Stand back and stand by?

U.S. Capitol Police identified about 200 members of the Proud Boys assembling on the morning of Jan. 6, but officials sent the department's intelligence resources elsewhere. That's what Rep. Zoe Lofgren, chair of the House Administration Committee, alleged yesterday at a hearing on the police response to the Capitol insurrection. The department's timeline makes no further reference to the far-right extremist group members, many of whom breached the Capitol later that day.

• — Lawmakers have expressed concern that the department didn't take seriously enough the threat posed by pro-Trump extremists. Lofgren previously revealed that the department's highest-ranking on-the-ground commander, Eric Waldow, urged officers to look out instead for anti-Trump counterdemonstrators among the sprawling pro-Trump crowd.
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• — A spokesperson for Capitol Police has disputed that, claiming the department did have "countersurveillance teams...reporting on the Proud Boys" and that its intelligence operations team did get information about the hundreds of Proud Boys from the Metropolitan Police Department.
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• — Lofgren asked Capitol Police Inspector General Michael Bolton, who testified at yesterday's hearing, whether it was true that countersurveillance had been assigned to the Proud Boys. Bolton said he didn't have the answer to that question, but that he hoped to have more information after his next report. —Politico

Gerson: Kevin McCarthy, political hollow man

"There is a reason McCarthy now resists an impartial investigation of the events of Jan. 6: his honest testimony about Trump would be damning. And that is what makes his reversion to sycophancy so contemptible. McCarthy stands condemned by his own 10 minutes of moral clarity. His slinking to Mar-a-Lago to repent for disloyal honesty shows a tolerance for humiliation akin to masochism. Is the speakership worth achieving when it involves the sacrifice of your character, your country, and your dignity?" —Michael Gerson in The Washington Post

Michael Gerson is a columnist at The Washington Post who formerly served as a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and as the chief speechwriter for former President George W. Bush.

MORE: McCarthy tells House Republicans to expect a Wednesday vote on removing Liz Cheney from her leadership position —USA Today

The vaccine carrot

The focus of the nation's COVID-19 vaccination program is shifting from targeting people enthusiastic about receiving the vaccine to those not opposed to receiving it but not going out of their way for it either. To that end, President Biden is meeting virtually with state governors to discuss "innovative ways [they] are working to get the people in their states vaccinated," according to White House Press Sec. Jen Psaki. Though domestic vaccine demand has weakened, with the U.S. administering about 2.1 million shots per day, compared to 3.4 million about a month ago, coronavirus cases are falling at an even faster pace. The U.S. reported 21,767 new cases on Sunday, the lowest daily total since June 2020. —Bloomberg

MORE: FDA permits use of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine in kids ages 12 to 15 —CNBC

A new change to an old law in Georgia

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation yesterday that repeals the state's citizen's arrest law. H.B. 479 removes the ability of most bystanders to detain someone they believe has committed a crime, and outlaws the use of deadly force unless in defense of life or property, or to stop a forcible felony. It is the second related piece of legislation that has been passed in the state since Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was fatally shot while jogging through Brunswick, Ga., last year by three men who allegedly suspected him of burglary. Georgia is the first state in the country to roll back its citizen's arrest law, which had originally been implemented in 1863 to allow White Georgians to capture escaped slaves. —The Hill

MORE: Fulton County District Attorney plans to seek death penalty against Atlanta spa shooting suspect —CNN

Baer & Kramer: Keep one eye on Xi and the other on Putin

"[S]o-called realists argue...we should put aside our concerns about Putin's egregious behavior, forget the Russian invasion and ongoing aggression against Ukraine, and ignore the case of Navalny and the nasty crackdown on human rights inside Russia, because we have larger interests at stake. This position is both strategically unsound and morally repugnant. Strategically, it overestimates the degree to which we could rely on any collaboration with Putin's regime against Beijing and analytically overrates the possibility for a genuine and deep partnership between China and Russia." —Daniel Baer & David J. Kramer in The xxxxxx

Daniel Baer served in the U.S. State Department as deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, and then as U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. David J. Kramer served in the U.S. State Department as assistant secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. He was formerly president of Freedom House and is currently a non-resident fellow at the McCain Institute.

MORE: Russian spy unit suspected of directed-energy attacks on U.S. personnel —Politico

Global roundup

The Kremlin has denied involvement in the weekend cyberattack that crippled the Colonial Pipeline, which is responsible for almost half of the fuel supply for the eastern coast of the U.S. As of this morning, the pipeline was still largely offline with a goal of substantially resuming operations by week's end. President Biden said yesterday that the U.S. does not yet have evidence that the attack was state-sponsored, but added, "There is evidence that the actors, ransomware, is in Russia." —U.S. News & World Report

• — Israel. Tensions in Jerusalem have escalated into deadly airstrikes and rocket fire between Israel and the Gaza Strip, prompting international calls for calm and fears that the situation could ignite into a wider conflict. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that Israel would "increase both the intensity of the attacks and the rate of attacks," while Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has called on the United Nations Security Council to intervene. —NBC News
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• — France. An open letter has been published by French soldiers in a right-wing magazine warning of the threat of civil war and accusing the French government of granting "concessions" to Islamism. A similar message, supported by French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, was sent to the government last month by semi-retired generals of the French military. The French government has condemned both letters. —BBC News
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• — Scotland. The Scottish National Party is promising to hold a second independence referendum since last week's election gave pro-independence candidates a majority in the Scottish parliament. In her victory speech, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon took a shot at British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, warning that "any Westminster politician" who tries to stand in the way of a referendum is "picking a fight with the democratic wishes of the Scottish people." —CNN

Robinson: The work ahead

"I genuinely believe it is good for the country when we have ideas-based, evidence-based competition between a party that leans to the left and one that leans to the right. The scary thing is that this GOP, untethered from reality and the material needs of the country, is within a handful of seats of taking back both the House and the Senate. As exhausting as it is to acknowledge this, the 2020 election was just the first step toward restoring a shared reality." —Eugene Robinson in The Washington Post

Eugene Robinson is a Washington Post columnist focusing on politics and culture.

MORE: Voting rights fight heads to Senate with committee debate —CNN

Thank you so much for the link to the Washington Post story exposing Russell Ramsland. His airplane hangar office is close to where I live. I heard last summer about his making the wild claims about voting machines to GOP activists, setting the stage for the Big Lie. The story will not make any difference to the Trumpsters, but it's good to see him exposed. —Dennis A., Texas

One point made about Liz Cheney and her stance against the Trump GOP was absolutely correct as stated. The fact that she does not care about being removed from a leadership position in the GOP shows that she has the integrity, honesty, and Constitutional stance to be a real conservative Republican. The Congress needs her and Kinzinger and Romney. Congress needs to be purged of the McConnells and the other Trump-delusioned. —Donna C., California

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.