Good Morning,
Capitol Riot
The Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot is getting closer to the truth about who organized the rally that day, and the subsequent attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The Rolling Stone Magazine has carried an exclusive story with interviews from two organizers, who are said to be cooperating with the Jan 6 House investigation.
The two were promised Presidential pardons for the rally, and they have named Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Mo Brooks (R-AL), Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and Louie Gohmert (R-TX), as people with whom they planned.
They also claim that Gosar promised them a blanket presidential pardon they singled out Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows. “Meadows was 100 percent made aware of what was going on,” one of the sources said.
Katrina Pierson was a key figure in both accounts. She was on Trump’s campaign teams in 2016 and 2020, and worked with the organizers of the rallies before the mob stormed the Capitol.
The whistle blower who appeared before the U.S. Senate to accuse Facebook of profiting from hate on its platform, is now in Europe to give testimony for a Parliamentary Committee in Britain today.
Frances Haugen has said of Facebooks founder Mark Zuckerberg, “Right now, Mark is unaccountable. He has all the control. He has no oversight, and he has not demonstrated that he is willing to govern the company at the level that is necessary for public safety.”
Europe may be prepared to take tougher action against Facebook and other social media platforms in the form of fines, for knowingly failing to remove harmful material from platforms.
Erdogan and Turkey
Turkish President Erdogan has caused an international stir by moving to expel the Ambassadors of major allies including the U.S. and Canada.
Erdogan said he had instructed the foreign ministry to make the ambassadors of Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, New Zealand and the United States persona non grata, which means they will have to leave the country.
The ten governments, seven of which are Nato members alongside Turkey, released a statement last week calling for the release of Osman Kavala, a Turkish civil society activist and philanthropist who has been imprisoned for four years.
This story has all sorts of implications since 7 of these countries are NATO allies along with Turkey. And Erdogan may be struggling to hold onto power amidst growing unrest and long standing human rights violation which increasingly puts him at odds with his NATO allies. Russia will of course try to drive a wedge between Turkey and NATO. The Council of Europe may sanction Turkey over the Kavala case.
China and Covid
We rarely hear much news on China and Covid, especially considering this is where the virus began to infect the World. The Beijing marathon has been cancelled because of a new outbreak of the Delta variant. China has reported or under reported 133 cases across 11 provinces so far of the variant and growing.
China has implemented harsh lockdowns to suppress Covid and is trying to maintain zero tolerance of the virus leading up to the 2022 Olympic games in China.
A very quick look at the major stories of the day. Have a good Monday morning everyone.
Check our latest podcast on the murder of a British MP which aired first late last week.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1016881/9408142
Dana
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/25/frances-haugen-to-testify-to-mps-about-facebook-and-online-harm
https://theweek.com/donald-trump/1006364/2-jan-6-rally-organizers-say-they-will-implicate-gop-members-of-congress-in
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2021/10/23/turkeys-erdogan-expelling-10-ambassadors-including-us-official/?sh=125912381ae6
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-59033165