustainable growth and ensure the NRA’s continued success as the nation’s leading advocate for constitutional freedom — free from the toxic political environment of New York,” the gun advocacy group said in a statement Friday.

The NRA added that it has been incorporated in New York for approximately 150 years.

“This strategic plan represents a pathway to opportunity, growth and progress,” NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre said in a statement. “Obviously, an important part of this plan is ‘dumping New York.’ The NRA is pursuing reincorporating in a state that values the contributions of the NRA, celebrates our law-abiding members, and will join us as a partner in upholding constitutional freedom.”

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Via Fox Business:

Microsoft founder Bill Gates is now the owner of the most farmland in the United States, according to Land Report.

The Land Report researchers concluded that Gates, now the fourth richest man in the world, and his wife, Melinda, own 242,000 acres of farmland.

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They own roughly 52,000 more acreages than the Offutt family, who sit at No. 2 on Land Report’s list of families who own the most farmland in the U.S.

In total, Bill and Melinda Gates have acquired land in more than a dozen states. However, his largest land holdings are in Louisiana (69,071 acres), Arkansas (47,927 acres), Nebraska (20,588 acres), Arizona (25,750 acres) and Washington state (16,097).

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And Cuomo is the moron who gets the Emmy and praise.

Via Texas Tribune:

One month after the first shipments of COVID-19 vaccines arrived in the state, Texas has become the first in the nation to administer 1 million doses, Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday. The milestone comes as intensive care beds are dwindling across the state and as experts predict daily coronavirus cases and hospitalizations will worsen following an influx of holiday season gatherings.

“This is the biggest vaccination effort we have ever taken,” Abbott said in a news release. “We still have a long road ahead of us, but Texans continue to prove that we are up to this challenge.”

Texas has administered more doses than any other state, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state has administered nearly half of the more than 2 million doses it’s received so far, putting it in the top 20 states for percentage of doses administered.

Keep reading…

Narrator: yes they do

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman: "This idea that saying that Pennsylvania was 'rigged' or that we were 'trying to steal the election' — that's a lie. And you do not have the right, that is not protected speech." pic.twitter.com/2f2ERSSLXy

— The Hill (@thehill) January 15, 2021

h Amtrak, the government’s OTHER tit sucker next to the Post Office and Social Security.

Via NY Post:

Amtrak is responding to the largest union of rail workers calling for heightened security in Washington DC ahead of Inauguration Day travel.

“We join our labor partners in continuing to call upon Congress and the Administration to make assaults against rail workers a Federal crime, as it is for aviation workers and to expand the TSA’s ‘No Fly List’ to rail passenger service,” Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn said in a statement obtained by Fox News Thursday.

Amtrak said it was increasing police enforcement, limiting ticket sales and banning anyone who is not compliant with its policies, including mask-wearing following the violent attack on the US Capitol for Wednesday’s Inauguration ceremony.

Keep reading…

Via US News:

THE 20,000 NATIONAL Guard troops preparing for pro-Trump demonstrations this weekend in the nation’s capital will be armed and permitted to use lethal force, the headquarters overseeing them says, marking a striking escalation in the way authorities there are preparing for repeat violence after last week’s deadly mob.

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Via CBS:

ANTIOCH (KPIX 5) — A petition to recall Governor Gavin Newsom is gaining traction, with nearly a million signatures already collected and indications that state Democrats are beginning to take it seriously.

If Governor Newsom didn’t have enough problems to deal with during the COVID-19 pandemic, now he has one more: recall petition supporter Steve Scheye.

“We’re starting to get 100 signatures a day at a location like this. When I first started, I was getting 10, 20 a day,” Scheye said as he held up a “Recall Gavin Newsom” sign across the street from the Costco in Antioch.

Scheye has been volunteering every day to gather signatures for a recall ever since he lost his engineering job to the COVID-19 shutdown. He said a wide range of people are signing the petition.

