I'll put the UK readout in first comment

full original headline: Self-styled militia members planned on storming the U.S. Capitol days in advance of Jan. 6 attack, court documents say

By Spencer S. Hsu, Tom Jackman & Devlin Barrett @ WashingtonPost.com, Jan. 19 8:48 PM ET

Self-styled militia members from Virginia, Ohio and other states made plans to storm the U.S. Capitol days in advance of the Jan. 6 attack, and then communicated in real time as they breached the building on opposite sides and talked about hunting for lawmakers, according to court documents filed Tuesday.

While authorities have charged more than 100 individuals in the riot, details in the new allegations against three U.S. military veterans offer a disturbing look at what they allegedly said to one another before, during and after the attack — statements that indicate a degree of preparation and determination to rush deep into the halls and tunnels of Congress to make “citizens’ arrests” of elected officials.

U.S. authorities charged an apparent leader of the Oath Keepers extremist group, Thomas Edward Caldwell, 66, of Berryville, Va., in the attack, alleging that the Navy veteran helped organize a ring of dozens who coordinated their movements as they “stormed the castle” to disrupt the confirmation of President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral college victory.

“We have about 30-40 of us. We are sticking together and sticking to the plan,” co-defendant Jessica Watkins, 38, an Army veteran, said while the breach was underway, according to court documents.

“You are executing citizen’s arrest. Arrest this assembly, we have probable cause for acts of treason, election fraud,” a man replied, according to audio recordings of communications between Watkins and others during the incursion..[.....]

The theft, by a 19-year-old who worked at a Kroger in Duluth, Ga., occurred over two weeks when a supermarket compliance officer was away, the authorities said.

By Neil Vigdor @ NYTimes.com, July 21

A teenage employee stole nearly $1 million from a Kroger supermarket in the metro Atlanta area and then went on a shopping spree for guns, shoes and cars, including a Chevrolet Camaro that he totaled, the authorities said on Thursday. The employee, Tre Brown, 19, obtained more than 40 refunds on several credit cards for merchandise that he falsely claimed had been returned to a Kroger in Duluth, Ga., the police in Gwinnett County said.

The transactions ranged in value from $75 to more than $87,000, according to the police, who said that the fraud scheme was carried out over two weeks in December and January while a supermarket compliance officer was away.

The fraud was later detected by corporate employees of Kroger, who the police said had contacted them. A large sum of the money was returned after Mr. Brown’s arrest on Jan. 14 on a felony charge of theft by taking, the police said. They said they had no further information on the amount recovered .

Cpl. Collin Flynn, a spokesman for the Gwinnett County Police Department, said in an email on Thursday that Mr. Brown worked in the supermarket’s fuel center. The items that Mr. Brown claimed had been returned were lottery tickets, Corporal Flynn said, adding that detectives were trying to determine whether the ticket numbers that he provided were for actual tickets or had been fabricated.

It was not immediately clear how many and what type of guns Mr. Brown purchased. In addition to firearms and cars, he bought clothes and shoes with the money that he stole, the police said. No additional information was available about how or when the Camaro was totaled.

Mr. Brown, of Duluth, was released on bond on the same day of his arrest, according to the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office [....]

Rule of law! (Giuliani quacks are not the norm). WHETHER to do it is another thing. That's a decision that prosecutors make every day in this country, representing the public as an advocate, he/she has power to bring, not bring, or drop charges as an advocate,for the public at large, judging what's best for society. The House here is in the role of prosecutor. The experts agree they can do it if they think best for society.

An Oregon economist could not think of another example of “an area that has so quickly fallen into disfavor.”

By Nigel Jaquiss @ Williamette Week, Jan. 20

[....] A second economist, Mike Wilkerson, director of analytics at the consulting firm ECONorthwest, echoed Potiowsky, saying that investors' lack of confidence will stunt the city's rebound and predicted Portland "will have an impediment to growth until that's resolved."

That plunge in confidence appears to stem from factors that include widely broadcast images of protests and nearby wildfires. It may be exacerbated by the documented flight of businesses from the city's core and factors such as the cost of property insurance rising 30% to 50% amid repeated vandalism.

But it also fits into a debate over the future of the Bureau of Development Services.Business groups have implored the City Council to resist cutting the budget of BDS [....]

By Claudia Irizzary Aponte @ thecity.nyc, Jan. 19

The first strike in 35 years at the Bronx-based food hub has hundreds of workers on the picket line — buoyed by political candidates and besieged by the NYPD.