One of the domestic terrorists who stormed the Capitol building Wednesday has been fired by his employer after he was identified thanks to the work identification badge he was wearing as he ransacked the building, Tre Ward of WBAL NBC-11 Baltimore reports.

The unidentified individual was photographed wearing a Trump hat and carrying some sort of flag as he walked through the Capitol with others.  His work badge from Navistar Direct Marketing is plainly seen hanging from his neck.  Frederick, Maryland-based Navistar Direct Marketing does direct mail campaigns for advertisers.

“While we support all employee’s [sic] right to peaceful, lawful exercise of free speech, any employee demonstrating dangerous conduct that endangers the health and safety of others will no longer have an employment opportunity at Navistar Direct Marketing,” the company said in a statement.

Joe Biden has selected Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to be his Secretary of Labor, Politico reports. Mayor since 2014, Walsh served in the Massachusetts legislature from 1997 to 2014. He is former president of trade union Laborers’ Local 233, which he had joined at the age of 21. Walsh is a survivor of childhood cancer, having been diagnosed with Burkitt’s lymphoma at the age of 7.

DC police have identified the following three MAGA rioters who died of unspecified medical emergencies (described likely accurately as heart attacks in the headline) during the Capitol siege:

– Rosanne Boyland, 34, of Kennesaw, Georgia
– Kevin Greeson, 55, of Athens, Alabama
– Benjamin Phillips, 50, of Ringtown, Pennsylvania

The fourth fatality was Ashli Babbit, 40, of California, who was shot in the neck by a Capitol Police Officer as she tried to climb through the broken doors of the House chamber.

Future Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that he will fire the Senate’s Sergeant-at-Arms for failure to protect the chamber during Wednesday’s attack by domestic terrorists once Democrats formally taking control of the Senate later this month, Politico reports.

“If Senate Sergeant-at-Arms [Mike] Stenger hasn’t vacated the position by then, I will fire him as soon as Democrats have a majority in the Senate,” Schumer said in a statement to POLITICO.

It is unknown if the House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Irving will face the same fate after insurrectionists breached the floor of both chambers as Congress debated Arizona’s Electoral College slate of electors.

The House Sergeant-at-Arms is also under scrutiny for failing to act when a fight nearly broke out on the floor of the House last night between Republican Andy Harris, an anesthesiologist who represents Maryland’s 1st District, and former NFL linebacker and the Democratic Representative for Texas’s 32nd District Colin Allred.

Adam Serwer, The Atlantic: “The chaotic scene in Washington was familiar to American history but foreign to many living Americans – an armed mob seeking to nullify an election in the name of freedom and democracy. The violence was a predictable consequence of the president’s talent for manipulating dark currents of American politics he does not fully comprehend. What transpired yesterday was not simply an assault on democracy. It was an attack on multiracial democracy, which is younger than most members of the Senate.”

“The Washington Post described the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol as ‘would-be saboteurs of a 244-year-old democracy.’ But true democracy in America is only 55 years old, dating to 1965, the year the Voting Rights Act guaranteed suffrage – at least on paper – to all American citizens, regardless of race. Four decades later, a multiracial coalition elected a Black president. As in the past, the rise of Black men to political power made some white Americans question the wisdom of democracy. That president’s successor, and many of his supporters, now insists that he must be allowed to remain in power despite having lost his reelection campaign, arguing that his opponent’s victory is illegitimate regardless of the results, and demanding that votes from predominantly Black constituencies in swing states be thrown out. As Trump put it, ‘Detroit and Philadelphia – known as two of the most corrupt political places anywhere in our country, easily – cannot be responsible for engineering the outcome of a presidential race.’ Presenting the disenfranchisement of Black Americans as an exercise in good government is one of the most recognizable constants of American history.”

Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, who is also future Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s wife, has resigned from Donald Trump’s Cabinet, USA Today reports.

“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 said in a statement. “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.”

Chao is one of six original Cabinet members in the Trump Administration.  She becomes the first Cabinet-level official to resign in the wake of Wednesday’s insurrection by Trump supporters.

A video of new Republican Congresswoman Mary Miller of Illinois, standing in the shadow of the Capitol dome, telling a group of Trump supporters that “Hitler was right” in his goal to brainwash children is prompting members of Congress to seek her censure, the Chicago Tribune reports.

On the video, Miller can be heard praising Hitler to a pro-Trump conservative group Moms for America:  “Hitler was right on one thing.  He said whoever has the youth has the future.”  Miller’s office confirmed that she addressed the gathering.  [Video available after the fold.]

Yesterday, at the same time right-wing insurrectionists stormed the Capitol building to undermine the election of President-elect Joe Biden, Miller’s office tweeted out a defense of her statement:

Congresswoman Miller's statement was a denunciation of evil dictators' efforts to re-educate young people and similar efforts by left-wing radicals in our country today.

— Rep. Mary Miller (@RepMaryMiller) January 6, 2021

The Associated Press has compiled statements from world leaders in reaction to the scenes of insurrection taking place at the United States Capitol and to Donald Trump’s actions that led to violence.  A sampling:

“A fundamental rule of democracy is that, after elections, there are winners and losers. Both have to play their role with decency and responsibility so that democracy itself remains the winner….President Trump regrettably has not conceded his defeat since November, and didn’t yesterday either, and of course that has prepared the atmosphere in which such events, such violent events, are possible.” — German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“American democracy is obviously limping on both feet….This, alas, is actually the bottom. I say this without a shadow of gloating. America no longer charts a course and therefore has lost all rights to set it — and even more so to impose it on others.” — Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign affairs committee in Russia’s upper house of parliament.

