Metro to close 13 stations for a week amid threats of inauguration violence

Washington Posty
Justin George
Jan. 13, 2021 at 5:50 p.m. EST

Metro will shut down more than a dozen stations near the U.S. Capitol and Mall for days around the presidential inauguration because of the possibility of violent protests.

Starting Friday, the transit agency will begin closing 13 stations through the following Thursday, the day after President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on the steps of the Capitol. Metrobus service and routes also will be adjusted around a security perimeter guarded by fences and an expected 20,000 members of the National Guard.

The transit precautions were made through coordination with the Secret Service, which is directing safety of the event after last week’s attempted insurrection and riot at the U.S. Capitol that left five dead and wounded several others.

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Stations closing on Friday include: Farragut North, Judiciary Square and Union Station on the Red Line; Archives on the Green and Yellow lines; Arlington Cemetery on the Blue Line; Farragut West, McPherson Square, Federal Center SW, Capitol South, Smithsonian and Federal Triangle on the Blue, Orange and Silver lines.

Stations closing Saturday are Metro Center and Gallery Place, two of the largest transfer stations.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2021/01/13/metro-inauguration/

A Major Militia Group Said Its Website Was Taken Down Days After It Sent Members To The Capitol Riot

Buzzfeed News
Salvador Hernandez
Posted on January 13, 2021, at 6:18 p.m. ET

Oath Keepers, one of the largest right-wing paramilitary groups in the country, had its website suddenly shut down this week, temporarily closing one of its last remaining avenues to recruit and organize its ranks.

The group, which sent members and “security teams” to DC during the insurrection that left five people dead, claimed its hosting service, LiquidWeb, “caved to the Loony Left.” LiquidWeb did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The site went down on Monday, just days after a mob of President Trump’s supporters attacked police and stormed the US Capitol building in an effort to stop Congress from certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.

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It was unclear why the Oath Keepers website, which had been up for 11 years, was shut down Monday, but in an email to national leaders of the group, Oath Keepers President Stewart Rhodes claimed the site’s host, LiquidWeb, had revoked its services.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/salvadorhernandez/oath-keepers-website-epik-down

Impeachment passed 232 to 197

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner 'need not apply' to snooty Florida country club

By Emily Smith
January 13, 2021

Following her “American patriots” tweet, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner “need not apply” to the upscale Indian Creek Country Club near their $30 million plot of land on the exclusive Florida island nicknamed “The Billionaire’s Bunker.”

The island community — one of the wealthiest in the US — has just 29 residences, and residents include Julio Iglesias, Carl Icahn, Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen — but owning a home there doesn’t mean you get automatic membership in the country club.

A local source sniped, “You have to be nominated and make a formal application. But it only takes one member to object against any new member, and many members are objecting, particularly after the events at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

“Jared and Ivanka can lunch with their fellow ‘patriots’ at Mar-a-Lago.

https://pagesix.com/2021/01/13/ivanka-trump-jared-kushner-need-not-apply-to-florida-country-club/

World's oldest known cave painting found in Indonesia

January 13, 2021
Agence France-Presse via Raw Story

Archaeologists have discovered the world's oldest known cave painting: a life-sized picture of a wild pig that was made at least 45,500 years ago in Indonesia.

The finding described in the journal Science Advances on Wednesday provides the earliest evidence of human settlement of the region.

Co-author Maxime Aubert of Australia's Griffith University told AFP it was found on the island of Sulawesi in 2017 by doctoral student Basran Burhan, as part of surveys the team was carrying out with Indonesian authorities.
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The Leang Tedongnge cave is located in a remote valley enclosed by sheer limestone cliffs, about an hour's walk from the nearest road.

https://www.rawstory.com/worlds-oldest-known-cave-painting-found-in-indonesia/

TSA increases security measures on DC flights, including some second ID checks

CNN
Greg Wallace, Pete Muntean and Jeremy Diamond

Heightened airport security measures around inauguration in some cases include a second screening of passengers boarding flights, the Transportation Security Administration acknowledged to CNN.

The second check at the boarding gate is in addition to the standard screening procedures done at TSA checkpoints.

