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And while the astounding crimes at the US Capitol last week rightly captured headlines, the day was also rife with violence and threatened violence at other state capitol buildings as well.

Perhaps the original dress rehearsal for the Washington assault, however, occurred in Michigan last May, when an armed mob pushed its way into the state Capitol to protest a pandemic stay-at-home order issued by Democratic Gov.

In Idaho last August, anti-government and anti-vaxxer groups succeeded in disrupting a special session on the pandemic by overwhelming police and forcing their way into the Idaho House chamber.

If this comes as news, it could be because there are fewer reporters than ever covering statehouses.

Armed extremists have been allowed to menace lawmakers in buildings that belong to the people and must remain transparent and accessible to the people.

We ignore what happens in our state capitols at our peril.

Our state capitols stand as the symbols and workplaces of our democracy at home

Kevin Seefried told the FBI he had brought the Confederate flag with him to Washington from his home in Delaware, where he normally displays it outside.

Seefried was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Some people who stormed the Capitol have already come forward or have been identified by CNN and other news organizations. Many face criminal charges, and some have lost or left their jobs because of their participation.

On both sides of the Capitol, lawmakers, aides, police officers and reporters who had fled to secure locations have been warned that they might have been exposed to the coronavirus while hiding from the mob

“It angers me when they refuse to adhere to the directions about keeping their masks on,” Ms. Watson Coleman, a lung cancer survivor who will turn 76 next month, said in an interview. “It comes off to me as arrogance and defiance. And you can be both, but not at the expense of someone else.”

The scene that unfolded on Wednesday in that one secure room — where an offer of masks from Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester, Democrat of Delaware, was rejected by a group of Republicans — is emblematic of the challenge that has dogged Capitol Hill’s disorderly response to the pandemic.

Republicans accused Democrats, who needed their narrow majority fully present in person to confirm Ms. Pelosi as speaker, of subverting their own rules on the first day of the Congress

permitting the construction of a small plexiglass enclosure with its own ventilation system in one of the galleries so that lawmakers in a protective quarantine could vote in person

Complicating matters further, lawmakers in both parties have delayed receiving a vaccination, despite being granted primary access, arguing that essential workers needed to receive it first.

Law enforcement officials did not deny they are investigating allegations that Capitol Police and lawmakers were involved in the riot.

"we don't have any direct evidence of kill-capture teams,"

Some of the pro-Trump rioters who rampaged the Capitol were heard screaming "where's Mike Pence" and seen on video shouting "hang Mike Pence"

Authorities are investigating a growing number of current law enforcement officers who allegedly participated in the riots.

, if you are conducting or engaged in criminal activity, we will charge you and you will be arrested,"

Prosecutors have noted in court filings how several charged defendants have already spoken to investigators about the riot and how many have posted about their experience or footage they took of the riots on social media.

Many saw this coming. The rioters had been planning in plain sight. But perhaps Black Americans were the least surprised by the day’s events. The precedent had been set, time and again. We don’t have to look back that far for reminders: Whether in 1900, or 1925, or 1939, or 1965, or 2020, white terror has been deeply embedded in American culture, especially in the face of Black progress and the quest for freedom and equality.

For more than a century, Black Americans have documented and warned us of similar moments where racial terror and white supremacy were the status quo.

Less than a year later, at the height of the KKK’s popularity, 30,000 members descended upon Washington, and were welcomed by the city.

The whites, once again, had free rein to terrorize.

Civil rights activists, including the late John Lewis, set off to peacefully march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to advocate for equal voting rights. Lewis, then 25, was beaten by Alabama state troopers and his skull was fractured. Activist Amelia Boynton Robinson was knocked unconscious. They were tear-gassed. 

And then there are too many instances to list from the last six years of the Black Lives Matter movement. At protest after protest against police brutality, Black activists were met with state-sanctioned violence at the hands of police.

“I guarantee you if that was a Black Lives Matter protest in D.C., there would already be people shackled, arrested or dead,

“No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday, they wouldn’t have been treated very, very differently from the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol,” he said. “We all know that’s true, and it is unacceptable.” 

It is not clear if Lang has secured legal representation and attempts to reach his family have been unsuccessful.

Federal officials told reporters Friday that investigators had opened 275 criminal cases and charged roughly 98 individuals in connection to the January 6 riot by supporters of President Donald Trump at the Capitol.

inconsistent with the rule of law

violence,

50 states are preparing for possible violence

The House is expected to vote Wednesday on Trump's second impeachment,

DC National Guard is also providing additional training to service members

particularly the militia extremists among them -- is "scary."

"everybody will be fully prepared"

military leaders felt it was important to make a statement given the gravity of events surrounding the inauguration

'No place for extremism'

Lawmakers, deeply shaken by the hours of violence last week

"There is no place for extremism in the militar

"The Capitol grounds outside and inside are essentially a crime scene,"

To date, Trump has still not conceded, even after the House impeached him for a second time Wednesday.

Overall, 58% said Trump is to blame either a "great deal" or a "good amount" for the violence at the Capitol, while 40% said "not much" or "not at all."

