'January 6th exposed severe vulnerabilities'

Dozens of former senior national security, military, and elected officials from both sides of the aisle have written to Congress, urging lawmakers to establish a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Congressional efforts to create such a commission have stalled, even as the Justice Department has charged more than 350 people in the attack, including at least 57 alleged members of extremist groups. The co-signers warn that failure to establish a commission would "leave the Capitol, and the nation, vulnerable to future attacks." —CBS News

• — Proud Boy flips. At least one insurrectionist has flipped against the Proud Boys, a militant far-right group, by agreeing to cooperate with the DOJ. Similar to organized crime and drug investigations, federal prosecutors are pressuring defendants to become witnesses in order to bring more severe conspiracy charges against the group's leadership. So far, around two dozen Proud Boys associates have been charged with federal crimes related to the insurrection. —CNN
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• — "I'm going to war." A New Jersey man was arrested on multiple charges yesterday in connection with his role in the insurrection. Justice officials say Christopher Quaglin helped lead the charge into the building and assaulted numerous officers during the process, including attacking authorities with a stolen riot guard and spraying a "chemical irritant" at officers trying to stop the break-in. —Insider
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• — The insurrection wasn't the only consequence of the Big Lie. The same false claims of election fraud that led to the Capitol attack created the momentum for the package of voting rights restrictions that recently became state law in Georgia. "This is really the fallout from the 10 weeks of misinformation that flew in from former President Donald Trump," Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, a Republican, said yesterday. —CNN

Benson: Is there a solution to the GOP problem?

"For thousands of conservatives, Jan. 6 served as the start of a conservative exodus of sorts. In the days that followed the insurrection, at least 140,000 Republicans in 25 states changed their party affiliations, and it's likely tens of thousands more did the same in other states without readily available data. Without some serious reason to do so, a shift of that degree is very unusual, political scientists say. While the shift is a relatively small percentage of the party as a whole, it illustrates a growing problem for the GOP." —Samuel Benson in Deseret News

Samuel Benson is an opinion writer at Deseret News.

MORE: Max Boot: The GOP can't be saved. Center-right voters need to become Biden Republicans —The Washington Post

Biden pulls the trigger on gun violence

President Biden isn't waiting for Congress. In the wake of recent mass shootings in Atlanta, Ga., and Boulder, Col., he has announced six new executive actions to address gun violence. The Department of Justice will propose a series of rules aimed at restricting so-called ghost guns, encouraging states to adopt red flag laws, and tightening loopholes around certain modified pistols. Biden also announced the nomination of David Chipman, a gun control advocate, to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. —The Hill

MORE: NFL player Phillip Adams killed 5, then himself —Associated Press

'I'm sick and tired of ordinary people being fleeced'

President Biden made an emotional pitch for his infrastructure proposal yesterday, arguing that its 28% corporate tax hike would level the playing field between large companies and average Americans. The president blasted companies paying little or no federal taxes, saying, "That's just not fair. That's not fair to the rest of the American taxpayers." Biden indicated he is open to negotiating with Republicans, but he doesn't really need to. Democrats have been given the green light to bypass Republicans altogether by using budget reconciliation to pass the bill. —Insider

MORE: Janet Yellen calls for a global minimum tax on companies. Could it happen? —The Economist

Markham & Foster: The correlation between women's equality and democracy

"[Women's] political participation results in tangible gains for democracy. This includes greater responsiveness to citizen needs and increased cooperation across party and ethnic lines. Women's meaningful participation in politics affects the range of issues considered and the types of solutions proposed. Countries with high marks on civil rights and political liberties have higher proportions of women in national legislatures than countries with low marks. Higher numbers of women political leaders also correspond with higher standards of living; better outcomes in access to education, infrastructure, and health; and more responsive government." —Susan Markham & Stephenie Foster in Just Security

Susan Markham formerly served at the U.S. Agency for International Development as the senior coordinator for gender equality and women’s empowerment. Stephenie Foster previously served in the State Department, including as a senior advisor/counselor in the Office of Global Women's Issues.

Focus on Russia and China

Russia is being put on notice again. The Biden Administration has completed an intelligence review of the Kremlin's interference in the U.S. election, bounties on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, SolarWinds cyberattack, and poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. In response, the U.S will announce retaliatory actions soon, which could involve sanctions on individuals close to President Vladimir Putin, as well as the expulsion of Russian diplomats from the U.S. —Bloomberg

• — Navalny is incarcerated in conditions that amount to torture and may slowly be killing him, according to Amnesty International. The human rights organization says he is subjected to sleep deprivation and does not have access to medical care. Doctors allied with Navalny who trekked to the penal colony where he is being held were promptly arrested. Navalny began a hunger strike last week in protest. —NPR
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• — A U.S.-China war on the horizon? Another major concern is China, which the U.S. military has warned is probably accelerating its timetable for capturing control of Taiwan. Such a move is widely seen as a potential trigger for war. China has become increasingly aggressive in the South China Sea after years of steady military buildup. An emboldened Beijing is also growing more publicly confrontational with Washington. —ABC News
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• — Not going down without a fight. Taiwan's foreign minister, Joseph Wu, said yesterday that the island will defend itself "to the very last day" if attacked by China. Beijing does not recognize Taiwan's democratically elected government and claims Taiwan as its own territory to be won over peacefully or by force—but not if Taiwan has anything to say about it. "We are willing to defend ourselves, that’s without any question," Wu told reporters. "We will fight a war if we need to fight a war." —Associated Press

Hockett: A lesson in democracy from post-Nazi Germany

"[A] democratically tolerant polity need not roll over and play dead for the intolerant—any more than the world's democracies had to roll over for Hitler once that form of tolerance known as 'appeasement' had failed by 1938. No, the founders of Germany's post-1945 Federal Republic concluded: a durable, resilient democracy must be what they called a fighting democracy—a 'Streitbare Demokratie'—that neither undertakes nor recognizes any putative obligation to coddle the very intolerants who wouldn’t tolerate it." —Robert Hockett in Forbes

Robert Hockett is the Edward Cornell Professor of Law and a professor of public policy at Cornell University. He is also a fellow at The Century Foundation.

MORE: Erica Grieder: GOP's lurch to belligerent populism should have voters on edge —Houston Chronicle

In the column by Thomas Friedman to which The Topline linked yesterday, he gave the following projected ethnic breakdown for the year 2045, when it is expected the U.S. will become "majority minority": 49.9% White, 25% Hispanic, 13% Black, 8% Asian, 4% multiracial.

If this will indeed be the ethnic breakdown, Whites will still dominate politics and everything else. To place all these "minorities" in the same category is absurd; they differ from each other more than they differ from Whites. So Whites will retain a very large plurality, nearly twice as much as the next largest group (which itself is not really a coherent group).

Conclusion: Don't expect major changes as a result of the U.S. becoming "majority minority." —Ron W., New York

Mr. Caudill, our republic does not need the Republican Party or even the Democratic Party. It needs honest, civic-minded, and competent citizens willing to step up and dedicate a few years to public service and then step down. —Dave M., Colorado

The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.