• The ban on Trump and his supporters: Google and Twitter turn the US into a facsimile of the regimes we once condemned
• Shock and glee: Twitter's ban of US President Donald Trump evokes shadow of Orwellian corporate dictatorship
• Big Tech, monopoly and the pretense of capitalism

US takes back its assertion that Capitol rioters wanted to 'capture and assassinate' officials
Katelyn Polantz, Updated 0018 GMT (0818 HKT) January 16, 2021

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.

The entire line the prosecutors want to omit from their court filing is: "Strong evidence, including Chansley's own words and actions at the Capitol, supports that the intent of the Capitol rioters was to capture and assassinate elected officials in the United States Government."

The stunning move comes a few hours after the Michael Sherwin, the acting US attorney in Washington, DC, said at a press conference there was "no direct evidence of kill and capture teams" at this time in the siege of the Capitol building.

In court, Todd Allison, a line prosecutor for the Justice Department in Arizona, said DOJ may want to argue that type of assertion if Chansley goes to trial, but cannot say that at the moment.

"We do not want to mislead the court by discussing the strength of any specific evidence" related to his intent, Allison said.

Chansley will remain in jail as he awaits trial, a judge decided on Friday, after the Justice Department portrayed him as a particularly belligerent leader among the rioters. Chansley's case eventually will move to the federal court in DC.

The line was a chilling description yet of rioters who seized the Capitol last week, writing in a court filing that the intention was "to capture and assassinate elected officials."

Justice Department lawyers have begun describing in more alarming terms what transpired.

In a separate case, prosecutors in Texas court alleged that a retired Air Force reservist who carried plastic zip tie-like restraints on the Senate floor may have intended to restrain lawmakers.

Chansley's attorney said he is not violent.

"He loved Trump, every word. He listened to him. He felt like he was answering the call of our president," Chansley's attorney Al Watkins, appearing on CNN Thursday night, said. "My client wasn't violent. He didn't cross over any police lines. He didn't assault anyone." Watkins said Chansley also hopes for a presidential pardon.

Prosecutors describe those who took over the Capitol as "insurrectionists" and offer new details about Chansley's role in the violent siege last week, including that after standing at the dais where Vice President Mike Pence had stood that morning, Chansley wrote a note saying "it's only a matter of time, justice is coming."

Chansley later told the FBI he did not mean the note as a threat but said the Vice President was a "child-trafficking traitor" and went on a long diatribe about Pence, Biden and other politicians as traitors.

Before he was arrested, Chansley told the FBI he wanted to return to Washington for the inauguration to protest.

Prosecutors accuse Chansley of being a flight risk who can quickly raise money through non-traditional means as "one of the leaders and mascots of QAnon, a group commonly referred to as a cult (which preaches debunked and fictitious anti-government conspiracy theory)."

They also said Chansley suffers from mental illness and is a regular drug user, according to prosecutors' detention memo.

• MSNBC host Joy Reid stripped of LGBTQ award after more homophobic posts uncovered
• Snowflake viewers rip Ellen DeGeneres for forgiving Kevin Hart over 10yr-old homophobic tweets
• UK: Hospitals to deny care to "racist" or "homophobic" patients
• Irony overload: Will Autonomous Zone 'warlord' be canceled after old homophobic tweets surface?

• Parler CEO flees home with his family, goes into hiding after receiving death threats
• Parler said Amazon shut its service down to prevent Trump from joining
• How Silicon Valley, in a show of monopolistic force, destroyed Parler
• Parler CEO on 'shocking' restrictions by Amazon, Apple and Google: 'You just never think it will happen'

Bharat Biotech, an Indian pharmaceutical firm whose Covid-19 vaccine is being used in a nationwide immunization drive, has promised to fork over cash to those who suffer serious side effects from the drug.

Biotech's Covaxin is one of two jabs that have received emergency approval in India. Covishield, a jab based on the AstraZeneca/Oxford formula, is also being administered in a nationwide immunization drive that began on Saturday.

In a statement, Biotech said that it will pay compensation to recipients of its vaccine who experience "serious adverse effects," provided that the health episode is "proven to be causally related to the vaccine."

The firm also promised a "medically recognized standard of care" in government-designated hospitals or facilities, in the event that someone experiences a severe reaction to the drug. [...]

It's not clear how much an individual would receive under the compensation agreement, but even the promise of cash is somewhat unusual. For example, in the United States, companies such as Pfizer and Moderna have total immunity from liability if something goes awry with their vaccines.

Although the Indian government has hailed Covaxin, the decision to green-light the drug has been criticized by health experts and watchdog groups. Notably, the vaccine has yet to complete phase three clinical trials, raising questions about whether it has been properly vetted before hitting the market.

India hopes to immunize 300 million people by August, with long-term plans to administer the jab to most of its population.

• NBC host: Allegations against Kavanaugh are 'dynamite wrapped in radioactive material'
• A fresh mendacious assault on Brett Kavanaugh's character
• Tucker Carlson: What the revival of the left's smear campaign against Kavanaugh is really about
• The case against Kavanaugh is collapsing
• Confirmation vote delayed as Kavanaugh and Ford prepare to testify
• Witness named by Kavanaugh accuser, becomes third to deny knowledge of sexual assault
• Extreme bias: WaPo sandbagged a report that might have cleared Kavanaugh
• Grassley refers porn lawyer Avenatti and client Julie Swetnick to DOJ for criminal charges over Kavanaugh accusations

Antifa supporter Daniel Alan Baker trained in Syria in 2017 with the YPG, was featured on VICE, and in 2020 participated in the CHAZ insurrection in Seattle, per DOJ documents. Daniel Alan Baker wanted to stockpile AK-47s and build bombs in CHAZ district in Seattle to start "the revolution."