Joe Public

Jodi Kantor, writing in the NY Times »

After the 2020 presidential election, as some Trump supporters falsely claimed that President Biden had stolen the office, many of them displayed a startling symbol outside their homes, on their cars and in online posts: an upside-down American flag.

One of the homes flying an inverted flag during that time was the residence of Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., in Alexandria, Va., according to photographs and interviews with neighbors.

The upside-down flag was aloft on Jan. 17, 2021, the images showed. President Donald J. Trump’s supporters, including some brandishing the same symbol, had rioted at the Capitol a little over a week before. Mr. Biden’s inauguration was three days away. Alarmed neighbors snapped photographs, some of which were recently obtained by The New York Times. Word of the flag filtered back to the court, people who worked there said in interviews.

While the flag was up, the court was still contending with whether to hear a 2020 election case, with Justice Alito on the losing end of that decision.

Then he blamed his wife.

“Justice Alito should recuse himself immediately from cases related to the 2020 election and the January 6th insurrection, including the question of the former President’s immunity in U.S. v. Donald Trump, which the Supreme Court is currently considering … The Court is in an ethical crisis of its own making, and Justice Alito and the rest of the Court should be doing everything in their power to regain public trust.”

~ Sen. Dick Durbin, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee

Images of the “Stop the Steal” symbol on the justice’s front lawn, and the lame explanations, leads to questions of legitimacy of the court.

To paraphrase Corey Booker, if this does not break the heart of every American, they don’t love her enough.

More » CNN / Slate / NBC / Salon / The Atlantic / The Guardian / Business Insider / CNBC / Face The Nation / Steve Schmidt / Vanity Fair

Gordon Corera, writing for the BBC »

What concerns Western officials is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s determination that Beijing will shape a new international order. “Ultimately it aspires to displace the United States as the foremost power,” the chief of MI6, Sir Richard Moore, told me in a rare interview in his office for a new BBC series on China and the West.

Meanwhile » Canadian Security Intelligence Services (CSIS) director warns China can use TikTok to spy on them

Catharine Tunney, for the CBC News writes »

“My answer as director of [the Canadian Security Intelligence Service] is that there is a very clear strategy on the part of the government of China … to be able to acquire … personal information from anyone around the world,” said CSIS director David Vigneault in an interview with CBC’s The House airing Saturday.

“As an individual, I would say that I would absolutely not recommend someone have TikTok.”

Vigneault said it’s “very clear” from the app’s design that data gleaned from its users “is available to the government of China.”

“Most people can say, ‘Why is it a big deal for a teenager now to have their data [on TikTok]?’ Well in five years, in 10 years, that teenager will be a young adult, will be engaged in different activities around the world,” he told host Catherine Cullen.

“If you are, for whatever reason, getting in the crosshairs of the [People’s Republic of China], they will have a lot of information about you.”