“They’re people whose business has shut down, small businesses,” Scheye explained. “They’re mad about big businesses getting preferences over small businesses. People that want to go to church. They’re not allowed to go to church; that’s a big thing.”

Keep reading…

Via NPR:

The federal government Thursday night executed a drug trafficker responsible for seven murders in 1992. His attorneys have claimed moving forward with the execution would be “cruel and usual punishment” because of his recent COVID-19 infection.

Corey Johnson, 52, was executed at the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Indiana and pronounced dead at 11:34 p.m. He is the 12th person to be executed by the government since July after the Trump administration restarted federal executions following a 17-year hiatus.

Dustin Higgins is the last person scheduled to be executed before President-elect Joe Biden, is sworn in. Higgins, who is scheduled to die on Friday, also contracted COVID-19 while in prison. Biden has indicated he may seek to abolish federal executions.

Keep reading…

COVID, the new mental illness…

Via AP:

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A pigeon that Australia declared a biosecurity risk has received a reprieve after a U.S. bird organization declared its identifying leg band was fake.

The band suggested the bird found in a Melbourne backyard on Dec. 26 was a racing pigeon that had left the U.S. state of Oregon, 13,000 kilometers (8,000 miles) away, two months earlier.

On that basis, Australian authorities on Thursday said they considered the bird a disease risk and planned to kill it.

But Deone Roberts, sport development manager for the Oklahoma-based American Racing Pigeon Union, said on Friday the band was fake.

The band number belongs to a blue bar pigeon in the United States which is not the bird pictured in Australia, she said.

Keep reading…

Via Wyoming GOP:

The wind in Wyoming has been horrendous today—with gusts up to 65 miles per hour. That is nothing compared to the whirlwind created by Representative Cheney’s announcement that she would be voting to impeach President Trump, and her subsequent follow-through of doing just that.

There has not been a time during our tenure when we have seen this type of an outcry from our fellow Republicans, with the anger and frustration being palpable in the comments we have received. Our telephone has not stopped ringing, our email is filling up, and our website has seen more traffic than at any previous time. The consensus is clear that those who are reaching out to the Party vehemently disagree with Representative Cheney’s decision and actions.

Keep reading…

Via Daily Caller:

Federal prosecutors on Thursday announced charges against John Sullivan, a self-described left-wing activist who recorded the fatal police shooting of a Trump supporter inside the U.S. Capitol last week.

Sullivan, the founder of a group called Insurgence USA, which formed in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, is charged with illegally entering the Capitol, civil disorder, and violent or disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Sullivan, 26, faces separate charges of rioting and criminal mischief in connection with an incident in Provo, Utah on June 30, 2020, where a person was shot and injured during a protest against police brutality.

Keep reading…

Via Fox News:

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that Congress is “looking into” media literacy initiatives to help “rein in” the press to combat misinformation in the wake of last week’s deadly breach of the U.S. Capitol.

During a lengthy live stream on Instagram on Tuesday night, the leader of the so-called “Squad” discussed the aftermath of the Capitol riot, how she feared for her life during the chaos and what needs to be done going forward.

At one point, Ocasio-Cortez read a question from a viewer who asked if there is discussion in Congress on “truth and reconciliation or media literacy initiatives” to help with healing.

“I can say, there is absolutely a commission being discussed but it seems to be more investigatory, in style rather than truth and reconciliation, so I think that’s an interesting concept for us to explore, and I do think that several members of Congress, in some of my discussions, have brought up media literacy because that is a part of what happened here and we’re going to have to figure out how we rein in our media environment so that you can’t just spew disinformation and misinformation,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

LEMON: “No, I just explained to you, if you are on that side you need to think about the side you’re on. I’m never on the side of the Klan. I am never — principled people, conservative or lishlgs never on the Klan side. Principled people, conservative or liberal, never on the Nazi side. Principled people who are conservative or liberal, never on the side that treats their fellow Americans as less than, that says that your fellow Americans should not exist, that says your fellow Americans should be in a concentration camp or that sides with slavery or sides with any sort of bigotry.”