“This is a routine practice and represents one of the multiple layers of security that we employ,” agency spokesperson Carter Langston told CNN when asked about an account of TSA officers stopping passengers at the gate of a Washington-bound flight to check identification and bags.

***.

The screening of DC-bound passengers is in addition to a heightened security and police presence at the three Washington-area airports that has included armored vehicles and a notable number of visible officers in terminals.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/house-trump-impeachment-vote-01-13-21/

'It Is a Trap': Far-Right Freaks Out About Rallies It's Organized

Daily Beast
Will Sommer
Kelly Weill

ReporterPro-Trump activists who promoted the Jan. 6 protests that turned into the fatal Capitol riot are trying to distance themselves from future unrest as politicians and law-enforcement officials prepare for further violence ahead of the inauguration.

Extremism experts have focused on Jan. 17, as well as Inauguration Day and the days surrounding it, as potential flashpoints for violence. One Inauguration Day threat includes a “Million Militia March” that encourages armed Trump supporters to descend on D.C. A flyer circulating online that calls for an “armed march on Capitol Hill and all state capitols” on Jan. 17 has been cited as proof of the protest, although it’s not clear where the flyer originated or how much traction it’s gained on the right.

Capitol Police officials are taking no chances this time around. They briefed House Democrats late Monday about a series of potential threats including plans for the “largest armed protest ever to take place on American soil” and an alleged plot to either block Democrats from reaching the Capitol or kill them outright so that Republicans could take over the government.

Democrats were also warned about a more general threat for violence against politicians and police, according to a person familiar with the briefing, which was first reported by HuffPost and confirmed by The Daily Beast.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/it-is-a-trap-far-right-freaks-out-about-rallies-theyve-organized?ref=home

Airbnb to cancel all D.C. reservations during inauguration week

Washington Post
By Emily Davies

Airbnb will cancel and block all reservations in the Washington metro area during inauguration week after finding Airbnb accounts for “numerous individuals who are either associated with known hate groups or otherwise involved in the criminal activity at the Capitol Building,” the platform announced Wednesday morning.

The announcement cited Tuesday reports “regarding armed militias and known hate groups that are attempting to travel and disrupt the Inauguration” and warnings by the region’s leaders that visitors should refrain from traveling to the District over the next week.

The company said it will refund guests and reimburse hosts for canceled bookings. Airbnb has also banned from the platform all people associated with hate groups or involved in last week’s abortive insurrection at the Capitol.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/13/trump-impeachment-biden-transition-live-updates/#link-Z6HUGV27OFGDHIMLDNIJOVCON4

Top military officials preparing rare message to US forces in the wake of the Capitol attack

CNN's Barbara Starr and Oren Liebermann

Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff are preparing to send a message to the entire military force reiterating a tone of reassurance given recent violence in Washington, according to two defense officials.

The message will remind the force that their obligation is to support and defend the Constitution and reject extremism, the sources said. The decision to issue the message was agreed upon by the chiefs on Tuesday, one of the officials said.

It is considered a significant step because the chiefs have sought to stay out of anything that may have political overtones. But given what has happened, they all felt it was important to make a statement given the gravity of events surrounding the inauguration.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-impeachment-news-01-12-21/index.html

First two Capitol riot defendants indicted in Washington, including man alleged to have bombs

Source: CNN

From CNN Katelyn Polantz

The Justice Department on Tuesday filed its first federal grand jury indictments against two defendants linked to the Capitol riot, including against an Alabama man alleged to have parked a truck filled with homemade bombs, guns and ammo two blocks from the Capitol.

Both men were arrested last week and their criminal allegations were made public shortly after the riot. The indictments formalize the charges the men, after they were arrested under criminal complaint.

Lonnie Leroy Coffman of Alabama appears to be the most serious defendant of more than 20 known federal defendants so far. He is currently detained and is set to appear before a judge this afternoon.

According to the new indictments, Coffman faces 17 criminal counts, largely for possession of multiple weapons including ammunition, shotgun shells and various guns, including a shotgun, a rifle, 3 pistols and 11 Molotov cocktails without registration in Washington, DC, on Jan. 6, according to the indictment.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-impeachment-news-01-12-21/h_b0e0ac884e685a57434b9b3f04b29863