When it comes to trusting that the results of the election are accurate, 60% said they do, while 38% said they don't.

As with most things in the Trump presidency, there's a big split between whites with college degrees and those without — 67% of whites with degrees trust the results, while 50% of whites without do not.

By a 50%-43% margin, Americans do not think social media companies should continue to restrict Trump's use of their platforms beyond his term as president.

There are 1,012 registered voters in the survey. Where they are mentioned, the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

"I think we showed very much our true colors. This is not the first time we have seen a murderous mob like that.

"Unleashing a White supremacy mob is nothing new to America as people of color, Black and Brown, know that very well."

"If we do not punish this and investigate this to the fullest extent it only encourages more of this to happen,"

"The US crest is not to be confused with anything that has to do with White supremacy, anything that has to do with the Trump administration, anything that has to do with that divisive culture that we saw on the Capitol.

Republican Party is an illiberal anti-democratic nativist global outlier, with positions more extreme than France’s National Rally, and in line with the Germany’s AfD, Hungary’s Fidesz, Turkey’s AKP and Poland’s PiS, according to the widely respected V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) Institute.

The GOP has been sliding into authoritarianism over two decades, using increasingly demonizing rhetoric against its opponents.

Historically, democracy dies.

Three-quarters of Americans disapprove of the January 6 mob’s actions, and Trump’s seemingly immovable approval floor dropped by about more than six points. In the days after, only 13 percent of Americans considered themselves “Trump Supporters” while another 16 percent considered themselves “Traditional Republicans.” If “Trump Supporters” were their own party, they’d be about as popular as Germany’s far-right AfD, which polled at about 15 percent for 2019, though their support more recently dropped off to 11 percent.

. For decades, majorities of Americans have told pollsters they want more parties to choose from, and registered their dissatisfaction with the two-party system by increasingly identifying as independents.

But as the two parties began sorting more clearly along liberal-conservative lines as “culture war” issues starting in the 1970s, and as American politics nationalized around these cultural issues, and, starting in the 1990s, as the long-time Democratic control of the House ended, every election became a high-stakes all-or-nothing fight for control of federal power.

The only way to elevate the moderate Republicans is for Congress to use its constitutional authority (Article I, Section IV) to change how we vote, and create electoral opportunities for a center-right to rise again.

Vice President Mike Pence to enact the 25th Amendment on the House floor.

House Democrat introduces resolution calling on Pence to invoke 25th Amendment

“Total waste of time,”

 reject the call to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump.

Pence also wrote that invoking the 25th Amendment "in such a manner would set a terrible precedent."

He urged Pelosi and all members of Congress to "lower the temperature and unite our country as we prepare to inaugurate President-elect Joe Biden."

a pardon could stave off prosecution."

main concern is protecting himself and his family.

The riot at the Capitol raises the potential of new legal exposure for the President

Trump defended his remarks from Jan. 6, saying they were "appropriate

Trump might issue a blanket pardon to cover himself and his children up

he thinks that he and his family have been unfairly targeted

attack on the Capitol creates a new dynamic surrounding the messaging and "public relations"

, I don't think the arsonists and vandals who caused damage in Portland, Oregon and other cities last summer need to be listened to either

They broke windows, scaled walls, carried a Confederate flag into the Capitol Rotunda, defecated in the halls of the Capitol, killed a police officer, savagely beat another one with a pole holding an American flag and crushed yet another officer in a door while he screamed for help.

73% of Republican voters believe there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election

A Pew poll finds that roughly 41% of Republicans who have heard of QAnon, a group that peddles the conspiracy theory that a ring of satanic pedophiles have taken over the US government, say QAnon is a good thing for the country.

I think the time for listening to present-day Trump supporters is over.

I think at this point the smartest thing the rest of us could do is no longer give warped Trump supporters a platform and no longer lend them our ears. It's time to turn off their microphones.

Because the District is not a state, the Defense Department has authority over the D.C. Guard, and that control is delegated to Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy

When the riot began Wednesday, the couple hundred D.C. Guard members already on the streets needed an explicit request from federal authorities to go to the Capitol, since that is federal jurisdiction.

Many are still stinging from the chaotic law enforcement response last June to Washington street protests over the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. Critics decried what they saw as an overly militarized approach to containing the problem. This was in part due to the military-style clothing worn by some federal law enforcement personnel.

The Pentagon has already activated 10,000 Guard members for the next several weeks, and has authority to tap as many as 15,000.

The Pentagon has no intention of including active-duty forces in Inaugural Day security.

"A basic rule of democracy is that after elections there are winners and losers," Merkel said. "Both have their part to play with decency and responsibility so that democracy itself remains secure.

"Disgraceful scenes in U.S. Congress," Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain tweeted. "The United States stands for democracy around the world and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power."

He noted that for generations, American democracy has inspired millions of people, including him.

I have no doubt that American democracy will prevail — it always has."

"Everyone saw what a populist did to his country and damaged his country's reputation in the international arena."

"While people in Palestine & in many other places in the world are struggling to achieve democracy, there are those in the US who are actively sabotaging theirs,"

Trump's malfeasance has led the country down that awful, divisive path twice in just more than a year.

