Secret Service Minimized Threats Before Jan. 6, Documents Show

A Secret Service unit responsible for identifying threats repeatedly downplayed advance warnings of potential violence on Jan. 6, 2021, newly released documents show, a lapse that is now part of the House investigation into the attack on the US Capitol.

The Secret Service Protective Intelligence & Assessment Division’s preparation and response to Jan. 6 is laid bare in nearly 900 pages of emails, internal reports and threat assessments obtained by Bloomberg News in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

The reports tell of extremist groups heading for Washington, including some that openly discussed employing violence to overturn the 2020 election results. But a series of internal memos circulated among agents repeatedly say “there is no indication of civil disobedience” associated with any of the planned protests.

The performance of the Secret Service and other law enforcement has become a flashpoint in a House committee’s investigation of the Jan. 6 assault since it was revealed that the agency had deleted text messages sent among agents that were sought by the committee.



https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-15/secret-service-minimized-threats-before-jan-6-documents-show

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Are Joe and Kamala safe?

Staff of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot investigative committee has been briefed on multiple phone calls in 2020 between an agent in the Secret Service’s protective intelligence division and members of the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia group, NBC News reported Friday.

The House select committee on Friday requested from the Secret Service all records related to communications between the agency and the Oath Keepers, including any contacts leading up to and after the violent Jan. 6, 2021, invasion of the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters, NBC reported.

The briefing to committee staff and subsequent records request was spurred by recent testimony at the ongoing federal criminal trial of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, who is accused with other defendants of seditious conspiracy.

Rhodes and his co-defendants are accused of plotting to stop the lawful transfer of power from former President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden.

Former North Carolina Oath Keepers leader John Zimmerman earlier this month testified about seeing Rhodes speaking on the telephone with a person who Zimmerman believed to be a Secret Service agent about what weapons group members could carry at an upcoming rally by Trump in September 2020.



https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/14/jan-6-probe-sees-contacts-between-secret-service-oath-keepers.html

Russia is firebombing Ukraine.

Employment has rebounded across racial groups -- except for Whites

By now, the United States has regained all of the jobs lost in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic. In February 2020, the high-water mark before the emergence of the coronavirus, there were 152.5 million people working. In August, the first month to pass the February 2020 level, there were 152.8 million employed. In September, the figure topped 153 million for the first time on record.

Yet digging into the numbers, we see that the recovery has not been uniform. White Americans, male and female, are still employed at lower rates than they were before the pandemic emerged.

The group that has rebounded the most is Asian Americans, now seeing employment 5.6 percent higher than in February 2020. The group that has gained employment since that month but at the slowest rate is Black Americans, for whom employment is now 1.4 percent higher than it was then. That’s because of Black men, for whom employment is 4.5 percent higher than in February 2020.

Black women have still not recovered all of the jobs lost during the pandemic; employment of Black women is 1.5 percent lower than it was in February 2020.

That’s just above White women, for whom employment is 1.6 percent lower than it was that month. Overall, White employment is still 0.8 percent below February 2020 levels.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/07/jobs-racial-groups-gender-biden/?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social

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Dow futures fall 170 points to start week with key inflation data, earnings ahead

Stock futures are lower Sunday night as the markets come out of a tumultuous week and traders look ahead to key reports coming in the next week that can offer insights into the health of the economy.

Futures connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.6% to 29,175 points. S&P 500 futures dropped 0.7% to 3,626.25 points, while Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.8% to 11,014.25 points.

Market observers generally consider the week ahead as the kickoff to earnings season, with four of the world’s largest banks – JPMorgan
, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Citi – reporting Friday. PepsiCo, Delta and Domino’s are also among companies reporting next week.

Inflation will also take center stage as new monthly Consumer Price Index data comes Thursday morning.

It will follow a week of whiplash for market participants. The first half brought a relief rally that pushed the S&P 500 up more than 5% in its largest two-day gain since 2020.

But jobs data that economists say will keep the Federal Reserve on a path to continue raising interest rates and OPEC+’s decision to slash oil supply rattled investors, diluting wins later in the week. When day trading ended Friday, the S&P was up 1.5% compared to where it started the week. The Dow and Nasdaq were up 1.5% and 0.7%, respectively.




https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/09/stock-futures-are-down-as-market-exits-rollercoaster-week.html

What is the big race or ballot measure where you're voting?

I just completed my California ballot and voted NO on Prop 27 which would legalize online gambling in the state. It's too much temtation for my son who said he won't gamble even if he fancy's himself a sports expert.

What is the big race or ballot measure where you live (local OR statewide).

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