How did Trump define the January 6 riots as “the day of love”?
Four years ago today, protesters, fueled by Donald Trump's lie that the election was stolen from him, attacked the Capitol with batons, chemical irritants and other weapons.
Several people died during and after the riot, including one protester from a gunshot wound and four police officers who committed suicide. More than 140 officers were injured. After the attack, Trump's political career seemed to be over. But after two weeks, he swears.
In the years following the riot, both he and his followers made considerable efforts to rediscover the events of the day. They spread conspiracy theories for their ultimate political gains. As his allies in Congress and the media downplayed the attack and deflected blame, the violent rioters—tried, convicted, and imprisoned—became patriotic martyrs.
Now Trump has the platform to turn the attack into what he calls a “day of love.” He has promised to pardon the rioters in the first hour of his new administration, and his supporters in Congress are pushing for criminal charges against those investigating his actions. Trump turned even a violent day upside down and turned it into political capital.
Russia and others are using hybrid tactics to target the West
Russia, Iran and other hostile powers have become increasingly brazen using “gray zone” attacks — such as the hacking of sensitive computer systems, alleged assassination plots and surveillance drones flying near military bases — against Western countries.
Officials said that Britain, Germany, the United States, the Baltic and Northern European countries near the Russian border are among the most targeted by hybrid threats, partly because of their great support for Ukraine. Although Russia has denied that it has organized hybrid attacks against NATO, NATO officials have said that Moscow has created a special directorate aimed at carrying them out.
They present a complex challenge to defense officials: How do countries prevent such actions without sparking a broader conflict? When holidays are meant to avoid guilt, how do they define guilt?
Syrians are getting back their normal freedoms
There are now picnics and fireworks on the mountaintop, where no one but soldiers were allowed to fire on the rebel-held areas below. Protest songs that once could have meant prison sentences are now heard in the streets. Hundreds of people gathered to hear an activist speak, and there is an open trade in dollars and imported Nescafé.
“We feel like the city is coming back to us,” dental student Mohammad Ghatafani, 21, said of Damascus.
“For about 24 years, I have killed and destroyed many bodies. I try to remember, but I can't remember everyone.”
Edgar Matobato says he has killed many times for former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. He was part of Duterte's brutally violent, extrajudicial campaign against drugs and other social ills that claimed at least 20,000 lives. Now he is on the run and trying to survive to testify.
The Lives He Lived: Tomiko Ituka, considered the world's oldest person, died in a nursing home in Ashiya, Japan. He was 116 years old.
CONVERSATION STARTERS
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Welcome home: one exclusive interviewBad Bunny discusses why his new album is filled with the traditional sounds and rhythms of Puerto Rico.
ART AND IDEAS
Hong Kong taxis are facing the end of an era
Often grumpy and in a hurry for the next fare, Hong Kong taxi drivers have been doing their job for decades. They often move quickly and recklessly, handle customers and usually only accept cash. They are an anomaly in the city's elegant transit network, a symbol of the high-stress, no-fuss culture of the working class.
But amid complaints from passengers and the need to revive the struggling tourism economy, the government last month passed new rules: by 2026, all taxis must be equipped with systems for credit cards and digital payments, and must have additional surveillance cameras.
Changing taxi driver habits in this city of seven million can't be harder, but as one taxi driver observed, “the world has changed – you have to accept it.”