The city Trump has called home for four years is being turned into an armed camp incongruous with the mood of joy and renewal that pulsates through most inaugurations.

eight days

unintended irony, Biden's team has picked "America United"

It is becoming ever more obvious that the horrific scenes on Capitol Hill on Wednesday were not a one-off.

In a chilling new warning, the FBI revealed the possible next stage in this now nationwide wave of radicalization, saying armed protests were planned at state Capitols in all 50 states between January 16 and Inauguration Day, January 20.

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was shocked by the magnitude of the bureau's intelligence on possible new violence.

"I don't think in the entire scope of my career working counter terrorism issues for many, many years, I don't think I ever saw a bulletin go out that concerned armed protest activity in 50 states in a three- or four-day period,"

he was not afraid of taking the oath of office outside next week

So far, after a massive domestic terror attack on the citadel of US democracy, there has been no major public briefing by any major federal law enforcement agency or the White House, an omission that fosters a sense of an absent government

By contrast, senior officials from the outgoing Bush administration and the incoming Obama administration worked closely together in the Situation Room on January 20, 2009, when there was concern about the authenticity of terror threat to the inauguration.

current atmosphere of fear and wild political insurrection

Momentum towards impeachment is now all but unstoppable

hinted at the insincerity of the Republican approach.

With a few exceptions, Republicans -- who indulged and in many cases supported Trump's blatantly false claims of electoral fraud for weeks -- have responded to the uproar over last week's Capitol attack by complaining that by pushing impeachment, Democrats are fracturing national unity.

His comment eerily recalled the rationalizations of Republicans who declined to convict Trump in his first impeachment trial after he tried to get Ukraine to interfere in the election to damage Biden.

has emerged from many dark periods since the Civil War

Trump has not appeared in public for days.

The virus is meanwhile running rampant. Eleven states and Washington, DC, just recorded their highest 7-day average of new cases of Covid-19 since the pandemic began. For the first time, the country is averaging over 3,000 deaths from the pandemic per day.

hopes that the nation could soon turn a corner are being tempered by the glitches in the vaccine roll out.

The thing that I’ve been most assiduously tracking for the last 20 years is the sort of crossover and mainstreaming of the radical right within the mainstream conservative movement. We saw it during the Bush years, but it really started taking off after Obama was elected.

During the Trump years, he just basically took the lid off Pandora’s box and all the demons came out. Right now, we’re hoping at least to try to get the lid back on, but we’re going to be dealing with all those demons that came flying out for many years afterwards.

I don’t see removing Fox News from the air, but I think that the organization itself really needs a come-to-Jesus moment to recognize that it’s inflicted tremendous harm on the country and really work to repair that damage.

There’s now a sizable section of America that might not be violent extremists or adhere to violent extremist ideology but has been radicalized to this point that they believe in conspiracies and openly support anti-democratic action.

But after so many years, a lot of these radicalizing elements have become so embedded in politics and in the media. It seems like that is a very difficult thing to disentangle.

The plan on Gretchen Whitmer is particularly striking. If I had to guess, what we’re going to be seeing in the next four years is a combination of lone wolf action, as well as organized paramilitary bands engaging in domestic terrorism.

He was part of the group that managed to get on the grounds last week during a protest, and there is this video of him talking to this news reporter from one of the local TV stations and telling her “we’re gonna start killing you, rest in peace, better start looking over your shoulder because we’re gonna start killing all of you.”

I believe, there was a lot of talk about “we need to start targeting the media.” 

. I think that journalists would be wise, especially if they’re doing any reporting on this stuff, to take measures to increase their personal security, and I think news organizations need to be providing bodyguards and security assistance for reporters who are out there in the field.

Many face criminal charges, and some have lost or left their jobs because of their participation.

“Who are these people? This is not America,” Navarro said. “I was a distinguished public servant for four years.”

A Feb. 9 letter to Navarro from the House committee issued with the subpoena said the panel had reason to believe he had information relevant to the investigation in the riot and invasion of the Capitol, which disrupted for hours the certification by a joint session of Congress of the election of Biden.

Navarro called the circumstances of that arrest an example of “prosecutorial misconduct.”

Navarro argues in his suit that the committee was improperly created and that its subpoenas, as a result, are unenforceable.

Navarro is next due to appear in court on June 17.

Capitol Hill staffers spend most of their morning media consumption on email newsletters on their mobile devices before switching to websites, then radio, then social media before bed. In contrast, a federal executive usually spends the morning watching television, listening to radio during the commute, reading email newsletters and websites during the day before radio again during the commute and television before bed.

And print is far from dead for Washington insiders — 69 percent of Capitol Hill respondents said they still consume print editions throughout the workday, mainly because of how readily available the printed versions are around the Hill.

the racial and income and power inequalities evident in that video shouldn't exist.

Black people have always been forced into a kind of Sophie's choice, to love a place that has for too long hated us while knowing that's what's best for us all, nevertheless.

Black people cleaning up after a White mob trying to undermine democracy is a powerful image

They didn't get caught up in returning hatred with hatred, anger with bitterness, confrontation with balled fists.