Please, don’t be like #FakeNewsMedia, don’t rush to judgment on assault on Capitol. Wait for investigation. All may not be (and likely is not) what appears. Evidence growing that fascist ANTIFA orchestrated Capitol attack with clever mob control tactics.

Evidence follows:

— Mo Brooks (@RepMoBrooks) January 7, 2021

“Members of the House Judiciary Committee are set to announce articles of impeachment for President Donald Trump. Reps. David Cicilline (R-RI), Ted Lieu (R-CA) and Jamie Raskin (D-MD) have authored the articles, according to two individuals familiar with the matter” – Daily Beast.

Despite the claims of multiple conservative advocates on television and online, the face-painted, tattooed insurrectionist wearing buffalo horns is not an antifa follower and is in fact a rabid fan of Donald Trump who has attended multiple MAGA rallies, Reuters reports.

https://youtu.be/XszVpTUKl1k

The man seen in photos striding in the Capitol was identified as Jake Angeli, an Arizonan who has been interviewed at events supporting Trump.  He was interviewed by Arizona Central reporter BrieAnna J. Frank at a May 2020 Trump rally.

“Incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer calls for Donald Trump to be thrown out of office immediately, either by the 25th Amendment or impeachment” reports NBC’s Sahil Kapur.

Trump has withdrawn Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf’s nomination in response to Wolf’s comments blaming Donald’s fans for Wednesday’s shitshow at the Capitol, reports CNN’s Daniel Dale. I’ll have to check, but I don’t think Wolf was going to be confirmed any time in the next two weeks – a procedural move intended to reinforce current DHS policies against court challenges.

It’s with a heavy heart I am calling for the sake of our Democracy that the 25th Amendment be invoked. My statement: pic.twitter.com/yVyQrYcjuD

— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) January 7, 2021

“Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday said the company would block President Donald Trump from posting for the remainder of his term“ CNBC reports.

Donald Trump will award Presidential Medals of Freedom to three professional golfers in a scheduled White House ceremony Thursday afternoon, the Golf Channel reports.

One day after a coup attempt at the Capitol by a Trump-supporting mob, Annika Sorenstam, Gary Player and the late Babe Didrikson Zaharias will be awarded the Medal by Trump.

Trump has awarded 23 Medals of Freedom during his term.  Fourteen have gone to athletes or coaches, including four golfers.  One went to a dead Supreme Court judge, one to the wife of a political donor, one to a disgraced economist, one to an Army general, one to Elvis, one to a radio propagandist. three to politicians.  He has awarded none to people in the sciences, the fine arts, public service or academia.  Trump is expected to award another Medal of Freedom to coatless Republican Congressman Jim Jordan next week, despite persistent allegations that Jordan ignored sexual abuse as a wrestling coach.

AP: “Former Attorney General William Barr says President Donald Trump’s conduct as a violent mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol was a ‘betrayal of his office and supporters.’ In a statement to The Associated Press, Barr said Thursday that ‘orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable.’ Barr was one of Trump’s most loyal and ardent defenders in the Cabinet.”

“Supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol earlier this afternoon to protest lawmakers certifying Joe Biden’s election victory. According to initial reports, one person was shot and killed and at least one explosive device was found in the area. A YouGov Direct poll of 1,397 registered voters who had heard about the event finds that most (62%) voters perceive these actions as a threat to democracy. Democrats (93%) overwhelmingly see it this way, while most (55%) Independents also agree. Among Republicans, however, only a quarter (27%) think this should be considered a threat to democracy, with two-thirds (68%) saying otherwise.”

“In fact, many Republicans (45%) actively support the actions of those at the Capitol, although as many expressed their opposition (43%). Among all voters, almost two-thirds (63%) say that they ‘strongly’ oppose the actions taken by President Trump’s supporters, with another 8% say they ‘somewhat’ oppose what has happened. Overall, one in five voters (21%) say they support the goings-on at the Capitol. Those who believe that voter fraud took place and affected the election outcome are especially likely to feel that today’s events were justified, at 56%” – YouGov.

Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic: “We have promoted democracy in our movies and books. We speak of democracy in our speeches and lectures. We even sing about democracy, from sea to shining sea, in our national songs. We have entire government bureaus devoted to thinking about how we can help other countries become and remain democratic. We fund institutions that do the same.”

“And yet by far the most important weapon that the United States of America has ever wielded – in defense of democracy, in defense of political liberty, in defense of universal rights, in defense of the rule of law – was the power of example. In the end, it wasn’t our words, our songs, our diplomacy, or even our money or our military power that mattered. It was rather the things we had achieved: the two and a half centuries of peaceful transitions of power, the slow but massive expansion of the franchise, and the long, seemingly solid traditions of civilized debate. In 1945, the nations of what had been Nazi-occupied Western Europe chose to become democracies, partly because they aspired to resemble their liberators. In 1989, the nations of what had been Communist-occupied Eastern Europe also chose to become democracies, partly because they too wanted to join the great, prosperous, freedom-loving, American-led democratic alliance. A huge variety of countries all across Asia, Africa, and South America have also chosen democracy over the past several decades, at least partly because they wanted to be like us, because they saw a path to the peaceful resolution of conflict in imitating us, because they saw a way to resolve their own disputes just like we did, using elections and debate instead of violence.”