'One of the darkest days in our nation's history'

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced today that the House will form a select committee to investigate the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6. Urged on by the ex-president, 10,000 people stormed the Capitol that day to block the certification of the presidential election results. About 800 of them broke into the building, and five people, including a Capitol Police officer, died as a result. Nearly 140 other officers were assaulted and injured with various weapons during the attack.

• — The select committee would centralize all Jan. 6 investigations in one body, equipped with subpoena power and tasked with publishing its findings. It will be a more partisan forum than an independent commission would have been, however, meaning the parties may come no closer to a consensus about what happened. Senate Republicans blocked the formation of such a commission last month.
•  
• — No timeline. It is not yet clear how large the panel will be or how the seats on it will be distributed. It is also not clear when Pelosi will demand the panel publish its findings. She said today that the committee can take as long as it needs "to do the investigation of the causes of this."
•  
• — "I don't think anybody would have foreseen an insurrection incited by the President of the United States." According to Pelosi, the committee will probe both the root causes of the riot—"the white supremacy, the anti-Semitism, the Islamophobia, all the rest of it that was so evident"—and the intelligence and security failures of law enforcement. —The Washington Post

Defense community slams Gaetz

At a congressional hearing yesterday, Rep. Matt Gaetz tried to score cultural grievance points by questioning Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley about critical race theory in the military. CRT contends that the nation's legal, economic, and social systems were purposefully constructed to oppress minorities. "We don't embrace critical race theory, and I think that's a spurious conversation," Austin responded. "We are focused on extremist behaviors, not ideology." Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, an Air Force veteran, yielded part of her time back to Milley to get his view. He did not mince words. "What is wrong with having some situational understanding about the country for which we are here to defend?" Milley asked. "I want to understand white rage, and I'm white. So what is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building and try to overturn the Constitution of the United States of America? I want to find that out." So do we. —Defense One

MORE: Oath Keeper will cooperate with feds—and testify against his Jan. 6 co-conspirators —The Daily Beast

Is Big Brother watching college students in FL?

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation this week that will require public universities and colleges to survey students, faculty, and staff about their beliefs and viewpoints to support "intellectual diversity" and discern "the extent to which competing ideas and perspectives are presented." The measure, which goes into effect July 1, does not specify what will be done with the survey results, but DeSantis suggested that budget cuts could affect institutions found to be "indoctrinating" students. Some university faculty members have expressed concern that the measure could create a chilling effect on freedom of speech, and Democrats have argued the bill might allow politicians to regulate speech on campus in the future. —Tampa Bay Times

Guardian Ed Board: China must be held to account

"Chinese disdain for international norms is now habitual, ranging from abuses in Xinjiang to its refusal to help establish COVID-19's exact origin. The failure to apologize for last month's random, chaotic descent to Earth of debris from a Chinese rocket, which could have proven disastrous for many below, aptly symbolizes the arrogant, insouciant exceptionalism of the Xi era. Western leaders last week demanded China start respecting 'fundamental freedoms' in Hong Kong and elsewhere. Tougher, concrete action to achieve that aim is going to be needed." —The Guardian

MORE: How China spreads its propaganda version of life for Uyghurs —ProPublica

Olsen: Left-wing and right-wing populists appeal to the same audience

"[T]he left-wing populist candidate, Pedro Castillo, decisively won Peru's poorest eight regions with as much as 89% of the vote. His conservative opponent, Keiko Fujimori, decisively carried the nation's capital and richest region, Lima, with 64%. The pattern is not as clear as in some other countries, but the trend is the same: Places where economic growth hasn't reached yet are highly likely to be open to populist appeals." —Henry Olsen in The Washington Post

Henry Olsen is a Washington Post columnist focusing on politics, populism, and American conservative thought, and a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

MORE: U.S. says Peru's contested election was 'model of democracy' —Bloomberg

Focus on voting and elections

An investigation into the Michigan presidential election has concluded that there is no evidence of widespread fraud. The probe, conducted by the Republican-controlled state Senate Oversight Committee, found no evidence of dead voters, no precincts with 100% turnout, and no evidence of a supposed Detroit ballot dump that benefited President Biden. The panel released its report yesterday, following 28 hours of hearings with election conspiracy theorists, including Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani. The report labels many of their claims "ludicrous" and calls on the state attorney general to open investigations into those who may have profited from making false claims. —The Guardian

• — More from Michigan. The Michigan House passed a series of bills last night that would enact a strict voter ID law. The state already requires voters to present ID at their polling station, but, under current law, voters who don't have ID when they show up can sign an affidavit affirming their identity and vote normally. The new legislation would eliminate that option. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has vowed to veto many of the bills. —Detroit Free Press
•  
• — Indiana. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case challenging Indiana's vote-by-mail restrictions, meaning a federal district court will now decide the future of absentee voting in the state. Plaintiffs in the case argue that Indiana's age restriction for absentee voters—one of 11 restrictions that define who can and who can't vote by mail—infringes upon the constitutional right to participate in the polls. —Indianapolis Star
•  
• — Pennsylvania. A Republican rewrite of Pennsylvania election law that would mandate voter IDs, alter registration and ballot-counting deadlines, and give conservatives auditing procedures they have clamored for passed the state House on Tuesday. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has threatened to veto the legislation, saying the lawmakers behind it asked Congress to throw out the state's November votes, and their dishonest rhetoric "directly contributed to the Jan. 6 insurrection." —U.S. News & World Report

Garcia: The GOP has lost its courage

"Today, the courage and willingness to protect the idea that everyone who's qualified to vote deserves a chance to vote has all but vanished in the GOP. Instead of backing our country's centuries-long struggle to expand Americans' access to the ballot box, Republicans, under the manufactured guise of 'election integrity,' have regressed to a time not so long ago when both major parties treated voting as a birthright of the few instead of the civil and political right of the many." —James Garcia in Arizona Mirror

James Garcia is a journalist and the editor and publisher of Vanguardia Arizona, which covers Latino news in the state of Arizona.

MORE: Republicans vote to preserve gerrymandered maps for another year —Wisconsin Examiner

The current version of the Republican Party is displaying the same kind of arrogance that Dixiecrats once did when they made Jim Crow the law of the land in former Confederate states. Of course, Jim Crow laws weren't confined to just the South, but that is where the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was most needed to protect 15th Amendment rights. If the rights of any citizens to vote are restricted by modern Jim Crow racism, it is nearly certain that other civil rights will also be curtailed.

What actually makes us a nation is the willingness of the vast majority of our citizens to play by the rules. If Jim Crow laws are used to create a system of apartheid, where there are unequal tiers of citizenship, and some citizens, based on skin color, religion, or ethnicity, do not enjoy equal protection under the law, then what incentive will exist for them to play by the rules? It is much easier to set fires than it is to put them out. Racism is racism by any other name, and if the GOP succeeds in imposing its arrogant vision on our country, someday there will be a price to pay. —Bill M., Pennsylvania

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.